I believe there are also other Designs of consumer products in which are becoming increasingly important within considerations of the environment such as every day products from shampoos and conditioners to floor cleaners. As a result of these being used to excessive amounts the environment and its public are being damaged or harmed. The list below all contain dangerous chemicals that cause numerous harm such as nervous system, skin, kidneys, and eye damage.
1. All-purpose cleaners
2. ammonia-based cleaners
3. Bleach, brass or other metal polishes
4. Dishwater detergents
5. Disinfectants
6. Drain cleaners
7. Floor wax or polishes
8. Glass cleaners
9. Dishwashing detergents
10. Oven cleaners and scouring powders.
These are the specific chemicals found in the product that can cause serious harm.
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Also Known As: trichloroethane solvents, PCE
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Found in: Dry Cleaning Fluid, Spot Removers, and Carpet Cleaners
- Eye, skin and lung irritant. Can cause liver and kidney damage if ingested; perchloroethylene has caused cancer in some laboratory animals and is considered a probable human carcinogen. Can accumulate and persist in human fatty tissues and breast milk.
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Found in: Chlorine Bleach
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- Lung, skin, and eye irritant
- Household bleach is the most common cleaner accidentally swallowed by children.
- If mixed with ammonia or acid-based cleaners (including vinegar), releases highly toxic chloramine gas. Short-term exposure to chloramine gas may cause mild asthmatic symptoms or more serious respiratory problems.
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May be found in: Metal Polishes
- Short-term exposure can cause temporary eye clouding; longer exposure can damage the nervous system, skin, kidneys, and eyes.
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May be found in: Furniture and Floor Polishes
- Can cause shallow breathing, vomiting, and death
- associated with cancer and birth defects
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Also Known As: formalin, urea, phenol formaldehyde, methanal, methylene oxide, oxymethyline, methylaldehyde, and oxomethane
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May be found in: Paints, coatings and cosmetics (used as a preservative;) Glues used in particleboard and plywood furniture; Nail Enamels
- It is one of the large family of chemical compounds called volatile organic compounds
- Low levels of formaldehyde can cause eye, nose, throat, and skin irritation. It is possible that people with asthma may be more sensitive to the effects of inhaled formaldehyde. Levels of formaldehyde in air as low as 0.1 ppm (0.1 part formaldehyde per million parts of air) can cause watery eyes, burning sensations in the eyes, nose and throat, stuffy nose, nausea, coughing, chest tightness, wheezing, skin rashes and allergic reactions.
Drinking large amounts of formaldehyde can cause severe pain, vomiting, coma, and possible death.
So these everyday products that we use in and around the house on a day to day basis can be very dangerous to the environment and yourself, especially when we are using them more often than we should.
Recycling of materials and reuse of product is increasingly encouraged. 2 dissimilar products explain how design facilitates the recycling of materials and encourages reuse of product?
‘Using recycled glass uses 30 percent less energy than making products from all new materials. Today, almost 26 percent of the glass produced is recycled.’
Glass bottles are a product that is always encouraged to be recycled. Soft drink bottles, beer bottles, juice bottles and jars that are made of glass can be recycled forever. And, the end result is always the same high quality you started with. This means the bottle you drink out of today could be a jam jar on your table tomorrow. It is easy to recycle glass, as all that is needed is a considerable amount of heat to melt the glass then reshape it. However once glass has been coloured (clear, green, or amber -golden brown), the colour cannot be removed. That means a maker of clear glass jars cannot use coloured cullet. Why do some manufacturers package their foods and beverages in green or amber coloured glass containers? The coloured glass protects some sensitive foods and beverages from light. You cannot recycle all glass products. Light bulbs, ceramics, glass mirrors, windowpanes, and dishes are not made with the same materials as glass jars and bottles, so they should not be mixed in with glass recyclables. Still, it’s the bottles and jars that we throw away every day, not the light bulbs and dishes that make up most of our rubbish. People are encouraged to recycle glass bottles by the coloured recycling bins in many areas. There are these glass bins in nearly all tesco’s and other major public areas. Competitions are held for certain areas along the East Anglia coats to see which area collects the most bottles to recycle, this is also apparent within primary schools, who ever collects the most recyclable bottles or material wins a computer for the school. This encourages recycling to take place.
I also believe we need to recycle paper as we use this in excessive amounts. Paper is made from cellulose, which is in plant fibers. Cutting down trees and then grinding up trees and dumping the wood pulp in acid make the cellulose, and cutting down trees is not good for the plant for a number of reasons. But recycling uses cellulose over and over again. Recycled paper can be made with less electricity, with less water, with a lot less pollution, and it saves trees from being cut down. People are encouraged to recycle paper because its easy and they can do it themselves.
