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Wire Wool

by Posted in 3.1 Cleaning Up, 3.1 House, Office & Garden Tagged , 3 Comments

Steel wool consists of fine strands of steel which looks a bit like wool.
It can be used for cleaning, scouring and sanding.
I use it manly for cleaning pots. Same principal as a brillo pad but without the plastic packaging.
It can be bought from hardware shops and many of them sell it plastic free in either cardboard or paper packaging. However the trend is for increased plastic packaging so you might have to shop around!
The picture of the cardboard packaged steel wool is from the B&Q website so could look there.

More About Steel Wool

Steel wool comes in different thicknesses (grades).
The thicker the wool the more powerful the scouring / sanding.

I took the following from the Liberon Steel Wool website

Steel Wool is available in 7 grades from Ultra Fine 0000 through a range of Fine to Medium 00, 0, 1 and Medium to Coarse 2, 3 and 4.

Grade 0000 
- use to cut back between coats of French Polishes, varnishes and oil finishes 
- use to clean and polish metals such as bronze, copper, chrome, stainless steel and aluminium 
- use to cut back between coats of varnish or paint 
- use with soapy water to clean and polish porcelain, marble and glass without marking 

Light cleaning and surface preparation

Grade 00, 0, 1 
- use with Liberon Wax and Polish Remover to remove built-up wax polish, smoke and dirt on wood 
- use to clean, smooth and prepare wood or metal surfaces before re-polishing, waxing, varnishing or painting 
- use with a suitable solvent for light to medium cleaning of all metals 

Heavy cleaning and paint and varnish removal

Grade 2, 3, 4 
- Use with Liberon Fine Wood Stripper to remove softened French Polishes, varnishes, lacquers and paints from wood and metal surfaces 
- use to remove rust

Precautions
To avoid cuts never tear steel wool, cut to size with scissors or shears and always protect your hands with gloves when handling.

Important


Always test products on a spare surface or inconspicuous area first.
If in doubt use a finer grade first.

Pot Cleaning

You can find more pot scouring options here

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Scour, Scrub & Wipe

by Posted in 3.1 Cleaning Up, 3.2 How To...plastic-free Tagged , 3 Comments

Although I use natural cleaning products like soap, bicarbonate of soda and occasionally Ecover cleaning products, I prefer not to. Cold water and elbow grease clears most things. I know I sound dreadfully Victorian, and house proud, but really I am not. It’s just that even home-made scouring powders involve some plastic and of course represent some environmental impact. It seems a waste of product when a good scrub does the job just as well.

But you need to have a good range of scrubbers on hand. I use everything from bristle brushes to wire wool to get the job done. In my opinion natural products  are good to go most of the time but occasionally synthetics come into their own.

This is my list of scourers in order of toughness

Knitted metal ribbon pad – the big boys of the scouring world will shift almost anything can not be used on plastic, non stick or delicate surfaces.

Wire Wool not as butch but still not good for plastic, non stick or delicate surfaces.

Luffa a natural and renewable plant product rather more abrasive than a cloth but still pretty soft. Good for cleaning plastic baths and washing up (not the same luffa obv.) Get them here

Synthetic scouring pads are good, where metal is too much and might leave black marks – think tiles but  luffa too weak. Plastic scourers are ideal for burnt on non stick pans (though after reading this you might want to phase out the non stick and so the need for plastic scourers). However they are plastic and while I do occasionally use them, I am not entirely happy recommending them. When I have to, I use these recycled products that come sustainably packaged.

Coconut Pads – while not quite as powerful as synthetic pads they are a good, non-plastic alternative.

 

Natural Bristle Brushes in a range of stiffness great for general cleaning, crevices, non stick pans and vegetables,

And finally for completely friction free wiping you cant do better than these biodegradable cellulose Sponges

I don’t use kitchen roll. I have cotton dishcloths that can be used to wipe up spills, loo roll for sticky fingers and cotton napkins for fine dining but if this is your thing you can now get it plastic free.
THIRSTY & STRONG!
Our 100% biodegradable paper towels comes in a convenient 2 roll pack with each roll having 80 sheets.

12 packs of 2 rolls. Each roll 80 sheets, 2 ply.
Total 24 rolls per carton.

