DIY Cleaning Products: Tips

One of the problems we have found with making out own cleaning products is that they tend to solidify over time (especially if the area they are stored in gets cold overnight). We are talking here about recipes that use soap of some kind (for us that means, dish washing liquid, hand wash, and laundry detergent). Commercial products contain ingredients to stop that happening but not when you make it yourself. Here are some tips to solve this problem:

• Make sure you use the right amount of liquid and soap when you make up the recipe 
• Always give the bottle a shake before using.
• If it gets really thick then pour the bottle into a mixing bowl, add a little boiling water at a time while mixing with an electric mixer on low or a whisk. When it looks like the right consistency pour it back into the bottle.
• Ecostore soap makes products of a better consistency than Sunlight Soap. 

Let us know if you have any other issues.

While I'm talking about this, I found yet another source of soap; Trade Aid. You can buy their soaps from Trade Aid stores or online and they only cost $3. As everything Trade Aid sells is fair trade so these are sustainably  produced (even the palm oil!) and the workers get a fair wage. More info here. I have not yet tried these soaps in a recipe but I don't see any reason they would be much different to the Ecostore soaps as they have similar ingredients.

Anybody found another good source of soap?

The Good Stuff: Cookies!

This segment highlights the good things out there. Products that by design or chance are free of all the ingredients and practices that we keep banging on about. So enjoy!


I'm not sure if we have mentioned this before but pretty much all supermarket biscuits contain (or probably contain) palm oil. We don't eat a lot of biscuits but when we do we generally make out own. But when you want a biscuit in a hurry though what are your options? 

'No poo' update

Its been about 16 weeks since I stopped washing my hair. Most sites about going 'no poo' that I have read state that it takes around 6 weeks for your hair to regulate its oil supply. For me it took a little longer, but that doesn't mean that I had greasy, lank hair for that whole time- rather it was days of 'ponytail hair'.

I started out at first just rinsing with water every day and massaging my scalp, but I found that I ended up with dandruff. A month ago, I found that if I do a weekly baking soda and cider vinegar wash, my hair ends up looking even better and with little or no dandruff.

I'm glad I started, as its so nice not having to buy shampoo or conditioner and I don't have to worry about the chemicals I'm putting on my skin.

HERE is the link to our original post back in May and below is my baking soda/cider vinegar routine, inspired by the Instructables post here

Baking Soda Wash:

1-2TB Baking soda

Add 1 cup water.

Apply the mixture to your hair- particularly at the roots, and massage in.

Rinse thoroughly

Cider Vinegar rinse:

1-2TB apple cider vinegar (I dont tend to measure, I just slosh it in)

Add 1 cup water

Work it in the same way as the baking soda and rinse completely.

Healthy hair for the both of us!

DIY Laundry Detergent: Costs compared

One of my major reasons for making your own laundry detergent was cost; but how does it really compare?  Prices vary so I've looked around and taken a rough average (eg. Ecostore was around $9 at PacN'Save but around $12 at Countdown so my average is $11). Hopefully the calculations are pretty accurate, if you spot any mistakes let us know in the comments.

The Competition:

Ecostore Laundry Liquid Ultra Concentrate: 28 washes per litre (35.7ml), $11 per litre. = $0.39 per 35.7ml wash

Earthwise Ultra Laundry Liquid: 37 washes per 750mL  (49.5 washes per litre), $7 per 750mL ($9.33 per litre).= $0.18 per 20.2ml wash

Persil Small & Mighty Cold Water: 14 washes per 475mL (29.5 washes per litre), $7 per 475mL ($14.74 per litre). 14.74/29.5= $0.50 per 33.9ml wash

Budget Laundry Detergent: 1/4 cup (60ml) per wash (16 washes per litre), $4.45 per 2 litres ($2.23 per litre). 2.23/16= $0.14c per 62.5ml wash

I would have loved to do some other brands (such as Dynamo as we used to use it) but they didn't have number of loads or usage in mls on the bottle. I would have had to buy and measure out to find out the necessary data (which I wasn't prepared to do, sorry folks!). Anyway out of the products I surveyed, Budget was the cheapest, followed by Earthwise, with Ecostore coming in third. But how did the homemade stuff stack up?

