Main hypothesis:

If homemade cleaners, store bought cleaners and natural store bought cleaners are compared, then homemade cleaners will be more cost-effective and have a lower environmental impact, because they are made from simple, natural ingredients that are commonly found at home and do not contribute to environmental harm. However, store-bought cleaners will be more effective in terms of cleaning performance, because they are formulated with specific chemicals that target particular cleaning tasks more efficiently than the natural ingredients in homemade cleaners. Store bought natural cleaners will fall in the middle because they are generally more expensive than regular store bought cleaners but have minimal impacts on the environment and are decently effective at cleaning.

 

Disinfectant experiment hypothesis:

If there are visible bacterial colonies in the control petri dish after incubation, then the disinfectant cleaners will perform equally in terms of bacterial reduction, because all the cleaners contain the necessary active ingredients that should effectively eliminate bacteria under similar conditions.

 

Shiner hypothesis:

If both Bar Keeper's Friend and eggshell powder are used to clean the dishes, then Bar Keepers Friend will be more effective than eggshell powder at removing the tough burnt grime and rust on the pots because Bar Keeper's Friend contains oxalic acid and a stronger abrasive, which can more effectively handle strong grime compared to the more mild but environmentally friendly abrasiveness of eggshell powder.

 

All purpose spray hypothesis:

If we test a store bought, natural store bought and homemade all purpose spray,  then store bought cleaner will be the most effective at removing grease and grime, because store bought cleaners contain strong surfactants and detergents designed to tackle tough grease and grime. The natural store bought cleaner will be moderately effective, because it is designed for light cleaning with eco-friendly ingredients, but may not handle tough stains as effectively. The homemade cleaner will be the least effective at heavy-duty cleaning, because it relies on natural ingredients, which are good for light cleaning but not as powerful for tough grime removal.

Main question: Are homemade or store bought cleaners better in terms of cost, effectiveness, and environmental impact?

 

Research questions: 

 

How are cleaners produced?

 

Here are the steps that most factory produced cleaners are made by.

 

1. To make any cleaning products the first step is to select the ingredients based on the purpose of the cleaner. Most common cleaning products contain ingredients such as  surfactants, solvents, acids and bases, disinfectants, fragrances, preservatives, thickeners or stabilizers and colours. 
2. To make a good cleaner the second step is to create the formula. The most important factors involved in making a formula is to make sure all the chemicals are balanced so the formula is safe for use, effective and stable. 
3. The third step is the mixing of all the ingredients. The ingredients are mixed in large industrial tanks where the temperature, pressure and mixing time are strictly controlled to ensure the best final product. 
4. The fourth step is the process to make a cleaner is quality control, the cleaners are tested to ensure they are effective, they are labeled correctly based on the toxicity, that they are stable and don’t separate or mold over time and the pH levels are compatible with the target surfaces. 
5. The final step is to package the cleaning product and ensure they are labeled with the correct safety warnings depending on the chemicals they contain. After this the products can be shipped out to stores where they are available for the public to purchase.

 

What is the purpose of the ingredients in store bought cleaners?

 

Table A: Common store bought cleaner ingredients

 

What is the difference between homemade and store bought cleaners?

 

One of the main differences between homemade and store bought cleaners is the chemicals and ingredients that they contain. Store bought cleaners often contain synthetic ingredients and chemicals such as surfactants, preservatives, VOCs, and stabilizers. On the other hand homemade cleaners are usually made of simple and natural ingredients like vinegar, baking soda, lemon juice, and essential oils. One of the many benefits of this is that the ingredients in homemade cleaners are much less likely to irritate the skin or lungs while some of the chemicals in store bought cleaners can cause respiratory issues or skin irritation and rashes.

 

Another one of the main differences between homemade and store bought cleaners is the cost. Most homemade cleaners can be made with ingredients you are likely to already have at home. Store bought cleaners you have to buy a very large array of different ones to be able to clean all the different types of surfaces. This is because the chemicals in store bought cleaners are harsher which means that on delicate surfaces like marble or granite countertops require specialized chemicals to clean which means that you have to buy more products. Homemade cleaners on the other hand aren't as harsh so they won't damage delicate surfaces.

 

The third main difference between store bought and homemade cleaners is the effectiveness of the products. Because store bought cleaners are formulated for specific tasks they can be more effective, the only problem is that sometimes store bought cleaners can contain unnecessary chemicals which are not really needed and can quite often harm the environment. Homemade cleaners are effective for general cleaning but can sometimes not be as strong on extreme grease and grime.

