A while back - yes, longer ago than I intended - I promised to review some green cleaners as I had a chance to test them out.  Giving up on the good old Soft Scrub with Bleach was tough for me, especially when I had a house full of inlaws (that’s nine people using one bathroom folks).  Nevertheless, when the last of the toxins were used up, I pulled out the Green Works - a supposed environmentally friendly choice made by Chlorox.

Let’s start with price - in my neck of the woods, Green Works cost me about $2.69 as opposed to $1.50 for the Soft Scrub on sale.  So yes, I pay more, but it’s not a budget breaker like some of the eco-friendly cleaners out there.  The added peace of mind in feeling like I’m not inadvertently poisoning the felines or children in my home is worth the extra dollar something for as often as I really buy the cleaners.

Next the ingredients - Filtered water, coconut-based cleaning agent (nonionic surfactant, alkyl polyglucoside), glycolic acid (hydroxyacetic acid) and essential lemon oil.  Contains no phosphorus.  Contains no bleach. Hmm. So water, a bunch of stuff  in the middle I have no idea if it’s good or bad and no phosphorus and no bleach.  Oh yeah, and lemon oil, I know that’s okay.  And my former profession is a chemist - at least I can pronounce the gobbedlygook in the middle.  Well, here is the Material Safety Data Sheet ** for the hydroxyacetic acid - this stuff doesn’t sound very friendly really.  Then again I have no idea of the percentage of hydrocyacetic acid in the cleaner.  Really though, that’s a bit underhanded isn’t it?  After all, I know bleach will kill me and it doesn’t promise anything different.  A definite plus at least to this stuff is that it isn’t a known carcinogen, but the MSDS sheet provided by Mallinkrodt Baker (one of many chemical suppliers) has a lot of gaps and unknowns.  Under disposal considerations of the MSDS I linked to it states “Whatever cannot be saved for recovery or recycling should be handled as hazardous waste and sent to a RCRA approved incinerator or disposed in a RCRA approved waste facility. Processing, use or contamination of this product may change the waste management options. State and local disposal regulations may differ from federal disposal regulations. Dispose of container and unused contents in accordance with federal, state and local requirements.” Umm, I just put that down my drain - and considerably more than I wanted to as I spilled half the bottle in scrubbing my tub (more on that later).

I should also mention though, that we should try not to overreact.  After all, this is the MSDS for acetic acid - which diluted enough is vinegar.  There are a lot of similarities in terms of toxicity data - they are both acids and in concentrated form are both pretty nasty things.  As you can see and in all fairness to Chlorox sometimes the key to safety of a product is dilution.  In the end, maybe Green Works really is a better choice for the environment.  My problem is that I just don’t know enough to know if I’m helping or exacerbating the problem in choosing this product.  Furthermore, I’m not sure anyone has this answer.

Alright, so finally cleaning action, though I feel as though I can stop right where I am - I’m not buying this again.  Green Works smells nice: a nice citrusy clean and fresh scent (somehow this doesn’t seem nearly as big a plus as before I did my homework).  if you remember, I do like the smell of bleach and this is a big thing for me - I want the room I’ve cleaned to smell like I’ve just cleaned it.  Worst of all, it worked alright in terms of cleaning ability, maybe no more or less than just using water to wipe away the obvious dirt and it did not remove the soap scum very well at all.

In the end, I’m disappointed in this product.  I know I don’t have the whole picture, but I feel as though I’m trading in the known toxins and pollutants for an unknown, in unknown concentration.  The container claims it’s made with natural ingredients, but Chlorox isn’t giving us the whole picture.  Truthfully, I feel silly for trying it before researching the label, but then again it’s a good lesson learned.  I may be overreacting since the MSDS sheet is for a concentrated acid and the chances are that this chemical is very dilute in the cleaner.  Then again, why would I choose to put this into the environment any more than bleach?  I don’t have enough information to justify that choice.  And I feel like too often we jump on to the next thing as being better without knowing first and end up worse off in the end.

After all that, I was still left with soap scum.  So guess what I tried? I pulled out sodium bicarbonate - that’s right folks, baking soda.  Man, did baking soda ever get rid of the soap scum.  My tub is so clean, I got rid of scum I didn’t even know I had! :)  Yes, I had to use significant elbow grease, but it worked.  Of course, while scrubbing my little heart out I spilled half the bottle of the Green Works on the floor (the cap came loose), and had to clean up that mess.  The bathroom took forever to clean this morning, but it was a good experiment in the end. Now I just need to find something that will work well with baking soda, smells nice and clean, but won’t kill me or my kin, and I don’t have to fear what it’s going to do down the line.

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** For you non-chemists out there an Material Safety Data Sheet (or MSDS) is available for every chemical out there.  It’s there for us folks who have to work with nasty chemicals to know the hazards posed in exposure to or contact with the chemicals.  In the US and Canada at least, they must be provided, and you can look them up for any chemical you have in your home.  I found this one through a chemical supplier Mallinkrodt Baker.