Out of all the items found in my recycle bin, glass bottles are the ones that puzzle me the most. I know that we can make plastic beer rings into beautiful silver necklaces and the bottle caps into pendants and pincushions but what about the bottle itself?

Glass is one of those crafts that is very elusive to me. First there is the process of creating it which involves very high temperatures, taking hot molten glass and using tools that, by necessity, keep you at a far distance. Second, there is a certain aesthetic that glass caries that just isn’t my cup of tea.

I am definitely intrigued by the process of glass making and have spent much time interrogating friends that have taken glass blowing workshops. I am oddly fascinated by it, even if I’m not attracted to it aesthetically. Juliet got me thinking with John Bassett’s glass sculptures but I wanted more. That is why I was pleased as punch to come across a group of Etsy sellers that recycle empty glass bottles and turn them into a variety of wonderful and quirky objects.

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The magical cleaning agent in your bar of hygiene is likely cow fat or oil from, say, coconut. At the manufacturing plant, a chemical process removes the valuable glycerin in the fats and oils to be used in other products. The leftovers are mixed with sodium hydroxide and then blasted dry to form soap pellets, which are then mixed with the colorants, fragrances and other ingredients that allow a humble soap to go by the name of Carribean Breeze or Lilac Meadow.

While the production of soap—or anything, really—has environmental repercussions all its own, the pretty smells in our personal care products are, perhaps, the issue most worth examining here. Many of the chemicals producing fine aromas have been linked to not-so-fine human ailments or tested on animals, and their disposal—down your shower drain in a sudsy stream—fills our water system with chemicals that do not readily biodegrade (or breakdown).

Now, how about a shave?

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Now, the term “yarn porn” is often thrown around in the craft world. In fact, you are reading a blog post by the proud owner of knittingwhorehouse.com (I collect domain names with the loftiest of intentions). But… “Soap Porn”? Smelly Chicks, you asked for it, and I’m going to goat’s milk this for all it’s worth. Ahem…

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While I can take a reasonable guess at what was on the kitchen floor, the actual ingredients in that soapy water were a bit of a shock. An article from the Cox New Service published early in 2007 reported that up to 57 percent of all baby soaps may contain a suspected carcinogen, 1,4-dioxane.

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Editor’s note: This week, Lighter Footstep’s Chris Baskind takes a look at something most of us use every day: soap. This post was originally published on July 31, 2007.

For more information on products that may contain sodium laureth sulfate, see Jennifer’s post on "natural" beauty products.

Well, they smell good, at least.

But take a look at the label of your favorite hand soap, shampoo, or body wash. The first listed ingredient is likely water — followed by sodium laureth sulfate (SLES) or some closely related compound.

Sodium laureth sulfate does the heavy lifting in most of the personal cleaning products on your shelf, right down to toothpaste. It’s a cheap and powerful foaming agent, and it’s foam’s ability to suspend dirt before it gets rinsed off which makes things clean. While concerns have been raised from time to time about sodium laureth sulfate’s long-term safety, nothing has really stuck. SLES is an entrenched part of our daily lives.

It’s also a detergent. While detergents are sometimes called "soaps," there’s a difference. Soaps are derived from fats; detergents are synthetic.

Detergents and Your Skin

As a detergent, sodium laureth sulfate is gangbusters. It may actually be too effective for some people, stripping the skin of necessary moisture. If you have dermatitis or certain other skin conditions, SLES may make things worse. And then there are all the other chemicals present in modern hand soaps and body washes.

Switching to real soap may provide relief to some people with sensitive skin. But it’s more than that — soap making is an art, and good soap can be an eco-friendly and relatively inexpensive luxury.

Soaps are different from detergents in that they’re derived from fats and oils. The Egyptians made crude forms of soaps — though they were used for things like wool making, not washing. Modern soaps are primarily fashioned from vegetable oils, and owe their basic formulations to Arab recipes dating from the 7th century.

Being Kinder to Yourself

Commercial soaps are comparatively poor in glycerine content and may dry the skin. But handmade soaps are rich in moisturizers and replenish the body’s oils as they wash away dirt. This is the sort of balance many people find refreshing after years of exposure to harsh, detergent-based personal care products.