 

The last main difference between store bought and homemade cleaners is the environmental impacts which I researched in detail later. This also connects to safety because store bought cleaners can be hazardous if mishandled or mixed with other chemicals improperly or disposed of incorrectly. In general homemade cleaners are safer because the ingredients in them are less toxic. 

 

What is the environmental impact of cleaners?

 

Water:

A study conducted by the United States Geological Survey in 2002 found detergent traces in 69% of streams and 66% of streams containing disinfectants across the USA. These statistics just started to show how much cleaners make it into our water.

 

When a combination of VOC (volatile organic compounds) are introduced into the waterways many large bodies of water can become contaminated with these chemicals. This can often be connected to the fact that the water treatment plants that filter the waste water coming out of cities are unable to remove VOCs such as phosphates. These phosphates can be found in some of the most common cleaning products like laundry and dish washers detergents. This then causes the process of eutrophication. Eutrophication is when a large amount of algae grows because of surplus nutrients in water. This then depletes the amount of oxygen in the water which can kill aquatic life. Surplus amounts of algae in the water also can block sunlight from entering the water which means that underwater aquatic plants are unable to do photosynthesis which means that they are deprived of essential nutrients. Over time this can do significant damage to aquatic ecosystems. VOCs 

 

Common chemicals we use in our cleaners today are responsible for hurting the environment and aquatic life. We often use bleach surfactants and ammonia in our cleaners and all of these ingredients can have very negative impacts on the environment. Bleach and ammonia are both chemicals that remove dirt and grime from surfaces, but the chemical in them once put in the environment kills many fish and contaminates water. Drinking it in your water can pose a threat to your health.

 

Air:

Many cleaning products we use today contain VOCs. One of the main issues with VOCs is that once they are in the air they can have a significant impact on climate change. Another big problem with these chemicals is that they can have very negative impacts on human health. Breathing in these chemicals for too long can hurt your lungs and cause extreme nausea. Even one of the most common air fresheners on the market - Febreze, is found to contain propellants and solvents, like ethanol. 

 

Earth:

Besides the impacts that these chemicals have on the soil, water and ecosystems of earth, the packaging that these products come in can also be just as harmful. Most cleaning products are packaged in plastic bottles, and the majority of these are incorrectly disposed of. This means that many of them end up in the environment or in the ocean. Since most of the plastic the products are packaged in is not biodegradable this plastic starts to slowly break down into microplastics. 

 

Disposal

Most traditional cleaning products that we use today end up in our water. The most common ways cleaners are disposed of is washing them down a sink or flushing them down a toilet. Even chemicals that are disposed of in a trash can often end up in the environment. These chemicals often end up in local waterways where they start to damage the environment and pollute the water. Unfortunately most of our water filtration plants can not completely remove all toxins in the water and this means that many of them still end up in the environment.

 

What are recipes to make homemade cleaners?

 

Homemade disinfectant:

 

• Water
• White vinegar
• Rubbing alcohol
• Lemon juice

 

Homemade shiner: 

 

• Baking soda
• Eggshell powder

 

Simple all purpose cleaner

• White vinegar
• Distilled water
• Essential oils

 

What do those ingredients do?

 

Vinegar is one of the main ingredients in most of my recipes and can remove bacteria from surfaces. Vinegar is also effective against most average dirt and grime, one of its best qualities being that instead of just smearing grime around it actually dissolves it making it much easier to remove. Another disinfecting ingredient that is in my disinfectant recipe is rubbing alcohol. Rubbing alcohol is proven to be a powerful germicide that can kill a variety of germs, bacteria, viruses and fungi. Depending on the concentration of the rubbing alcohol, it can kill between 60 and 90 percent of all germs. One of the main ingredients in your standard hand sanitizer is isaprobly alcohol which is very similar to rubbing alcohol. This helps prove that rubbing alcohol is a good disinfectant for standard everyday disinfectant purposes.

 

Some of the other materials in my recipes are essential oils and lemon juice. Lemon not only makes the surfaces it cleans smell good but can also be used to remove soap scum and if used correctly can remove rust on some pots and pans. It can also have some effect on bacteria and remove mold and mildew. In terms of essential oils citrus oils can have some effect on grease and grime but mostly adding them just makes the cleaner smell better. One of the ingredients I am using in my homemade shiner is baking soda. While baking soda does not have any antibacterial properties it is very effective against grease and grime.

