Reef Safe cleaners

[shipchips]

Hello All,

I am interested in what types of cleaners you have found and use that are honestly safe for the environment, don't cost a fortune, and actually work.

I am thinking about boat wash, bilge cleaner, laundry soap, dish soap, shampoo, hand soap, etc.

Do any of you make your own?

Thanks for the advice!
Jim

[RaymondR]

In the urban environment most of that stuff goes into the sea via the sewage systems and the rivers they dump the outfall into so I would not be particularly worried about it. However you need to be fanatical about keeping anything mineral oil based or petroleum based and plastics out of the sea.

[Tupaia]

Originally Posted by RaymondR

In the urban environment most of that stuff goes into the sea via the sewage systems and the rivers they dump the outfall into so I would not be particularly worried about it. However you need to be fanatical about keeping anything mineral oil based or petroleum based and plastics out of the sea.

Just because landlubbers do it does not make it right.



The most worrying are plastic microbeads. The small pieces of plastic commonly found in toothpaste, exfoliating body scrubs and other household products.


The UK banned these in 2017, don't know about other countries. The difficulty for cruisers is of course identifying any offending products sold in different countries that they are travelling through.

[RaymondR]

Originally Posted by Tupaia

Just because landlubbers do it does not make it right.



The most worrying are plastic microbeads. The small pieces of plastic commonly found in toothpaste, exfoliating body scrubs and other household products.


The UK banned these in 2017, don't know about other countries. The difficulty for cruisers is of course identifying any offending products sold in different countries that they are travelling through.

If you clean out the filter on the drier you will find it's fluff from the breakdown of the thread used to weave the materials from which the clothes are made. A similar process takes place in the washing machine except that it gets flushed into the sewage system.

My point is that one should target ones efforts where you can make a real difference.