Toxic Use Reduction - Is Your Home Safe?

Many homeowners are surprised to learn just how many materials containing hazardous substances are commonly found in their homes! Everyday household items such as cleaners, detergents, garden products, spot removers, and hobby supplies contain hazardous chemicals that our society has learned to take for granted.

But look closer - using these familiar items may be hazardous for your family's health, your property, and the overall environment. Also, using hazardous materials means that you must be particularly careful in disposing of such a product. Improper disposal of hazardous household products may contaminate the groundwater and ruin yours and your neighbor's drinking water. Flammable or reactive household chemicals can release toxic fumes or even explode when they are mixed together in the trash!

What can you do? A simple strategy for keeping hazardous materials out of the house is by using homemade substitutes with less dangerous, and often much cheaper, ingredients.

And the benefits created in your home? Decreased exposure to toxic chemicals, improved indoor air quality, fewer waste disposal concerns, and much lower costs! Oftentimes the specialty cleaners work no better than a general household cleaner. The added costs of volatile, deadly cleaning products are unnecessary as well as more toxic for your household environment and our natural environment as a whole.

Make Your Home A Safer Place! Take a Tour of OTA's Toxic Reduction Guide.

Glossary - of toxic terminology.

Household Toxins - detailed description of common household products, their toxic ingredients, alternatives to their use, and disposal suggestions.

Safer Alternatives - three quick reference charts to hazardous chemicals in your home and easy-to-do alternatives.