Everett residents Karen Charnell and Angie Hall participate in a DIY Green Cleaning Products workshop that took place June 27 at the downtown Everett library.
EVERETT — Using natural soaps and common household ingredients, a handful of residents learned how to make environmentally friendly cleaning supplies at the downtown library June 27.
“I’m trying to figure out a way to make things I normally buy and not toxic,” said Everett resident Karen Charnell while making an all-purpose cleaner during the workshop.
Her sentiments were echoed by Everett resident Katalina Bartanen: “We just try to live non-toxically as possible.”
The workshop was organized by WSU Snohomish County Extension.
Class teacher Kellee Byard brought baking soda, white vinegar, lemon juice, borax, Castile soap and hydrogen peroxide that participants used to make their cleaning materials. Byard is the program coordinator for WSU Snohomish County Extension’s Sustainable Communities program.
“We’re teaching you how to be sustainable by teaching you to make it again, again and again,” Byard said, mentioning that a lot of the ingredients for the cleaning material recipes are at home. In addition to all-purpose cleaner, participants created a non-toxic tile and grout cleaner.
Byard handed out an eight-page booklet with other recipes including a non-toxic drain cleaner, oven cleaner and laundry soap.
The all-purpose cleaner consisted of white vinegar, lemon juice, borax, water, and concentrated liquid soap. The tile and grout cleaner consisted of baking soda, hydrogen peroxide and concentrated liquid soap like Castile soap, according to the booklet.
Byard also highlighted the Household Hazardous Waste Drop-off Station, 3434 McDougall Ave. in Everett, where people can dispose of such items as household cleaners, lawn and garden product, glues, automotive product, and paints (with the exception of latex paint) free of charge. Latex paint can be disposed of for a fee as low as $10.
WSU Extension’s Sustainable Communities Program also offers “repair cafés” where people can bring in small appliances, clothing and bicycles to be fixed by volunteers. Byard said in an email a recent café event kept 2,000 pounds worth of items from being sent to the landfill because they were fixed.
Byard said the repair cafés originated in the Netherlands in 2009 and began being organized in Snohomish County in 2018. During the pandemic, the cafés took place remotely with a drop-off/pickup format. The in-person event resumed in October 2022. Each café event sees between 26 and 48 people attending.
The next repair café takes place from 4 p.m. to 8 p.m., Wednesday, July 19 at the Willis Tucker Park Activities Center.
For more information about WSU Snohomish County Extension programs, go to extension.wsu.edu/snohomish/
Sample all-natural cleaning supply recipes
All-purpose cleaner recipe:
1 tablespoon of white vinegar
1 tablespoon of lemon juice
1 tablespoon of borax
1 cup of water
1 tablespoon of concentrated liquid soap (like a Castile soap)
Add vinegar, lemon juice, borax, and water into a spray bottle.
Add concentrated natural soap and shake well. Add water before soap, or you will lose a lot of bubbles.
Porcelain, tile and grout cleaner recipe:
½ cup baking soda
¼ cup hydrogen peroxide
1 teaspoon of concentrated liquid soap like Castile soap
Mix baking soda and hydrogen peroxide. Then add soap in a small squeeze-top container
Source: WSU Snohomish County Extension pamphlet
