Green Cleaning: Party in a Box

March 6th, 2013 • BY

The key elements of a modern soiree? Today’s ingredients include good conversation, inventive drinks, tasty snacks, and—surprise—green cleaning supplies.

To get the eco party started, the Green Cleaning Party kit, created by the non-profit Women’s Voices for the Earth (WVE), delivers the basics.

The goal? To help educate consumers about the dangers of conventional cleaning products and provide safer, cost-conscious alternatives.

“The parties are a solution to the problem that there are a lot of toxic chemicals in cleaning products, with research showing effects from hormone disruption to cancer,” says Cassidy Randall, campaign and outreach manager with WVE, a national organization that works to eliminate environmental toxins in consumer products. “There is currently no law requiring cleaning product companies to disclose their products’ ingredients, so we launched these as a solution so women can make their own cleaning products with ingredients they know.”

The WVE Kit’s Agenda includes an educational video that explains more about chemicals in consumer cleaners. It also sets aside time for party guests to get down and dirty making their own green cleaners from simple ingredients such as vinegar, baking soda, soap flakes, and lemon juice.

Partiers whip up all-natural concoctions from recipe cards, included in the Green Cleaning Party Kit, for such standbys as Laundry Detergent, Creamy Soft Scrub, Drain Opener, and Furniture Polish.

The WVE party agenda also includes time for guests to take action against toxins in conventional cleaners by contacting cleaning companies or their local legislator. Still, there’s ample time allotted for fun with food, drink, and socializing.

Party planners can also print out information sheets from the Green Cleaning Kit to pass out to guests. The sheets explain just how cost-efficient and effective natural cleaners can be. One example: studies have shown that vinegar eliminates between 90 and 98 percent of bacteria from household sponges. That’s about as effective as commercial cleaners, but sans the toxins.

The WVE Kit is also chock full of FAQs, info on toxins in cleaning supplies, and information on reaching out to legislators and cleaning product companies. To date, thousands of parties have been hosted by women across the country in nearly every state. “By hosting a party, women are not just having party, they are hosting a movement,” says Randall. “Women make 85 percent of consumer buying decisions, so choosing not to buy conventional cleaners is a really great way for women to use their consumer power and make a statement.”

Layout 1