Clean Up the House Without Dirtying the Earth
Cleaning up can be dirty business. While some solvents effortlessly lift stains from fabrics or rugs, those same deep-cleaning chemicals can have negative effects on the environment, with the potential to dissipate water supplies and sicken local animals. Luckily for residents of San Jose, house cleaning, dry cleaning, and car washing can be handled by local professionals who know how to tidy up while remaining earth-friendly.
For your clothes:
Eco-friendly option: Some San Jose dry cleaners are swapping old solvents for ones that use silicone or hydrocarbon, which doesn’t generate greenhouse gases and is better for the planet than traditional solvents. Other area dry cleaners employ environmentally minded wet-cleaning methods.
Where to find it: NextGen Cleaners uses silicone solvents, whereas Casa de Cleaners has wet-cleaned its way to a green-business certification. And at Green & Fresh Cleaners, clothes are revived with GreenEarth, a cleaning solution made from sand.
For your carpets:
Eco-friendly option: Many San Jose carpet-cleaning services are ditching harmful chemicals such as VOCs, which are linked to long-term nervous-system damage, in favor of eco-friendly soaps and sanitizing steam, which are just as skilled at removing tracked-in dirt and caked-in stains.
Where to find it: Fresh Go Green Cleaning uses Green Seal–certified, eco-friendly products, and Clean Green Carpets employs toxin- and VOC-free Procyon products when cleaning floors.
For your car:
Eco-friendly option: Traditional car washes require water—lots and lots of water. However, many area car washes’ innovative methods leave rides sparkling clean with only a handful of droplets. Shops are also focused on using soaps with fewer chemicals so the car washes’ water runoff doesn’t slip into the sewer or groundwater supply.
Where to find it: Businesses recycle their water—Ducky’s Car Wash reuses up to 80%—and refilters it so every drop is debris-free and, most importantly, less of a drain on local water supplies.