 

What will allow me to see bacteria and measure their quantity?

 

Petri dishes are small see-through dish-like containers that allow you to grow bacteria. In order to use a petri dish you need to create an agar medium that will allow the bacteria to grow. To make these agar plates you need to combine agar powder, water and some kind of nutrients like sugar or yeast and then simmer in a pot on the stove until all the agar is dissolved. After that you can wrap them in foil or cling wrap and store them in the fridge until you are ready to use them. To use petri dishes use a sterilized q-tip to swab the surface and then move in a zig-zag pattern over the dish. After seal the plate and then place it in a dark space about 37 degrees celsius. After that it should only take 24 to 72 hours for bacteria to start to grow. Later you can remove them from the spot and place them under light and count the number of bacterial colonies. For my project this will help me see how effective the disinfectant spray was at removing the bacteria.

 

How much each cleaner cost:

Disinfectant Experiment

Manipulated variable: The type of cleaner used, homemade, store bought or natural store bought

Responding variable: Number of bacterial colonies on the petri dish

Controlled variables: 

-Surface area - surfaces divided equally into 3 sections

-Scrubbing time - until the cleaner is gone

-Paper towels - 2 per cleaner per surface (same brand - Bounty)

-Petri dishes - same dishes and agar plates

-Q-tips - same brand (Q-tip)

-Amount used - enough to lightly coat surface

 

Shinner Experiment

Manipulated variable: The type of cleaner used, homemade or store bought

Responding variable: Amount of rust and grime left on the pots after cleaning

Controlled variables: 

-Surface area - pots divided into 2 equal sections

-Scrubbing time - (30 seconds) 

-Elbow grease - equal pressure

-Scrub cloth - used the same cloth (rinsed between cleaners)

-Pots - tested on the same pots

 

All Purpose Spray Experiment

Manipulated variable: The type of cleaner used, homemade, store bought of natural store bought

Responding variable: The amount of visible grime left on the surface after cleaning

Controlled variables: 

-Amount of grime 

-1 tbsp oil

-1 tbsp sugar

-1 tbsp butter 

-1 tbsp flour

-Surface area - counter divided equally into 3 sections

-Elbow grease - wipe for 15 seconds

-Paper towels -  3 paper towels per cleaner per surface (same brand - Bounty)

 

Creating the agar plates: 

I first gathered all of my materials which included: agar agar powder, beef bouillon, salt, sugar, a bowl, a small pot, the petri dishes, a metal stirring ladle, a spoon, a strainer, coffee filters, a cutting board, a measuring bowl, a kitchen scale and a ceramic ramekin. To make sure I avoided contamination of my petri dishes I sterilized all my materials and sanitized my hands before beginning the creation of my dishes.

 

I decided to quarter the recipe because originally it was intended to make 50 petri dishes, but I only needed to make 10. I boiled 250ml of water to make my beef broth, and once the water was boiling I added my beef bouillon as per the package instructions. I then allowed the broth to simmer for 3 minutes to make sure I dissolved most of the bouillon into the broth. I then strained the broth 3 times to make sure there were no excess herb flakes in the mixture. Then I left the broth to sit in the fridge for 1 hour to let all the fat and particulate matter rise to the top, this was because in previous attempts to make petri dishes there was a lot of particulate matter still remaining in the dishes. After this I used a double layer of coffee filters to even further strain the broth to make sure that no particulate matter was left in the broth.

 

Then I weighed out the 2.5g sugar and 13.5g salt I needed into a small measuring bowl and set them to the side. I then weighed out the 3.75g of agar agar powder into my ramekin and set it aside as well. I then proceed to stir the agar agar powder in 125ml of cold water before combining it with the simmering beef broth in the pot. I then added in the salt and sugar and boiled it for 3 minutes until all the salt, sugar and agar agar powder had dissolved. 

 

I then let the agar agar mixture cool for 1 minute while I opened all my petri dishes. I then filled all my petri dishes halfway with the agar mixture and left them to cool for 2 minutes and then sealed them and flipped them upside down to prevent condensation. I then moved them to my fridge to store them until I am ready to experiment.

 

 

Creating the incubator:

 

I started by gathering all the materials I planned to use, which included insulation, a cardboard box, scissors, a ruler and a temperature reader. 