Wrapped in biodegradable cellophane and sent to your door in a cardboard box. More details More 

See a huge range of plastic free cleaning products HERE

Pan Scrubs – Coconut

by Posted in 3.1 Cleaning Up, 3.1 House, Office & Garden Tagged ,

There’s a new kid on the block – the coconut fibre scouring pad. It is a tangle of strong matted coconut fibre. It is tougher than the luffa not as brutal as a metal it is excellent for mid range cleaning. I have been using mine for a while now and it is still nice and wiry unlike the luffa which tends to soften up with use. I have used it in a wide range of circumstances and I am pleased with the results. I think they compare well with synthetics  and can be used as an alternative.

It comes simply packaged in a cardboard sleeve so no rubbish there.

You can get them on-line from savesomegreen.co.uk

This online shop are very aware of problematic plastic misuse and have a great packaging policy. Tell them you want no plastic packaging and you will be heard.

They also do a good-looking range of bamboo products including crochet hooks and pegs.

Pot Cleaning

You can find more pot scouring options here

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Scrubbing away

by Posted in 3.1 Cleaning Up Tagged , , 1 Comment

In my opinion you can use natural products most of the time but occasionally synthetics come into their own.

This is especially true if you are cleaning tiles. Here steel scourers can leave black marks and luffas and natural bristles may not be quite strong enough. A plastic scourer can be a god send here.

Look, someone got clumsy with the Danish wood oil and It sticks to tiles like a good ‘un. Here you need something strong enough to clean off the oil without scratching the wooden upstand. OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA I used the plastic scouring cloth… courtesy of Ecoforce.

It is made in the UK from 100% recycled fibres and the packaging is compostable cardboard.

Even better the 93% of the cardboard packaging is recycled materials. But best of all the display hanger is also cardboard and not an attached plastic hook.

All good points….

They also do a sponge scrubber – a scouring pad with a sponge backing. In their own words they “found out that every company manufacturing foam products have tons of clean, unused foam going to landfill every day. We rescue and grind up these bits of foam, compress them together and the super absorbent recycled EcoForce sponge is born.”OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

I had no call to use these so I can’t tell you how they perform, but I guess as well as any other synthetic sponge scourer.

However, this is a semi disposable product. Whereas pegs and washing lines ( see previous review) have a good long working life and can possibly be recycled, these have a much shorter life span and will not be recycled  – which  raises questions:

Is this a justifiable use of plastic that would otherwise be trashed? Well I suppose if it was going in the bin any way then yes… but talking of bins..

What happens to the finished pan scrub? How do I dispose of them? Well I can’t. As they don’t biodegrade I cannot compost them,  they cannot be recycled so cannot go in the green bin and  I don’t fancy burning them. So they have to go in my black bin to be collected and specially disposed of by the council. Hmmmmm.

So to conclude nice packaging, properly labeled, the product locally made from recycled materials; when I need a plastic scourer I would choose these.

BUT I would advise you to try one of the natural alternatives first.

You can find more pot scouring options here

You can read my other Ecoforce Reviews here.

 

 

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Huddersfield, Khadims

by Posted in 3.2 Shops & Businesses Tagged , , , , , 1 Comment

Here in lovely Huddersfield, we buy much of our stuff from Khadims, the Asian Supermarket on Blacker Road, including;

Loose unwrapped foods

  • Pistacheos  and walnuts
  • Ginger, garlic and chiles
  • Basmati rice  loose
  • They do a wide range of unwrapped fruit and veg including
  • Small UNWRAPPED cucumbers,
  • They also do halal meat unwrapped. Take a bio bag.
  • Metal pan scrubs.
  • The ever useful coconut oil and some weird vaseline  rip off in tins.

Take

You have to take your own cotton produce bags, scoop up as much as you need and they weigh it at the counter at the counter. Smashing.

 

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Pan Scrub Luffas

by Posted in 3.1 Cleaning Up, 3.1 House, Office & Garden Tagged , , 4 Comments

The slightly rough texture of the luffa makes it ideal for gentle scouring. 

The luffa, also spelled loofah, is the fruit of either L. aegyptiaca and L. acutangula. It looks rather like a cucumber. If harvested young it can be eaten but if left to mature it becomes very fibrous.

These fibrous fruits can be dried out then used  for anything from exfoliating the skin or cleaning the dishes. Not the same one obviously. And so you can find loofahs for sale in anywhere from chemists to cookery shops.

