Urban Homesteading: Homemade Dishwasher Detergent

I love the smell of Mrs. Meyers products but hate the extra cost!

A move for frugality and for what I call the Triple C (consumer chemical control), my name for demanding more of myself for chemical-enviro responsibility and for trying to use my purchasing power to advocate more corporate responsibility.

I've taken dishwasher detergent to a DIY level.

There's also a terrific Mr. Wizard feeling with the  only kind of chemistry I ever thought was fun: household cleaning supplies.

Let's bring some science into the chore list!


Recipe:
1 Borax: 1 Washing Soda: 0.5 Kosher salt: 0.5 Citric Acid
Example for 3 cups total detergent

•  1 cup Borax
•  1 cup Washing Soda
•  1/2 cup Kosher Salt
•  1/2 cup Citric Acid
• 1 tupperware container to use for storage

Mix and store! Recommended use is 1-2 tablespoons per load.
You may want to purchase a tablespoon to keep in the container.

For more information on the ingredients including where to find them as well as the chemical and environmental back stories, keep reading below!

Borax -

Long praised for it's green cleaning ability, borax has been a household cleaning agent for hundreds of years. Those familiar with the product joke about it's seemingly endless usefulness around the house from brightening, whitening, softening to insecticidal and fungicidal duties Borax is definitely a traditional non-toxic powerhouse of housekeeping. I knew I could feel good about using it for dish cleaning but as a mineral I was concerned about the environmental impact it has when it is extracted for commercial use. Rest easy, it terms of the main brand (only brand I've ever seen) the company gets a green check for using environmentally responsible mining techniques that do not worsen the already strained water supplies of the Western US. http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/how-green-are-boron-cleansers/
So as long as the reporting and regulation information is concerned, Borax seems like a totally responsible consumer  choice.


Washing Soda - NOT baking soda!

Washing soda is sodium carbonate Na2CO3 (as compared to baking soda, which is sodium bicarbonate NaHCO3). Washing soda has a higher pH (around 11) and can be very good for removing greases, oils, and wines. The alkalinity also helps cleaning agents work more efficiently by reacting with calcium and magnesium that may be present in hard water.

Borax & Washing Soda can both be found in the regular cleaning aisles of grocery and department stores like Target. Just really look around the shelves towards the top and bottom shelves. I found them today next to each other on a bottom shelf under the regular laundry detergent.

Kosher Salt

Shelved with the regular salt in the spice aisle but again, you may have to look around. Check the lower shelves! This is your scrubbing agent to knock off stuck-on food particles during the wash.

Kosher salt lacks iodines and is considered to be a higher purity. Kosher salt is reportedly mined rather than harvested so I think there are all the environmental concerns inherent with mining. However,  the Morton company seems invested in sustainable business practices including a lowered energy use at it's operation facilities and a foundational role in the Morton Arboretum, where fantastic ecological research is conducted and shared with academic, professional, and residential populations.

Citric Acid - This will help keep down any residue that might form on the dishes - contribute to that squeaky clean feeling. Citric acid can be found with canning supplies, sometimes sold as a product called Ball® Fruit-Fresh® Produce Protector  because it prevents oxygenation and therefore browning. My neighborhood store had removed canning supplies so I found a source of citric acid in the spice aisle by checking anything labeled as lemon. I found a lemon spice that had a small number of ingredients, including citric acid and lemon peel. Unfortunately this additive can get creepy depending on your feelings about industrial processes. If you prefer to avoid GMO's, try to find a source in a natural food store otherwise your citric acid may have been produced by genetically modified mold! Even if no GMO's are used, most citric acid is industrially produced using a mold (Aspergillus niger or black mold). While that may seem gross it is a natural metabolic process and no where near as environmentally impacting as mining.

Scent - I was planing on adding lemon zest because I keep it on hand in the freezer. Since my source of citric acid already had lemon in it, scent was already taken care of.

You can also add plain white vinegar as a rinsing agent by putting it directly & undiluted into your rinse again compartment. The acidity of the vinegar, like the citric acid, will help break up the detergent.