 

I started by testing some of the various locations I could possibly use to incubate my petri dishes, which included my room, the kitchen and the basement. I found my room to be too cold by itself. It was about 16-18 degrees celsius and petri dishes need to be incubated in temperatures between 20-37 degrees celsius. I found the basement to be even colder around 15-17 degrees celsius, and I ruled out the kitchen because it would be too inconvenient for my family to have a large insulated box sitting on our counter. I thought about it for a bit and I decided that my bedroom would be the best place for it but I would need to find a method to keep the insulated box warm. I thought it would be possible to use a heated blanket or heating pad but the problem is both the heating blanket and pad my family owns times out after an hour. After a little while of thinking I thought I could possibly use the furnace vents since mine are on the floor and they run all day and night so I would never have to worry about it timing out or turning off. I measured the heat of the surface of the vents and they ran about 30.5-35 degrees celsius which is perfect for incubating petri dishes.

 

I kept this in mind as I was designing the box because the heat will need to be able to flow through the bottom of the box. Keeping this in mind I used a cardboard box for the base and put insulation on the inside walls of the box but not the floor. I then worked on creating a lid for the box and my brother suggested a folded lid design that would easily allow me to open and close the box, but would still trap heat. I used his design and then added an additional layer of a sweater on top to help retain even more heat.

 

I then tested the box and temperatures inside the box remained to be about 32-34 degrees celsius which is a perfect temperature. I also tested how well the box would retain heat while the furnace is not running and I found the temperatures only ever dipped by 1-2 degrees which is minimal enough it should have no effect. Once I was satisfied with the design I stored the box under my desk until I was ready to start my experiments.

 

 

Testing the disinfectant:

I first gathered all the materials I would need for my experiment which included: my insulated box, the pre-prepared petri dishes, q-tips, a cup of water, all the cleaners - store bought, homemade, and natural store bought, paper towels and my phone to take pictures. I then started by thoroughly swabbing the surfaces with a slightly dampened q-tip and then tracing a zig zag line across a petri dish to create the control dish. Later when analyzing my data the control dish will allow me to see how many bacterias were growing on the surface before I used any cleaners. 

 

Next I taped off equal sized areas on each surface to insure that the cleaners don’t mix while testing and to make sure I only swab the specific areas for each cleaner. I then proceeded to spray the cleaners on each of their areas and wipe thoroughly with a paper towel until all the cleaner had been absorbed or dissipated. I then swabbed each area with a fresh dampened q-tip and traced a zigzag line on each petri dish with the respective swab.

 

I photographed the surfaces after cleaning. I then transferred all the swabbed petri dishes into the insulated box and placed the insulated box over the heating vent. I then left the petri dishes in the insulated box to incubate for 3 days to allow the microorganisms to grow. I chose 3 days because I was using a relatively warm temperature so it should only take 24-48 hours to see growth, but not too long that there will be so much growth on the dishes that I will be unable to count.

 

 

After the 3 days I removed the petri dishes from the incubator and counted the amount of bacterial colonies that had grown. I did this by using a dry erase marker and placing a dot on the bottom of the dish over every colony and then erased the dots in groups of 5 and used tally marks to effectively count. I then calculated the total colonies on the surfaces and then recorded 8 all the data on google sheets to make it easier on myself to graph the data later when I am doing data analysis. I then photographed all of the petri dishes in good light and recorded my qualitative observations in my logbook.

 

 

I then removed all the agar medium from the dishes, sealed them in a plastic bag and threw them in the garbage. I removed all the labels from the petri dishes and then set them in a neat stack on my desk and waited to sanitize them until I planned to use them again. I repeated this procedure 2 times to collect enough data about different surfaces in my house.

 

 

Creating the eggshell shiner: 

 

I started by gathering all of my materials which included 8 eggshells, baking soda, a blender, the kitchen scale, a baking tray, a tablespoon, a medium sized strainer, parchment paper, a pot, a wooden spoon and a small container. First I boiled the eggshells in water for 5 minutes to cook and remove any egg residue that could have been left in the shells. I strained and rinsed the eggshells to insure none of the cooked egg goop remained. Then I placed a piece of parchment paper on the baking tray and laid the egg shells out evenly then baked it in them in the oven at 350F for 15 minutes to dry them out.

 

 

I then measured out my 2 tablespoons of baking soda and added them to the blender. I added in my eggshells and then blended for 1 minute until I reached a consistency with some small egg pieces but mostly powder. I then weighed my powder on the kitchen scale which came out to exactly 100g and then sealed it in a container.

