ECO blog Australia #3 - ‘BLEACH, Is It Worth Your Dime?’
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Hello again ECO legends!
You have made it to BLOG #3, I am so glad you have decided to come along this journey with us and slowly get better at all this stuff together.
Disclaimer!
Now, what i am going to write about may shock many people.
It sure rocked my boat when we started to look deeper into why we should be creating unbleached products.
This is going to be a longer article, because there are many elements to consider, and thus I will do my best to keep it read-easy and engaging.
But damn, you’re in for a ride.
So, grab your drink of choice and let’s explore this pretty serious allegory.
But please remember to always do your own research and cross check everything with many sources from different perspectives, then hopefully you can trust our research team enough in the future so we can do as much as we can for you.
I will provide numerous links, from reputable organisations and people so you can check it out for yourself.
You have an amazingly powerful mind, please use it well to make your own decisions.
I am personally writing these articles to help our community practically move towards a minimal waste one, whilst keeping our and our planets health in tip top shape. We can only do this by slow and steady improvements.
I am also not trying to call out or go against the bleach industry here (which sounds like a scary phrase). I am merely trying to bring to the light elements and facets of our way of living that went sour or is causing perpetuating and subtle damage to our health and dear Earth.
So bleach….. is it all bad?
Absolutely not. Here is what bleach does well:
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it is a powerful and useful disinfectant in many different instances.
It makes microorganism proteins break down, thus killing bacteria, fungus and common viruses. -
It can clean surfaces and particularly white porcelain surfaces almost back to new.
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There are many other claims like sterilize drinking water, however i do not want to be responsible for such statements, so you did not hear that here- and i just would not do that anyway.
So what’s all the fuss then?
There are a few things on the surface level that we understand about bleach and what to be careful of such as:
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The dangers of breathing it in, and how it can accumulate in the air.
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The dangers of skin contact with it.
But there are even greater and more subtle dangers.
More than merely the direct effects it can have on ones health if used irresponsibly, the manufacturing process of producing bleach and products containing bleach have devastating effects such as:
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Disposing it in natural environments where it wreaks havoc.
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Releasing it in drains and in water bodies with other industrial waste.
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When the chlorine in bleach mixes with other organic compounds in the water it creates other harmful chemicals.
The worst being Dioxins. (Please remember this word).
What the heck are these things?
Dioxins are essentially environmental pollutants.
Classified under the Stockholm Convention as in the “Dirty Dozen” which is a group of POPs.
POPs? Sounds cute…
Actually it is not even slightly cute.
It stands for “Persistent Organic Pollutants”, which means they are really hard to breakdown and they hang around for generations.
It’s actually so serious that in order to address this global concern, the United States joined forces with 90 other countries and the European Community to sign a United Nations Treaty in Stockholm, Sweden, in May 2001.
The EPA (Environmental Protection Agency)
How are they created?
Although they can be created from volcanos and forest fires, more than 90% was made by us.
Yes us!
(Well actually large industrial corporations, however we need to take responsibility as a unified human species if we are going to fix anything).
According to the World Health Organisation:
”Dioxins are unwanted by-products of a wide range of manufacturing processes including;
- Smelting
- Chlorine bleaching of paper pulp
- The manufacturing of some herbicides and pesticides.
Even though the formation and release of dioxins are local, it spreads like wildfire throughout the environment.
The WHO go on to state that:
“The highest levels of these compounds are found in some soils, sediments and food, especially dairy products, meat, fish and shellfish. Very low levels are food in plants, water and air”.
Okay, so they are in the environment and our bodies, but why are they so bad?
As mentioned before, they are stubborn little suckers that are almost immortal.
So when they do enter our bodies through a range of exposures, they are absorbed by our fat tissue and stored there for a while.
Research has suggested that the dioxins ‘half-life’ stays in the body for approximately 7-11 years, and a half-life for over 100 years in the soil.
Half-life is a medical term for breaking down to 50%. I personally haven’t found any good evidence of a full breakdown or detox to 100%, so if anyone has please feel free to email me and let me know or comment down below and we can discuss till the little ducks come back.
According to the EPA:
“Dioxins are highly toxic and can cause cancer, reproductive and developmental problems, damage to the immune system, and can interfere with hormones”.
Okay wow… How do they sneak into our bodies?
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A very small amount from natural causes (volcanoes, forest fires)
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Industrial waste that sneaks into our waterways and we drink it.
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Airborne particles from industrial burning and irresponsible disposal
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Commercial and backyard burning of trash
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Chlorine bleaching of pulp and paper and other industrial processes can create small quantities of dioxins in the environment.
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Smoking cigarettes
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“More than 90% of typical human exposure is estimated by EPA to be through the intake of animal fats, mainly meat, dairy products, fish, and shellfish” - EPA
How do we minimise exposure?
