Central Otago Reap educator Shona Bain has been using home-made chemical-free cleaners for decades and believes in them totally for effectiveness, sustainability and cost-savings.

In what was sadly CO Reap’s last partnership with Alexandra Wastebusters, Shona recently taught a group of budget and health conscious enthusiasts how to make their own chemical-free cleaners, using common household ingredients their parents or grandparents may have used.

“This journey of mine around sustainable chemical-free stuff started about 30 years ago when one of my children had cancer,” Shona said. 

“It made me question if I contributed to it in any way.

“I had a friend who introduced me to this wonderful world of chemical-free stuff and from there I did my own research and came up with what suited me.”

The hero ingredient in the basic cleaners is castile soap, most commonly seen in New Zealand kitchens and laundries for more than a hundred years under the brand Sunlight. 

Made into liquid soap (grate two tablespoons of soap per cup of boiling water, stir to dissolve and leave to cool), it can be used as dishwash liquid also. It is also the basis for a cream cleanser (recipe follows) that will clean pots and pans, scrub surfaces clean, and is also good for exfoliating rough skin or cleaning your hands after gardening.

CO Reap educator Shona Bain reads out the ingredients needed to make chemical-free cream cleaner

Toilet cleaning balls are easily made with baking soda (another hero for sustainable cleaning), white vinegar, lemon juice, hydrogen peroxide and essential oil for scent; toothpaste is simply baking soda, salt, glycerine and clove oil or your favourite essence for flavour; and deodorant can be made with baking soda, coconut oil, cornflour and essential oil for perfume.

All the ingredients are sustainable and safe for septic tanks, Shona said. 

“Our organisation works to a really strict sustainability model.”

The items could also be used as gifts, and Shona showed a ribboned jar of laundry powder with an accompanying ribboned silver spoon, containers that could be easily found at most op shops.

“In today’s economic climate, this doesn’t cost you an arm and a leg,” she said.

Bruce Lauder helps Shona take solid deodorants from their moulds

Bruce and Andrea Lauder were two of those attending the workshop and went away pleased with the knowledge they had gained and the items they had made.

“If you start with one or two things, you can build up,” Andrea said. 

General Purpose Cream Cleaner

2 cups baking soda ½ cup liquid soap

2 tbsp white vinegar ½ tsp essential oil

Mix the baking soda and liquid soap together until it looks like icing. Add white vinegar and stir until it is foamy. Add the essential oil and store in an airtight container.