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Household bleach usage is NOT harmful to the environment!
I have been following a few greenie blogs, and the bleach thing comes up a lot. That there is more and more evidence to suggest that household bleach is NOT harmful to the environment at all. However, that doesn't get us Bleachheads off that easily... the transportation of bleach is where the concerns lay with Greenpeace, not it's usage.
But if I've helped you feel a little less guilty and sleep a bit better. My job is done.
LOL ta Rouge :) Yes, it's great stuff. I always figured that because it's not really a poison... meaning you can soak something in bleach and then hang it straight out on the line to dry and wear it usually without skin irritation that it must be relatively harmless. You could also technically rinse a wooden spoon in it and then stir a soup without worry of killing anyone. I suppose it's like anything, everything in moderation.
You have no idea how excited I was when PINK!!!!! domestos came onto the market. I called my friend with such glee in my voice. Pathetic.
At least she understood ;)
But TBH I don't really find all that much of a need for it now, haven't had bleach in the house for ages.
Green bleach? Pink bleach? I'm confused. What about oxygen bleaches?
I really wish i had listened more in chemistry :doh: but my understanding of the actions of bleach is that it is a dismantler rather than a converter. It changes substances by breaking them down instead of changing them into something else. Take a spot of blood. It removes the stain by breaking down the proteins so that they are more easily washed away? Bleach can break down fibres of fabric and make it weak if used too much too.
Ok Googled and found this:
How Does Bleach Work?
As mentioned earlier, bleach is used for many purposes, the most common being killing germs and removal of stains by changing the color. We shall take a look at the various working mechanisms of bleach.
•Bleach is widely used as a disinfectant, as it can destroy pathogens very efficiently and quickly. This feature is more prominent in sodium hypochlorite. Let us take a closer look at how does bleach kill bacteria. The action of bleach against microbes is as follows: The proteins in bacteria clump together, as they come in contact with bleach. This is done by the heat shock protein in bacteria, which tries to form lumps in order to protect other proteins in their body. This leads to the eventual death of the bacteria. The same principle is adopted by the human body, which produces hypochlorous acid to kill bacteria in case of any infection.
•Another common use of bleach is based on its whitening properties. Color is produced by molecules which contain chromophores and bleach works upon these molecules to achieve the whitening effect. Oxidizing bleach breaks down the molecules with chromophores and make them incapable of absorbing any visible light, while reducing bleach converts the double-bonded chromophore to single-bonded, thus making them incapable of absorbing visible light. The same principle is behind the bleaching action of sunlight. The high energy photons of light affects the bonds of chromophores, which in turn results in the gradual fading of color.
Even though the bleaching agents differ as per the context of usage, the working principles are same. Chlorinated water is one classic example of the usage of chlorine bleach. Chlorine is added to kill the germs and make the water safe for drinking. While some bleaches are very strong, others are mild, and are used as household bleach. The strong ones should be handled gently to avoid any harm.
(Buzzle.com)
I thought the problem with bleach was that it's not very good for you?
I use it mostly in the toilets, used to use it on the benchtops but not these days.
Ooh good news. I am not a huge fan of bleach, but it is the only way to get our old bath clean. My only concern is with our septic tank. They say not to use bleach, but by the time it hits the septic tank the stuff I use to very diluted.
I love bleach!! It's the only thing I clean with.
Astrid I didn't know that you can't use bleach with septic tanks. What does it do to them? I use it all the time.
Septic tanks rely on bacteria to break down the waste. If you kill off the bacteria, then they don't work. I think Domestos bleach is meant to be septic safe. At the moment though we have white king, but use it only when things get desperate.
This reminded me off a person i use to work with who would clean our dishes and coffee cups with bleach :o I couldn't work out why my coffe always had a funny taste. I made sure I got to the crib room before her and did the dishes after that though...:
I love my Bleach! BAM is awesome stuff.