DIY All Purpose Cleaner

I find that cleaning products are one of the things that people tend to be sceptical about swapping when they want to lower their waste. I get it, we’re set in our ways and we like to use reliable products. But, there are many reasons to try zero-waste cleaning. Firstly, it’s often cheaper, because it uses whole ingredients, reuses packaging and can use rubbish like peelings. Secondly, most cleaning products come in plastic, and most zero-waste options require no packaging at all. Thirdly, cleaning products can be bad for us because they create indoor air pollution, particularly when we mix chemicals and don’t ventilate our houses – let me know if you want me to cover this in more detail in another post! So, to get started, here is a pretty generic All Purpose Cleaner. The base is water and vinegar, but if you don’t like the strong smell of vinegar, adding citrus can be good to cover that smell.

You will need:

• Orange Peels (about 4 or 5)
• White vinegar
• A bottle (preferably a spray bottle)

This is sort of a three step process. Start by collecting your citrus peels as you eat them. I used orange peels because I eat a lot of them, but you can use lemons, limes or any citrus fruit peel. Once you’ve collected them, put them into a container, like a large jar, and cover them with white vinegar. Leave them in a cool, dry place for about 3 weeks. After three weeks, remove the peels using a sieve and compost them. Then, fill your spray bottle halfway with the vinegar, and top up with water – you want a 50/50 split. That’s it! This is suitable for use on almost any surface in bathrooms and kitchens.

That’s it for this week – I’ll probably do a few more of these DIY cleaners, let me know if there’s anything specific that you’d like to see! As always, show me if you try out this recipe.

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