Homemade laundry detergent

50 g Borax - $0.80 (500g: $8 Soapcraft)

½ cup washing soda (130g weighed on our kitchen scales) - $0.54 (1kg washing soda: $4.19 at Foodtown)

7.5litres of water - Free*

20 drops essential oil - $0.41** (12ml eucalyptus oil: $5 Soapcraft)
½ bar grated sunlight soap - $0.39 (500G (pack of 4) $3.14 at Foodtown ($0.78/bar)
OR
½ bar grated dr bronners castille soap = $5 (140g bar $9.99 at greengoddess)

½ cup of laundry detergent per wash = 125ml per wash.

7500ml / 125ml = 60 washes

Total cost to make: $1.73 no essential oil, $2.14 with essential oil, $6.34 with castille soap and no essential oil, $6.75 with castille soap and essential oil

$0.02 per wash without the essential oil and $0.03 per wash with essential oil. $0.10 per wash with castille soap but no essential oil, and $0.11 with castille soap and essential oil. 

So ridiculously cheap with sunlight soap and merely very cheap with fair trade castille soap. I suppose we haven't factored in the 'labour cost' but in reality, it doesn't take us much time to make anyway. And we use recycled milk bottles to put it in, so no cost there. We used sunlight soap the first time because $10 seemed like a stupid price for one bar of soap and we weren't sure the recipe would be as good as shop bought products, but after doing the calculations we will definitely use the good stuff next time!

So even ignoring the ecological benefits (which I'm not sure how I would even start to calculate) making your own laundry detergent definitely makes sense.


*Well, not actually free unless you collect rainwater but we don't know how to calculate the cost of this!
**We have gone with the general rule of thumb (and found on various places on the net) as 20drop/ml. Though technically this rule is for water, it gives us an approximate costing of the oil.
***obviously these numbers had to be viscously rounded to get numbers that makes sense in $ terms. 

DIY Cleaning Products ep.2

Anyone try the DIY spray cleaner and glass cleaner? If you haven't, you should it's really good. Anyway here's the next one to try. It's a bit more complex and you will need to do some specialist shopping but it is worth it. If you want to try some to see if it works as good as the store bought stuff; you can buy it ready made here, 


(This is another one from Wendyl Nissen by the way)

Farmers markets

Though not always the cheapest place to buy food, buying from local farmers markets means that you support your local producers by buying direct from them, and buying food that hasn't traveled the length of the island from farm to auction to store is fresher and better for the environment. Also farmers markets are a great place to get organic and free range produce and to try something new. More than often you do end up picking up some great specials too!


Yesterday we discovered the Hobsonville Point Farmers Market which is located on the land where the Hobsonville Air base used to be. Its on every Sunday morning from 9am-1pm and is undercover so even though the weather wasn't so great today, we were still able to go and enjoy it.


One of the products we love to buy at the markets is local honey. We have bought EarthBound Honey which is produced in Bethells Valley many times and it is great (try the Pohutukawa). We also got some Harmony free range (dry cured) bacon for a steal! They are SPCA Blue Tick accredited and have a great range of other meats too.


Other farmers markets:
Oratia Farmers Market: Artisan Wines, 99 Parrs Cross Road, Oratia. Saturday; 9am to 12.
Parnell Farmers Market: Jubilee Building Carpark, 545 Parnell Road, Parnell. Saturday; 8am to 12.


There are many more out there (check out http://www.farmersmarkets.org.nz/) but we have been to Oratia and Hobsonville Point and have heard good things about Parnell from friends.


So check out your local farmers market and let us know what you think.

Roundtable On Sustainable Palm Oil launch new Logo

The Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) has launched a new logo, Read about it here. No idea if we will see it on products in NZ, but it raises some important issues. If you saw the logo on a product in NZ would it encourage people to buy it? Would that decision be based on sound information or simply because it sounds environmentally friendly? This blog article raises many issues, some of which I will look at here.