There are as many varieties of handmade soaps as the oils which are used to make them. But the classic base is olive oil, which has been used therapeutically for centuries. Olive oil contains oleic acid, linolenic, and alpha-lenolenic, — which assist skin in the natural production of prostaglandin — along with a variety of antioxidants. Other common soap making oils include palm, jojoba, almond, and coconut.

While many natural soaps are unscented — a good thing for people with sensitive skin — they’re often scented with combinations of aromatic oils and colored by natural dyes and clays. These ingredients can sometimes produce allergic reactions, so pay attention to what’s in your soap and how you react to it. But it’s variety of traditional soaps which lends them so much charm: their colors, scents, and textures.

Where to Find Natural Soaps

Switching from detergents to natural soaps also provides an opportunity to support local artisans. In addition to well-known national brands such as Kiss My Face, your neighborhood natural foods store or gift shop probably stocks soaps made in your own region. Craft shows are another place to meet area soap makers. And a quick Google search for natural soaps will yield plenty of online options.

So get the chemical detergents off your shelf — and enjoy the eco-friendly world of natural soaps.

When you wash your vehicle on a paved surface such as a driveway or parking lot, all that dirty, soapy water has to go somewhere. Chances are it flows into storm drains, which lead directly to creeks, lakes, and streams harming water quality and wildlife.

Believe it or not, taking your car to a commercial car wash is actually better for the environment than washing it at home. They use less water, and are required by law to send used water through to the sewage system where it will be treated. Many commercial car washes, especially in drought-prone areas, will recycle or reuse their water - but ask just to make sure. And don't make a special trip to the car wash — stop by on your way to or from somewhere.

When washing your own at home, look for chlorine free and phosphate-free soaps, like Dr. Bronner's Castile Soap, Bi-O-Kleen multipurpose cleaner or a green car cleaner such as Simple Green. Or try a waterless car wash product that you can spray on and wipe off with a cloth.

Use a spray nozzle on your hose, or take some gray water from your house to conserve water.

Park your car on your lawn or grassy area. The ground will serve as a natural filter for the run off.

Make your own car wash kit to redirect dirty water away from the storm drain. The city of Seattle has directions on how to build your own using a pump, a hose and a few other items you can find in your local home improvement store. (This kind of thing might be best for school or church fund raising car washes.)

Amy says: I've always preferred taking my car through the car wash, not because it was environmentally safer, but simply because it was easier and always got my car cleaner than I ever could.

More on enviro-friendly aspects to car washing:

Stormwater Magazine

Grist

About.com

Related info from GO:

Nude Car Wash

Car Sharing Services (so you don't have to worry about washing the car)

Here are some stories I missed:

Al Gore was in Argentina, where he spoke before the biofuel industry there (May 1)
Argentina is looking to jump on the biofuel bandwagon by offsetting 5% of its fuel usage with biodiesel or ethanol within the next 3 years. If not implemented carefully, the diversion of food or cropland to biofuels could drive up commodity prices for the 25% of Argentina’s population who live in poverty, not to mention the already strained middle class. “Every potential solution must be handled carefully and the danger with biofuels is that extremely valuable forests will be destroyed unnecessarily,” said Gore, “Another danger is that, if it is not pursued carefully, it will drive food prices up.”

Just Say ‘No’ to Bad Biofuels (May 9)
Greenpeace, Friends of the Earth, RSPB and WWF have launched an advertising campaign against ‘the wrong kind of biofuels’. The ‘wrong kind’ being those produced in ecologically destructive or irresponsible ways, like rainforest-eating Malaysian Palm Oil. Campaign posters depict a gas pump handle being held to an orangutan’s head along with the words “Tell the Government to choose the right biofuel or the orang-utan gets it.” The groups are urging the government to avoid misguided biofuel mandates without implementing proper environmental safeguards.

