Although organic vegetables and fruit aren’t grown with pesticides or chemicals, they can be cultivated with natural soil enhancers and fertilizers such as manure, bone meal, and worm castings. Plus, before you buy fruits and vegetables in stores, they could have been handled by farming staff, farming equipment, market employees and other shoppers. Hopefully, the equipment and hands were clean, but you just never know.

So, whether you buy vegetables and fruits that are conventionally grown (using pesticides), organically grown (without chemicals or pesticides), or whether you grow your own, you should always inspect and clean everything thoroughly before eating or cooking.

Fortunately, it’s fairly easy to remove pesticides, germs, and bacteria by using inexpensive ingredients found right in your kitchen cupboard. All you need to do is concoct a mixture of water, vinegar, baking soda and lemon juice and then use it as a spray, rinse or soak.

In the past, we provided several easy ways to Wash Your Fruits & Veggies With Vinegar to remove pesticides. Right now we’d like to share another recipe tha uses vinegar to remove germs, bacteria, and pesticides.

We hope you’ll try the solution below to clean all fruits and vegetables. This recipe is especially important to use on herbs, vegetables and fruits that sit directly on top of soil or beneath soil to grow (rather than those that hang from branches or in bushes), like basil, carrots, potatoes, watermelons, carrots and squash.

It’s also really  important to wash all fruits and vegetables that have peels, even if you don’t plan to eat the peel. That’s because the knife can transfer pesticides, germs and bacteria that are located on the outside of your fruit or vegetable into the edible parts of the item.

Green Tips  for Cleaning Fruits and Veggies

1. Combine these ingredients in a spray bottle
   • 1 cup water
   • 1 cup white vinegar or cider vinegar
   • 1 tablespoon baking soda
   • 2 tablespoons lemon
2. Spray the mixture on fruits and vegetables.
3. Allow the mixture to sit for about five minutes
4. Rinse it off with water.
5. Give items a final visual inspection.

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Fortunately, you can drastically reduce your exposure to pesticides and bacteria found on produce with a thorough vinegar and water wash.  Experts found that a white vinegar and water wash kills 98% of bacteria and removes pesticides.

You can concoct your own vinegar/water mixture at home to save money.  You’ll probably spend less than 20 cents  to make a homemade vinegar and water rinse, compared to around $4 for a premade produce wash.  Plus,  you can use the same bottle many times when you make your own wash!

Good Green Habits for Washing Produce

• Mix 3 parts water to 1 part white vinegar (3:1 ) in a spray bottle.
• Spray on fruits and veggies to get rid of pesticide residue.
• Rinse with water after spraying.

-OR-

• Fill a bowl with water and add 1/8 to 1/2 cup of vinegar, depending on the size of your bowl.
• Place your fruits and veggies in the bowl.
• Soak for 15 to 20 minutes.
• Rinse with water.

Note: GGH loves the second version because it’s super easy and quick.

Update:  You can read more about this topic (and get a new recipe!) at Cleaning Fruits and Vegetables: Organic and Conventionally Grown.

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Single-use bottled water manufacturers often use #1 polyethylene terephthalate (PET or PETE) to package their water. Although these bottles are considered the safest single-use plastic bottle choice, are they good for your health?

A definitive…not really. The term “safe for single use” just means that the plastic containers shouldn’t melt, crack or fall apart after one use. This safety term is not related to health or to the amount of harmful chemicals that can migrate from the plastic bottles into your water.

Single-use plastic water bottles can leach these chemicals into your drinking water: 

• benzyl butyl phthalate, a potential hormone disrupter
• antimony, an elemental metal that can irritate eyes, skin and lungs

Also, because PET plastic is porous and the shapes of the these bottles make them difficult to clean, harmful bacteria can be consumed with repeated use.

Good Green Habits for Water Bottles

Why needlessly risk your good health for the convenience of a plastic bottle? The following eco-friendly options can help protect your health and keep water bottles from piling up in landfills:

• Fill a stainless steel bottle with tap water* for out-and-about use.
• Rely on glass or ceramic containers when at home.
• Recycle plastic bottles if you occasionally use them so the plastic can be made into new products.

 *TAP WATER ECO FACT: Most local drinking water supplies are rigorously tested to meet federal and state drinking water regulations. To learn about your area’s water quality, you can visit Environmental Working Group’s National Tap Water Database. When your tap water is safe but you don’t like the taste, you can purchase easy-to-install water filters, such as those made by Brita, or find other types of water purification systems that suit your needs.

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Well, if you’ve got the feeling that you shouldn’t flush these prescription and over-the-counter drugs down the toilet or throw them in your garbage cart—your eco vibe is right on target. These items are considered household hazardous waste.

Improper medication disposal—pills, capsules, liquids—can definitely mess with the well-being of people, animals, and the environment. Drugs of all types can pollute soil and groundwater. 

And, since most wastewater treatment plants don’t remove man-made chemicals from medications, the chemicals in them can contaminate water supplies, including drinking water! Fortunately for the future of our planet, you’ve got green options. 

Good Green Habits for Medications

Take these steps to dispose of unwanted prescription and over-the-counter medications to keep environment healthy:

• Visit NoDrugsDownTheDrain.org for disposal locations.
• Watch for advertised medication take-back events.
• As a last resort, place them in your garbage cart* using these eco measures: 
  • Keep pills, capsules and liquid medications in original, non-breakable containers with tightly secured lids. 
  • Mark out personal information on medication containers. 
  • Pills and capsules in blister packs should be wrapped in several layers of durable tape.
  • Hide containers inside paper bags, boxes or plastic tubs. 
  • Place wrapped, concealed containers in garbage cart.