Lets get one thing straight, RSPO certified palm oil products are more environmentally friendly than non-certified palm oil products. The question is, are they good enough? I am a big fan of the idea that we don't need to buy ethically perfect products right now (many simply don't exist yet). What we need to do is buy the most ethical product that is available and create demand for positive change. But if palm oil free products are more ethical than RSPO certified products then staying palm oil free still the preferred option.


Whats the problem?

Auckland Zoo says "only around 4% of the world's palm oil is certifiably sustainable and this 4% cannot be traced back to the plantation that produced it... At present, being a member of the Roundtable for Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) - an industry led group, not an independent body - is still not a 100% guarantee that palm oil is from a sustainable source"

So even if a product carries the RSPO logo this is no guarantee that all of the palm palm oil used is sustainable. The RSPO at the end of the day is a voluntary, industry led organisation and has limits as to how much change it can make at the local level.


So if you have no palm oil free options then RSPO certified products could be worth buying. Or you could decide that on balance certified palm oil is better than the alternatives as Ecostore do, but I simply do not see how it could be justifed. Ecostore says "The other alternative to palm oil is a petrochemical, but this unsustainable." True, petrochemicals are unsustainable, one day they will run out; but is this a problem? I would rather we ran out of petrochemicals than orangutans. 


I could be wrong here, I'm no expert, what do you think?

Love food hate waste?

On Sunday, I saw four trolley loads worth of bread products being dumped in a skip by a local supermarket. I asked people (on Facebook) why this bread could not perhaps be donated or given away and was told that although some is often donated locally, there are issues of food safety and issues of legality*.

Is it just me or is this a little nuts?

Seeing this certainly got me thinking- not just about the wider wastage of food by large companies, but closer to home- the food we waste in our households.

We all do it. We cook too much, forget to put it away (or perhaps we don't have anywhere to put it) and then we throw it out. Or we buy products on special (coz its cheap!) which we don't use;they go off and then we throw them out. In fact, I know there are food items in our fridge right now which will be going in the bin for tomorrow's rubbish collection. Stuff which we should have frozen but didn't; things which we should have made an effort to use.

So how do we combat this problem?

I have found two great websites which deal with this issue.

Sustainability.govt.nz has a great section on reducing your amount of food waste under 'Shopping'.

Love food hate waste is a website run by a non-profit organisation in the UK. They promote recycling, home composting and most of all, wasting less food.

Both sites have a great section on tips and some of these I have collated below:

• Plan your meals-- we keep meaning to try this.
• Use your leftovers
• Store your food properly
• Check 'Use by' and 'Best Before' dates (and both sites explain the difference between these)

After seeing all of this wastage, We are going to try to dramatically reduce the food waste in our household. Part of this, unfortunately, probably means reducing the amount of baking I do, which for me is quite a big thing. We will try the meal planning idea which has never worked for us, but perhaps we are missing something.

Does anyone have any great ideas on how they have or will reduce the amount of food waste in their household?

Any ideas are greatly appreciated!

*ie if someone got sick from eating old food, the supermarket would be liable. There's probably a lot more to this as well, but this is the information I was told.

Fair Trade Fortnight: Coffee

Offically Fair Trade Fortnight ended last week, but we havn't finished yet!

Fair Trade Coffee is similar to chocolate in that it is very widely availible in supermarkets and usually a similar price. Non-fair trade coffee is also similar to chocolate in its exploitation of the people that produce it. Oxfam NZ says:

"Over 25 million people in the developing world depend on coffee farming to make a living. But the volatility of coffee prices makes it a very unreliable source of income for growers.
At times, coffee prices have fallen so low that growers have been unable to cover even their production costs, leaving many growers and their families suffering from malnutrition and often forced to abandon their family farms... Just a few cents of the price we pay for a cup of coffee actually gets back to the coffee farmer." http://www.oxfam.org.nz/what-we-do/issues/fair-trade/about-fairtrade/fairtrade-coffee