Dairy Builds $400 million algae biodiesel/ethanol refinery (May 13)
Xl Dairy Group Inc. is looking to make a buck off the biofuel boom. Located 100 miles west of Phoenix, their new ‘XL biorefinery’ will produce both fuel and cow feed on-site, first from ethanol and later exclusively from algae. The company developed a proprietary algaculture system in which waste CO2 is bubbled through plastic tubes. By 2009, algae will be grown in the tube array on a 1/3 acre plot next to the dairy farm, all using waste CO2 from a nearby power plant. Algae, which can contain up to 60% oil by weight, will be pressed to extract the oil for biodiesel production. The pressed biomass can then be converted to ethanol or used as animal feed, but before the algae system comes online, the dairy will import 576,000 tons of Midwestern corn each year. Annual biofuel production is expected to be around 20 million gallons of ethanol and 5 million gallons of biodiesel. This is a great example of ‘co-generation,’ where waste from one process becomes fuel for another. I always thought dairy waste-water might be a good place to grow algae.

Cleaning up Emissions: CleanAIR systems announces PERMIT Filter/Silencer (May 15)
Everyone knows diesel engines can be dirty, often spewing black plumes of smoke out the exhaust pipe. But don’t forget about diesel generators, which provide backup power to schools, hospitals, power plants, government offices, and other buildings. Estimated to number 100,000, standby generators are ubiquitous if unnoticeable, and they contribute to local air pollution. Enter CleanAIR Systems and their new particulate filters/silencers designed to plug into existing generators. The filters, which look like giant metal boxes, are intended to substantially reduce particulate matter “by more than 85% and emissions of carbon monoxide and hydrocarbons by up to 99%.” CleanAIR Systems also makes particulate filters for older diesel vehicles (like schoolbuses). Good filters are key to the next generation of ‘clean’ diesels, and there’s no reason why existing technology can’t be retrofitted to meet cleaner standards.

Soap Makers/biodiesel producers aren’t happy about Big Oil getting biofuel tax credits (May 21).
In April, a small but very important definitional change was made to the Energy Policy Act of 2005. Under the new definition, ‘renewable diesel’ now means regular diesel with any amount of biomass blended into it, and this so-called renewable diesel qualifies for a $1.00/gallon tax credit. This credit is a windfall to already grossly rich corporations, and will also discourage real development of renewable fuels. As I reported in the April’s biofuel News Roundup, ConocoPhillips and Tyson Foods’ have major plans to develop ‘renewable diesel’ from animal fat. It turns out that ConocoPhillips and Tyson weren’t planning on making biodiesel (as I reported), but instead are going to use thermal depolymerization to boil down animal waste into a diesel (an probably biodiesel)-like fuel, and blend it into regular diesel (thereby getting the tax credit). Not only are biodiesel manufacturer’s irate (Joe Jobe of the National Biodiesel Board (NBB) remarked it was “bad energy policy, bad agricultural policy, and bad fiscal policy.”), but the Soap and Detergent Association (SDA) is worried about the future supply of animal tallow, which they say has already been driven up 80% due to biofuel subsidy. They have good reason to be worried if any oil company can now blend a small fraction of animal-fat based fuel into their distribution system and call it “renewable diesel”. A bill back by the NBB, the SDA, and 50 other signatories is now aimed at eliminating the tax credit.

That’s the news for May! Stick around next month for more biofuel news on algae aviation fuel, clean diesel vehicles, and more!

Mother Earth News has a fantastic article on Why You Don't Need Antibacterial Soap. While a simple google search will turn up dozens of articles and debates about this across the web (people seem to feel pretty strongly about their antibacterial soap!), for anyone who is serious about eliminating chemicals from their lives and our world, antibacterial soap has got to go.

Featuring a host of nasty chemicals, chief among them triclosan and triclocarban, antibacterial soaps are quickly polluting our water (up to 60% of US streams are contaminated with triclocarban, says Mother Earth News) and our food supply (as the chemicals make it into crops through biosolid fertilizer). Science-A-Go-Go reports on the surprising persistence of triclocarban in our environment. Overall, there is lots of damning evidence coming to the same conclusion: antibacterial soap must go.

There are dozens of options out there for the conscientious soap consumer. A quick search for organic soap turns up dozens of soap companies who are making all-natural, chemical free soaps that won't pollute our earth. After my partner Sam pressured me for months on the issue, I gave in; we've even found homemade natural soap at our local farmer's market!

Pertinent links:

wikipedia on antibacterial soap, wikipedia on triclosan, Worldwatch Institute on soap