I bought a monster Loofah in T.K. Max for peanuts. I use it the slough my leathery old skin

Mean while Michael’s rather more expensive and much smaller Original Luffa Scouring Pads Micheal’s  can be bought from Half Moon Oraganics in Huddersfield or on line at the ethical superstore. are used to wash the dishes

They ” are ethically and sustainably grown on Michael’s family farm in the Phillippines (luffas are plants grown on land).
Bought directly from the farm at a fair price, your purchase supports less privileged families and prevents environmental degradation.
Michael’s Luffas become flexible and supple in water and are durable and tough enough for all but the hardest baked on food (soak it first). They are gentle enough for cleaning non-stick surfaces, fruit and vegetables (and also your body).

Well not by me at that price – I just cut the end off my monster loofah and used that.

Grow Your Own

When I need a new one I am going to try and grow one.

 

More

You can find more pot scouring options here

Exfoliating here

 

Pan scrubs Tough

by Posted in 3.1 Cleaning Up, 3.1 House, Office & Garden Tagged

Wonderful though I think my new natural non plastic brushes are, let me tell you about my big boy pan scourers.

The brushes do all they are meant to do but even they cant get rid of the really burnt on black stuff ( I told you – home making – not my forte),so my plastic free scourer of choices is the knitted metal pan scrub. These can be bought loose from the hardware sections in grocery shops – Asian groceries are particularly likely to stock them. I don’t why that should be but it is true.

Also good are hardware shops in covered markets.

Pot Cleaning

You can find more pot scouring options here

 

Pot & Bottle Brushes

by Posted in 3.1 Cleaning Up Tagged , 8 Comments

There I was happily scouring away when I realised it was taking longer than usual to shift the burnt remnants at the bottom of the pan. When I checked out my little brush I found was well past its best. Its bristles were all flattened and splayed.

Off I trotted to buy a new head only to realise some time later I had been had! The beasts who made my pot brushes have replaced the organic bristles with plastic. When I  looked closely you will see my cute little brush is in fact part plastic. If you want to know more about bristles (and sneaky plastic imposters), you can read about them here.

This it seems is quite common with local brushes. Even when I have found a natural bristle brush, buying single replacements heads is not easy.

Redecker Brushes

If you are fully committed to a brush on a stick, there is the rather expensive  Redecker, a German company, who do brushes and head replacements such as this:

Large Natural Bristle Dish Washing Brush – Stiff Plant Fibre (Pack of 2) by Redecker from £5.90

  • Impressive cleaning power, made with natural materials
  • Stiff plant fibre bristles ideal for all dish washing purposes
  • Large 5cm diameter brush head (cleaning area approx. 7cm diameter )
  • Untreated beechwood handle with metal loop for hanging to dry
  • Replacement brush heads also available to purchase separately

You can buy all the above from Amazon and Ebay.

Buy Local (Bradford) scrubbers at saltaire

In Saltair, world heritage site, the mill has been converted into a lifestyle space. The ground floor is a gallery housing the work of Bradford boy made good, David Hockney. Upstairs there are some great cafes and lots of lovely, designer shops includingthe homeware shop that sells a wide range natural bristle brushes from pot cleaners to tradition scrubbing brushes.

More Kitchen Brushes

Redecker do a  natural bristle brush for just about every job. I went a bit mad and invested heavily.How strange the twists of fate. I never thought I would be the kind of woman to get excited about cleaning products – yet here I am reliving the 1950s, beaming about my new kitchen aids; but they dont just look good, they work well too.

The bottle brush is ideal for radiators while the pan scrubs – well they scrub. Not quite sure what the tickler on the left is for but my new Clean n Gleam persona will surely find a use for it.

Even better once these scrubbers are past their best then its into the wood bruning stove with them. For a moment they will warm us –  then their ashes will be scattered on the gooseberry bushes.

  • 1 x Redecker Natural Bristle Pot Brush pot brushes featured
  • Redecker Plant Fibre Bristle Dish Brush
  • Redecker Natural Fibre Sink Plug Hole Brush
  • Redecker Plant Fibre Bristle Dish Brush 4cm
  • Redecker Natural Fibre Bottle Brush With Cotton Ball Tip
  • Redecker Natural Fibre Bottle Brush With Wooden Handle
  • Redecker Natural Bristle Bottle / Flask Brush