 

Testing the shining powder:

 

I started by gathering all of the materials I would need for my experiment which included, pots, scrubbing cloth, rubber gloves, kitchen gloves, a kitchen scale, small bowls, the shinners, painters tape, my phone and a spoon. I started by photographing all the pots outside in good lighting and then taping them down the middle with painters tape to divide them in half. I then brought all the pots inside and set them on my counter next to the sink.

 

I then repeated the following procedure on all of the pots. I started by measuring out 5 grams of each cleaner and setting them to the side. I then put on the dish gloves and started by sprinkling the 5 grams of eggshell cleaner onto the pot adding a small handful of water. I started a stop watch for 35 seconds and scrubbed the pot with even pressure until the time was up. After that I proceed to rinse the pot. I then applied the store bought powder to the other side of the pot and scrubbed for 35 seconds with the same amount of pressure and rinsed the pot. I photographed the pot and then set it outside. I repeated this procedure with all of the pots.

 

 

Testing the all purpose spray:

 

I started by gathering all of the materials I would use for the experiment which included, all the cleaners, sunflower oil, flour, butter, iced tea powder, water, paper towels, painters tape and my phone. I then proceed to clear my countertop of all unnecessary items and divide it into 3 sections using painters tape. 

 

 

I then measured out a tablespoon of my grime, per section of the counter and spread it out a little so it was more equally distributed. I then photographed all the grime on the counter before I started to clean the surfaces. I then cleaned each surface by lightly coating it in the cleaner and then wiping clean with three paper towels. After I photographed each surface and gave it a general wipe down with the natural store bought cleaner. I then repeated this with each type of grime and recorded my results.

Observations:

 

Disinfectant:

 

• All the cleaners seem to work equally well, all the surfaces appeared to be visible clean after using the cleaners
• The method had the strongest scent of the store bought cleaners, the clorox barley smelt like anything
• The homemade cleaner smelled quite strongly of vinegar which I found to be a bit of an unpleasant smell
• I didn’t need to apply extreme elbow grease for any of the cleaners, just rubbing firmly with a paper towel got the job done

 

Disinfectant petri dish observations:

 

I noticed 3 main different types of bacterial colonies when I was counting. There were larger bacteria that looked like flakes, as the first image shows and there were bacteria that were small dots, shown in the second image. There were also these large colonies or patches of bacteria that in many cases spread out and covered large areas of the petri dish.

 

Analysing the data:

One of the first things I noticed was that in the first batch of experiments the store bought cleaner had more bacteria then the control. However in all the other locations the homemade cleaner either performed better or close to the same as the store bought. I believe this may have been because Clorox does not contain any surfactants which are responsible for breaking up oils, this means that on the window sill where there was a heavy deposit of oils from my cats, the cleaner may not have been effective. Overall what I gathered from this graph is the natural store bought cleaner was the most effective followed by the homemade cleaner. If we do decide to disclude the first round of data because of the possible inaccuracies the store bought cleaner does perform slightly better than the homemade cleaner and the natural store bought cleaner performs worse overall.

 

All purpose spray:

 

 

To start with during this experiment I found it was difficult to visibly tell the results (excluding the butter) so I decided to primarily rely on feeling the surfaces to decide which surfaces still had the most grime left on them. I noticed while I was cleaning the surfaces that the homemade cleaner needed the least effort to remove the grime. All the cleaners seemed to do a decent job at removing most of the grime but overall the vim performed the worst, method performed the second best and the homemade cleaner performed the best overall.

 

Shiner:

 

Outright winner:

 

Pot 1: Homemade

Pot 2: Store bought

Pot 3: Store bought

Pot 4:Store bought

Pot 5: Homemade

Pot 6: Store bought

 

Effectiveness out of 10:

 

 

 

I overall noticed that the Bar Keepers Friend did a much better job at removing all the built up dirt and grime on the pots. The homemade cleaner was still effective but much less than the store bought cleaner. They did however not remove as much grime as I was expecting, I thought they would remove almost all the rust and grime however these pots have been living outside for multiple years so they are likely more dirty than your average pots and pans in your kitchen.