While

"Buying  fair trade coffee is a great way for shoppers like us to make a real difference to the lives of coffee farmers and their families. More and more coffee farmers are working their way out of poverty through Fairtrade. By selling to the Fairtrade market, coffee farmers are guaranteed a fair, stable price so that they can always cover their production costs and meet their basic needs. In addition, coffee producers receive a Fairtrade premium for investing in local community development projects, such as schools, water wells, health or training." http://www.oxfam.org.nz/what-we-do/issues/fair-trade/about-fairtrade/fairtrade-coffee

There is an excellent film made about the coffee industry and the effects of fair trade on the lives of coffee growers, it is called 'Black Gold'. Find out more at  http://www.blackgoldmovie.com/ and it is also availible at trade aid shops.


Look for this logo





 

 

Where To Buy:

Fairtrade coffee is availible in lots of places and is sold by many brands. Most supermarkets sell it with the regular coffee, some brands have one or two varieties certified, others have their whole range. Look for the fair trade logo. Most fair trade coffee is also certified organic so if you are interested in that look out for one of the certified organic logos, see http://www.organicexplorer.co.nz/About+OE/About+Organic+Food+Certification+Symbols.html for more infomation.



Many cafes also sell fair trade coffee, and 'Wild Bean Cafe' at BP service stations sell fair trade coffee and hot chocolate. Again look for the fair trade logo and ask if you are not sure.

What is your favourite Fair Trade cafe? let us know in the comments.



Fair Trade Fortnight: Chocolate

We have found that Fairtrade chocolate is by far the easiest Fairtrade item to get excited about! Aside from the obvious- that chocolate is amazingly great- it's also fairly easy to purchase Fairtrade chocolate.

Chocolate is the kind of product that many people claim they 'cant live without'. What used to be a luxury product which only the rich could afford is now something which kids can buy with their pocket money.

Oxfam (NZ) has estimated that  

"More than 70 per cent of the world’s cocoa is grown in tropical West Africa, where over 10 million people are dependent on cocoa farming for their income.

Historically, Chocolate- or Cacao, as the raw product is called- comes from South and Central America.
It was the Spanish that took it to Europe and consequently set up colonial plantations in Africa, Indonesia, Sri Lanka and other countries where Cacao was not traditionally grown. This was at a time when slavery was rife and acceptable. Slavery was abolished in England 1838, USA 1865, and prohibited internationally in 1926 by the slave convention. Despite this, according to the International Justice Mission (IJM) there are approximately 27 million slaves in the world today which is more than in any other time in history. Many of these slaves still work on cocoa plantations. Fairtrade isn't specifically about stopping slavery though- there are many fantastic organisations which do outstanding work in this area.
The Fairtrade association (international) do state that they are:

 "building partnerships with leading international development organizations specializing in projects on location to protect children from the worst forms of child labour. 

ICCO, which is the International Cocoa Organisation* has stated in their International Cocoa Agreement of 2010 that

"Members shall give consideration to improving the standard of living and working conditions of populations engaged in the cocoa sector, consistent with their stage of development, bearing in mind internationally  recognized principles and applicable ILO** standards. Furthermore, Members agree that labour standards shall not be used for protectionist trade purposes."

Fairtrade cocoa allows the cocoa farmer to make a good living as the fair trade standards include a minimum price. For those who love graphs, here's a good one which shows the difference between fair trade and the New York Market prices: http://www.fairtrade.net/fileadmin/user_upload/content/2009/products/Cocoa_Price_Chart_94-08.pdf "




Where to buy:
Several manufacturers in NZ produce Fairtrade chocolate. 
- All Scarborough Fair products are fair trade including their chocolate range and are available in supermarkets
- Similarly Trade Aid products are all fair trade but are mainly available in Trade Aid stores.
- Candbury's 'Dairy Milk' range is fair trade (but not their other flavours - check for the fair trade logo) 
- Whittakers 'Creamy Milk' range is fair trade (but not their other flavours - check for the fair trade logo)


The great thing about fair trade chocolate is that usually (at least in the case of Candbury and Whittakers) it does not cost any more; and as there is no fair trade palm oil, it will taste better too.


