Air quality in an office is impacted by various things. Dust, metals, mold, bacteria, endotoxins, viruses, and allergens can all pollute the air.

Add to that the office cleaning chemicals a lot of cleaners use day-in and day-out, and we have a big problem.

Up to 30 percent of our population has allergies. Add to that the people who have respiratory troubles or with compromised immune systems and chances are there’s at least an employee working in every office at high risk of complications that come from using too much cleaning chemical or using them improperly.

Are Office Cleaners Safe for Indoor Air Quality?

Learning how to use office cleaners is a must. Unfortunately, there are cleaners used in small business offices every day packed with problematic materials, i.e. bleach or ammonia, volatile organic compounds (VOCs), high pH levels, and solvents. Used improperly, these lead to respiratory toxicity.

Air toxicity can often be resolved through air circulation in an emergency or by minimizing chemical usage to start.

Read more: How Do Office Cleaners Affect Indoor Air Quality – see here!

Make your cleaning routine more eco-friendly. Do it with more eco-friendly cleaners as alternatives to chemical cleaners. Do it by using harsher cleaners in more careful ways. For consumers looking to make more eco-conscious choices when it comes to cleaning, here are some common ingredients found in environmentally sustainable cleaners.

What Can You Find in Eco-Friendly Cleaners?

Plant-based cleaners exist. They often contain ingredients that are not easily accessible or available. Plant-based cleaners are effective in a variety of ways, with their primary advantage being they biodegrade.

For example, decyl glucoside, a non-ionic surfactant, is plant-based and used in some cleaners to break down molecules of water even smaller. This thereby allows the soap in a solution to permeate more efficiently. Capryl glucoside is another plant-based ingredient used similarly.

Dozens of on-the-rise eco-friendly cleaning brands exist, many favoring the use of plant-based ingredients over chemicals.

Dish soap is a non-harmful cleaner and safe to use. It contains no allergens, skin or respiratory irritants, and is non-toxic. It is not harsh enough to destroy, stain, or degrade.

Read more: What is In Eco-Friendly Cleaners – see here!

 To have a clean office free of COVID-19, a healthy amount of cleaning with disinfectants is recommended.

Disinfectants are used every day now in hotels and restaurants, gyms, retail, pet stores, pharmacies, healthcare facilities, small business environments, and government offices. Is it possible to use too much disinfectant – well, here’s the truth.

How Do Disinfectants Work?

Disinfectants is a cleaning product that inactivates and kills microorganisms like bacteria and viruses.

How to use a disinfectant is simple. Clean the area first. Second, apply the disinfectant. For a disinfectant to work, it shouldn’t be immediately wiped away. Leave the disinfectant there. This is called the ‘dwell time’. It typically lasts 5-10 minutes.

Through the dwell time, the disinfectant breaks through the bonds of a germ or virus and kills it slowly but thoroughly.

Please note, if a surface is not cleaned beforehand, the dwell time may need to increase. Most likely what will happen is that the disinfectant won’t work at all. Ensure you clean and then disinfect, not strictly disinfect.

Read more: Is It A Danger to Use Too Much Disinfectant In Office Protocols to Clean – read here!

The toxic nature of cleaning chemicals is incentive to do what we can to use eco-friendly alternatives.

There are tremendous benefits to switching to eco-friendly cleaners and cleaning techniques, including most notably it being safer than the use of chemicals which are not only damaging to the environment but also to other human beings in the office.

Steam, for example, is a safe and effective way to clean carpets, bathrooms, and general materials.

This involves no use of chemicals and is equally effective in a lot of cases, merely through the power of moisture and warmth. By using steam cleaning instead of more abrasive toxic ingredients, you save on risk and waste.

What Are the Most Eco-Friendly Cleaners?

You may see buzzwords like ‘all-natural’ and ‘eco-friendly’ used on cleaners but this doesn’t necessarily indicate that a product is chemical-free or toxin-free.

The most eco-friendly cleaners are those that are made without the use of or with minimal chemicals.

There are eco-friendly office cleaning products for almost every product, from disinfectants/sanitizers to floor cleaners, liquid deodorizers, degreasers, and more. There are homemade cleaners as well, using combinations of dish soap, water, vinegar, and/or baking soda.

Eco-friending cleaning procedures and a committed eco-friendly office cleaning plan may include any of the following.

Read more: What Do Eco-Friendly Office Cleaning Products Look Like in 2021?