 

Left of pots in homemade right is store bought:

Cost:

Overall during my research of costs I found the homemade cleaners to be the cheapest because ingredients like vinegar, lemons and rubbing alcohol have extremely low costs for the amounts you need in the cleaners and are very commonly found at any store. A few of the ingredients you need to make the homemade cleaners can also be found at home for free like water which you can get from your tap and eggshells where you can use your leftovers. On average the homemade cleaners were about 72 cents cheaper per (100g or 100ml) than the store bought or natural store bought cleaners.

 

Environmental Impacts:

During some of the basic research I did and my pre-existing knowledge about waste I found the homemade cleaners to have a much lower impact on the environment than the store bought cleaners. To simply make the store bought cleaners factories have to gather all their materials, many of which are chemicals that can be harmful to the environment like bleach and ammonia and various VOC that I talked about earlier in my research. Then they undergo the physical process of being made which involves mixing chemicals in large industrial tanks that need to be specifically controlled for temperature and other factors. Most cleaning products are then packaged into single use packaging and then shipped out to stores so consumers can purchase them. The process of making and transporting these cleaners alone can contribute to massive carbon dioxide emissions. All this could be averted by simply making your own cleaners at home. Many store bought cleaners after use are simply washed down the sink or thrown away in the trash. But the cleaners that make it down the drain head into our waterways and can have bigger and bigger impacts on the environment overtime and many of our water filtration systems are unable to remove 100% of all the chemicals. This means that VOCs head into the ocean and begin to harm sea life and damage our environment. Improper disposal of the plastic packaging that store bought cleaners are packaged in can also end up in the ocean breaking into microplastics that will never go away and leach toxic chemicals into our waterways for 100s of years. Again many of these environmental impacts can be avoided by making your own cleaners at home that have less VOCs and chemicals that our water filtration systems fail to remove.

 

Effectiveness:

To assess the effectiveness of various types of cleaners I did three different experiments to compare the efficiency of a store bought, natural store bought and homemade cleaner on shining pots, disinfecting surfaces and removing basic types of grease and grime from a surface.

 

To summarize the data I gathered in my experiments I found that for the all purpose spray the homemade cleaner was the most effective overall at removing the various types of grease and grime. This surprised me because I had predicted that the simple ingredients in the homemade cleaner would not be able to keep up with the store bought and natural store bought cleaners. However when it came to the shiner the homemade cleaner performed significantly worse than the store bought cleaner. This is what I predicted in my hypothesis because the bar keeper's friend contained much stronger chemical surfactants that were more effectively able to tackle the rust and build up dirt on the pots opposed to the simple power of the abrasiveness of the eggshells. In my final experiment for disinfectant I found that the homemade is about as equally effective as the store bought and natural store bought cleaner. This again relates back to what I predicted because all the cleaners seemed to contain the ingredients necessary for bacterial removal and this was proven through my experiment.

 

 

 

Overall I found that the results of my experiments and research mostly correlated with what I had originally predicted in my main hypothesis. Firstly I predicted that the homemade cleaners would be the cheapest to make because of the low costs of the simple natural ingredients they are made of. I found this to be correct through my calculations of the costs of all the materials needed to make the cleaner. Overall using homemade cleaners would save you money if you were to do it in the long run. 

 

I also correctly predicted that the homemade cleaners would have the smallest impact on the environment. This can be broken down into a few main factors such as the materials, transportation and packaging of the products. The materials in most homemade cleaners are natural meaning they will degrade easily in the environment and not contribute to pollution as much as the store bought cleaners do. I found that overall store bought cleaners contained many ingredients that can be harmful to the environment like VOCs, phosphates and various other chemicals. In terms of the materials homemade cleaners are much better for the environment. Store bought cleaners also need to be transported and they are packaged in single use packaging usually made of plastic which can eventually break down into microplastics further harming the environment. Since homemade cleaners do not need to be transported and they can be made in old reused containers or glass bottles that have a much less significant impact on the environment. In general homemade cleaners have a much less significant impact on the environment.

 

I finally had predicted in my main hypothesis that the store bought cleaners would be the most effective at tackling the various types of grease and grime because of the powerful and targeted chemicals they are made of. This is where my testing began to differ from my hypothesis. I found that for the disinfectant that the homemade cleaner was about as effective as the store bought cleaner was. I also found that the homemade all purpose spray significantly outrank the store bought one. The only experiment the homemade cleaner failed on was the shiner. The store bought cleaner did significantly better than the homemade cleaner during that experiment. But considering that in two out of three categories the homemade cleaner was better or comparable to the store bought cleaner it shows that the homemade cleaner still has a competent level of effectiveness.