*www.icco.org ICCO is composed of both cocoa producing and cocoa consuming countries with a membership. http://www.icco.org/pdf/agree10english.pdf 
** International Labour Organisation http://www.ilo.org/ run by the UN and is an international organization responsible for drawing up and overseeing international labour standards.


References:
http://www.fairtrade.net/fileadmin/user_upload/content/2009/about_fairtrade/Factsheet_Fairtrade_Fights_Child_Labour.pdf
http://www.oxfam.org.nz/what-we-do/issues/fair-trade/about-fairtrade/fairtrade-chocolate
www.ijm.org
http://www.tearfund.org.nz/about-us/newsroom.html?articleid=265&k=slavery

Fair Trade Fortnight: Bananas

So it's Fairtrade Fortnight again, the time of the year to celebrate all things Fairtrade. First up is bananas. Only one NZ company (All Good Bananas www.allgoodbananas.co.nz) imports fairtrade bananas so that makes it simpler, if a little one sided. Apparently NZ eats more bananas per capita than any other country in the world, which means our decisions about this humble fruit can have large impacts. All Good Bananas says this about the standard banana trade:

"The majority of banana plantation works don’t earn enough to live and support their families. Some earn less that $3 a day. However bananas have made big profits for banana companies and supermarkets. To keep prices low – and profit margins high – farmers and plantation workers at the bottom of the supply chain don’t get much in return. This pressure inevitably means lower wages, longer hours, and deteriorating working conditions for the growers. It’s difficult for them to voice their concerns, as they’re often prevented from forming trade unions to protect their rights and improve their situation."

This is a fairly common problem with most third world produced food, but bananas are by far the most common in NZ. And it doesn't cost that much more - usually you will pay around $2.99 for a bunch of bananas, All Good Fairtrade Bananas cost around $3.99. So what do you and the grower get for for the extra buck?

"Fairtrade provides a lifeline for these growers. This is done by an agreed stable price which covers the cost of sustainable production and enables workers to provide for their families. Cooperatives also receive a Fairtrade premium which producer organisations invest in community projects like healthcare and education facilities. Farmers decide themselves how to invest the premium they earn.There is no other ethical trade initiative that holistically addresses the problems faced by small-scale producers working at the far end of global supply chains, over which they have no influence, but in which decisions that are made affect their whole lives."

This is pretty much the standard idea when it comes to fairtrade. However All Good bananas are also free from dangerous sprays which are commonly used on regular bananas (Although they do occasionally get fumigated on import by MAF). And that is good for both the grower and you. More infomation on this at http://allgoodbananas.co.nz/faq/. 


So where can you get some?
Not all supermarkets and fruit & vegetable shops sell fairtrade bananas yet, although lots do. All Good Bananas have a cool banana finder map on there website: www.allgoodbananas.co.nz/find-a-banana/. If you can't find any in a shop near you then ask them to get them! It does work, many stores have started stocking fairtrade bananas because people asked for them. They will be right next to the regular bananas and you can tell the difference because there will be a slight glow emanating from them because they are so good. Oh wait, I read too much All Good Bananas promotional material in researching this article! Actually they have All Good Bananas/Fairtrade tape around each bunch and usually a branded sign too.


enjoy your bananas!

Dynamo: Palm Oil Free

We got a reply from Colgate-Palmolive today, and, we quote "Dynamo does not contain any palm oil in its ingredients". So while there is probably cleaning products out there that a better for the environment, palm oil is not one of Dynamo's crimes.

As we went though this process we realised that even so called 'green' companies use palm oil. Ecostore, for example, freely admit as much on their website (http://www.ecostore.co.nz/about/palmoil.html). It seems odd that a 'green' specialist company uses palm oil when a mainstream manufacturer does not, but it is because ecostore are not only 'green' but 'natural'. Dynamo is almost certainly petrochemical based, and ecostore is plant based. The debate about petrochemicals is for a different day, but beware because 'natural' and 'green' are not aways compatible.