It is challenging to make change at the corporate and industrial level, but there are things we can do right now, with slow and steady changes to make big and better things happen in the future:
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Use the power of your coin support businesses that do not have bleaches and dioxins in their products. And thus slowly putting pressure on companies to make the transition.
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Do not burn trash in your backyard (or anywhere for that matter)
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Stop smoking cigarettes if you can.
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Do not compost with white papers or wipeables.
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Use unbleached products!
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Reduce or research how to attain low dioxide level meat, dairy products, fish and eggs.
Are all white papers and wipes bleached with chlorine and dioxide forming agents?
No they are not.
Though we will not know unless it is specifically stated so.
With wipes for example, the bleach is not an ingredient that needs to be portrayed on the ingredient list.
Therefore, it is safer just to avoid it all together.
So why did we start bleaching things in the first place?
It’s actually super interesting.
It’s time to refill your cup and swap which way your legs were crossed.
I’ll take you back to 1922, open this in another tab for some scene setting music >>> Nothing Could Be Sweeter (from "Hit The Deck") - YouTube
Bleach is a process of whitening a product or substance, for a multitude of reasons.
The process dates back to 5000 BC in Egypt, when sun drying after washing would whiten garments, this process developed over time until we arrived to where we are today.
It gets really fascinating when we consider the transition of brown to white bread, particularly psychologically (well i find it fascinating at least).
Bread was usually made in the home until small bakeries supplied more bread for people in the industrial age. They were however, quite dirty, underground and had unsightly working conditions according to anecdotes.
As we approached the end of the 1800s, food-borne illnesses such as typhoid, cholera and typhus started to increase which put fear in the minds of the people in regards to their food.
Not long after, the people wanted to know where their food was coming from and how it was made, which actually included the avoidance of bakery bread and that sweet morning bread smell that bread never tastes like (Please comment below if anyone has ever tasted bread that tastes the way it smells freshly baked, and where to attain it).
This is where factory made snowy white bread became trusted, as it was new, innovative, modern and well funded. This resulted in the trust of the visually “clean” white bread and industrial bakeries chose white bread as their poster product because white meant, cleanliness, purity and the contemporary direction.
It eventually became an element of white race superiority and there were some seriously archaic comments made by food reformers and health writers at the time about the topic. You can do some research on these comments and perspectives if you wish to see how far we have come.
White bread at the time became a social status for the wealthy white folk and brown bread was seen as bread for immigrants and the like.
You can read all about this topic in the well written: ‘White Bread: A Social History of the Store-Bought Loaf’ by Aaron Bobrow-Strain. I never thought i would be so captivated by the social implications of bread in society, but it goes very deep. Just think about all the implications bread and bread nomenclature has had on our history.
As the bread got sweeter, fluffier and more respected, the value of whole meal and whole foods declined drastically. This new technological food became royalty and was portrayed on the television as gold, and that box in the corner of the lounge room was the new word of god.
This phenomena of valuing industrial processes happened in almost every industry. However, as we begin to re- educate ourselves through the power of this information age, we understand the necessity of having things as close to natural as possible.
So what’s our role in this conversation?
At our company, we have created beautiful unbleached wipes that match the caliber and performance of white wipes, without the bleach so you know you are not putting bleach or dioxins into your compost or into the environment through your means of disposal.
They are constructed from raw bamboo pulp, a highly renewable wild harvest that contain silica which enriches soil rather than poisons it. You can read all about why they are so good here:
What makes ECO wipes so special?
We are however, here to talk about the solution at hand.
As a company and a crew of super passionate eco entrepreneurs and environmental guardians, we will continue to create products of high standard with this same mind frame of bringing the old and simple healthy ways back into the our modern way of living and back into the cycle of nature.
What can i do to help?
First thing is first, is the mind set. Being mindful of what you purchase and what you consume as a daily practice will do more for you than you could ever imagine. This will create small incremental changes which eventually create massive and hard to lose habits.
Mindfulness improves everything in your life, as your awareness and focus increases. Thus, over time this constant mindfulness turns into sharp focus, and sharp focus improves ability to learn and retain information.
So… may as well hey?
The other thing as I have said many times, is to support businesses that will support you on this journey. Not only are you putting the power of your heard earned money to a vote on business conduct, but also you’re rewarding people who do the hard work for you.
What businesses are helping with this particular mission?
In this ECO blog series i will only be mentioning products that i have tried and put under the pressure test of my personal standards.
And thus, i will not be promoting things for the sake of it, i would like to make sure that what i say stands true to my word.
And at this stage of the BLOG series, the products will be Australian, so if any internationals are reading this, you' will have to do your own research based upon these principles, or post some good stuff in the comments for other non-Aussies.
Organic flours, wholefoods and more | Kialla Pure Foods (kiallafoods.com.au)
JERRY BAGS | Totally Compostable Pet Poop Bags | Created From Corn
Thanks for reading and good luck with your new findings!
Floyd Cento.