 

So to conclude overall I found that homemade cleaners are more environmentally friendly and cheaper than store bought cleaners. They are also comparable to store bought cleaners in terms of effectiveness. This means that going forward trying to incorporate the use of more homemade cleaners in your home will not only be beneficial for the environment but also help save you money.

 

I talked about natural store bought cleaners multiple times during my project and I incorporated them into my project for a few reasons. I wanted to see if they were comparable to store bought cleaners which I did find them to be. They also strike a balance between your average store bought cleaners and homemade cleaners. They are made with much less environmentally impacting materials than your average store bought cleaners but they still function at a commercially acceptable standard. Based on my findings I would say if you are unable to make your own cleaners at home but still want a more environmentally friendly and efficient solution to all your cleaning needs, natural store bought cleaners can strike a good balance.

 

If I were to continue, modify or repeat this project again I would start by doing the experiments more times to gather a larger sample of data that could provide an even more accurate and comprehensive result. I would also test other cleaning products like detergents and polishes to compare an even wider array of homemade and store bought products. To continue this project on a more advanced level I would potentially focus on the disinfectant and look at the specific environmental impacts of various disinfectants as well as the impact they have on more specific types of bacteria. I could also contact a professional in the industry of making cleaning products to see what goes on behind the scenes and how specific products are chemically formulated to address different cleaning needs.

 

During my project I learned that homemade cleaning products are much cheaper to make and have a less significant impact on the environment the store bought cleaners do. I also learned and observed that in some cases such as for an all purpose cleaner or disinfectant that homemade cleaners perform comparably with store bought products. If we know that homemade products can be similarly effective and reduce costs and environmental impacts, compared to store bought cleaners then making efforts to use more cleaners you make yourself can both help the environment and reduce the financial expenses of cleaners.

 

In my personal life I plan to start using the all purpose spray because I find many cleaning chemicals to irritate my skin and I can’t stand how they smell. I found the homemade cleaners to be much more tolerable for me to use. I think overall in our homes we should be trying to make the switch to using more homemade cleaning products because it helps minimize impacts on the environment and can provide people with a good cheap solution to cleaning their homes.

 

There are a few sources of error in my work:

• In terms of my research I did not identify the exact and specific chemicals in the cleaners I used so the impacts on the environment could vary slightly based on the more specific chemical compounds - my research focuses more on general impacts
• For my disinfectant experiment if the incubator had fluctuations in temperature I could have had an impact on the growth of bacteria - this could be resolved by using a proper incubator
• In the first round of my experiment the clorox dish had more bacteria than the control - I believe this could be because of  a lack of surfactants to break down the oils on the surfaces but this could also be my own error
• The bacterial colonies in the dish where not all the same size - I attempted to remedy this by counter larger colonies separately and then multiply those colonies value by 3 to more accurately represent the data
• In all of my experiments slightly more grime on bacteria could naturally be on a surface which could impact the results - I controlled the quantity of grime where I could and did my best to equally divided surfaces based on the grime the best I could

Citations:

National Ocean Service. (2019, April 2). What is eutrophication?. NOAA’s National Ocean Service. https://oceanservice.noaa.gov/facts/eutrophication.html#:~:text=the%20nation’s%20estuaries.-,Harmful%20algal%20blooms%2C%20dead%20zones%2C%20and%20fish%20kills%20are%20the,to%20estuaries%20and%20coastal%20waters. 

Government of Canada. (2024, November 13). Triclosan. Canada.ca. https://www.canada.ca/en/health-canada/services/chemicals-product-safety/triclosan.html 

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Green Choices. (2018, April 19). Environmental impacts. Green Choices. https://www.greenchoices.org/green-living/cleaning/environmental-impacts 

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Thomas, C. (2024a, October 9). Homemade all-purpose spray cleaner (non-toxic recipe). Homesteading Family. https://homesteadingfamily.com/homemade-all-purpose-spray-cleaner/

I would like to start by thanking our CYSF coordinators Mr. Lahoda and Ms. Rhenstien, without them I would not be able to participate in this amazing experience. I would also like to thank my family for supporting me and giving me ideas and inspiration that helped me develop my project. I would like to thank my friends for being so kind and giving me helpful ideas and tips I can use to improve my project. Finally I would like to thank all of the authors and creators of the resources and research I used, it was fundamental to my project. Thank you to everyone who helped me along the way.