We would be remiss not to mention that ecostore are members of the roundtable on sustainable palm oil (www.rspo.org) but ecostore admit that this does not mean that all the palm oil they use is sustainable.

iPad plant rules 'inhumane' - NZ Herald News

iPad plant rules 'inhumane' - Technology - NZ Herald News: "An investigation into the conditions of Chinese workers has revealed the human cost of producing Apple iPhones and iPads.

The research has revealed allegations of excessive working hours at two Apple plants in southern China."

Ingredients lists

We'd be fools to not start with the list on the back of the products... which we nearly didn't do!

As mentioned in the previous post, the Auckland Zoo website has a great 'shopping guide' to help you find non palm oil products. At the very end of the list they have a section designed to help you look at ingredients lists on products to find what is palm oil by a different name:

"Palm oil kernel, anything containing the words “Palmitate” or “Palmate”, Elaeis gunieensis (taxonomic name for palm oil), Hydrated Palm Gylcerides, Hexadecanoic or Palmitic Acid."

 They also list ingredients which might be palm oil:

"Vegetable oil, Anything containing the words “stearate, stearyl”, Anything containing the words “cetyl, cetearyl”, Sodium Lauryl Sulphate (SLS), Sodium Laureth Sulphate, Sodium Dodecyl Sulphate (SDS or NaDS), Sodium or Calcium Stearoyl Lactylate, Steareth -2 and Steareth -20, Emulsifier 422, 430-36, 465-67, 470-8, 481-483, 493-5, 570"

To be honest, its a little scary reading the back of these products. They seem more like a chemistry textbook than something you'd put in your hair (Pantene), wash your clothes with (Dynamo) or even scarier, wipe your babies bum with (Huggies). We realise that these are mostly just fancy names for some pretty standard ingredients, but still!

Pantene: Ammonium laureth sulfate can be derived from coconut oil or palm oil, so we will be writing to the manufacturer to clarify which one.

Huggies wipes: It looks like Huggies wipes are palm oil free, Potassium Laureth Phosphate could be a problem but to be sure we will email the company.

Dynamo: New Zealand's labelling laws mean that if a product isn't used on the body or consumed, a company does not legally need to list the ingredients on the bottle. We did find this online though, thanks to the website listed on the bottle itself! Here is the link for your reference: http://www.colgate.com.au/app/Colgate/AU/HC/Product-Ingredients/Dynamo.cvsp nothing seems to contain palm oil, but we will write to the manufacturer to be sure. Good on Colgate-Palmolive PTY LTD. for providing more information than legally required to.

We will email these three companies and let you all know how we get on. If there are any products which anyone wants us to look into, please let us know and we'll do our very best!

Cheers

Welcome and Palm Oil

Hi and welcome to our blog. Join us in finding better ways to live.


Recently we have become concerned about the use of palm oil in food and other products. Palm oil is responsible for massive deforestation in countries such as Indonesia and Malaysia, forests which are home to some of the worlds most endangered species such as Sumatran Tigers, Asian rhinos, Asian elephants and Orangutans. The problem is that palm oil is found in 10% of all grocery products and does not have to be labeled (In NZ at least). More in formation about palm oil can be found at Auckland Zoo's website: http://www.aucklandzoo.co.nz/conservation/buy-palm-oil-free/palm-oil-facts.aspx 
The first step to eliminating palm oil from our household is buying products from Auckland Zoo's palm oil free shopping guide: http://www.aucklandzoo.co.nz/media/701178/palm_oil_free_shopping_list.pdf
So here is a list of 'suspect' products that we buy. Join us in investigating these products for palm oil:
Dynamo laundry detergent 
Huggies unscented baby wipes
Pantene shampoo and conditioner


Buy Palm Oil Free NZ Facebook  page: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Buy-Palm-Oil-Free/105046979577360