Originally published at: https://boingboing.net/2020/08/04/clorox-wont-have-enough-disi.html
…
3 Likes
Guess I’m going to have to learn how to make everclear.
12 Likes
But we’ll totally have a vaccine for a completely new class of diseases distributed to everyone in a couple of months, so don’t waste your time on masks or lockdowns or contact tracing.
7 Likes
Gee, if only there was something a president could do…
8 Likes
Rats. I don’t like the flavor of the other brands.
9 Likes
1 Like
It’s not even the chemicals, it’s the non-woven polymer wipe material that’s the issue because it’s the same stuff that’s used in masks. There’s no shortage of disinfectant chemicals, including alcohol.
Easy home solution: use cotton rags with dilute dish soap, or with disinfectant soap, which is available by the gallon at Target. Wash and re-use them.
What I don’t understand is, why are they short of Clean-Up? It’s 98% water, the rest is some chlorine and detergent, which seem to be readily available.
4 Likes
When she says these “will be just like store bought Clorox wipes” she is dead wrong. Even though Clorox is famous for its multi-purpose bleach, “Clorox wipes” don’t contain bleach. With that in mind I don’t think people should make homemade disinfecting wipes from bleach either.
I can think of a number of reasons why not to use bleach for wipes and one is that “wipes” are used for easy, no rinse disinfecting. But bleach is corrosive and reactive, and needs to be carefully rinsed to avoid damage to surfaces and to avoid toxic chemical reactions with the residue when other cleaners used on the same surface at a later time.
5 Likes
This, and more. It’s important to have detergent in there as well, to break surface tension and get into pores in materials to properly disinfect. And bleach damages many surfaces. There are store-bought disinfectant solutions which could be used, are available, and are better than this stupid recipe.
The other problem in this video is that it won’t work. If you leave a roll of paper towels soaking in liquid, it’s going to turn into mush. The Clorox wipes use non-woven polymer which is plastic which doesn’t fall apart in water, which is why they work, and why this recipe does not. Which is actually another reason not to use it, because the absolute last thing we need is more single-use plastic.
Why not just use reusable cotton rags and disinfectant solution? And if you don’t have disinfectant solution, then yes, use a dilute bleach and detergent solution. Bleach does contain chlorine which is an oxidizer and it’s not safe for all surfaces, but it’s safe for most.
6 Likes
Agreed. I’ve been using soap. water, & rags since Covid Day 1 & just had my second negative test. I do use dilute bleach on a rag to wipe down plastic & glass grocery packages. Other groceries & mail go into quarantine for 24 hrs. I wash hands with soap & water frequently. Seems to be enough so far. But I get it that staff wiping down an airplane or, say librarians wiping down books want something handy & fast, without laundering needed.
1 Like
Yes, places like Ubers and libraries and so on - they want disposable wipes, not a pile of laundry.
But at home? Come on, get out the soap / detergent / bleach / alcohol / commercial disinfectant and the cotton rags! Saves money and reduces single-use plastics at the same time! I assume that the non-woven polymer in wipes quickly breaks down to plastic micro-particles which will float around in oceans and rivers for decades and will get ingested by marine life.
As for surfaces in general, it’s nice to have clean surfaces, but: Covid doesn’t transmit on surfaces. Like, not at all. There’s no evidence that surface transmission is a thing. It transmits in air. Costco should be sold out of fans and window screens, not wipes.
1 Like
Side note: Clean Swiffer pads make good non-woven mask inserts. Dirty ones can be laundered & re-used on the mop.
Yep. We’re down to our last canister too. I have no idea what we’ll do in a week.
Ugh, I don’t even use disinfectant wipes and I now have several canisters just because of the hype and scarcity… :-/ I prefer to use detergent or to use 70% propranolol since that evaporates, but don’t try it on some types of groceries with printing on plastic bags (such as bagged sliced bread) as it dissolves the ink and makes a mess.
1 Like
This topic was automatically closed after 5 days. New replies are no longer allowed.
