Store bought disinfectants used in cleaning can contain all sorts of nasty chemicals. Making your own environmentally friendly disinfectant is very cheap and extremely quick to do using just eucalyptus oil and water.

Simply mix 1.6 oz of eucalyptus oil with a litre of water. Be sure to shake well before use and use as you would a store bought disinfectant.

Not only will you have a greener disinfectant, but by making your own, you're more likely to use the same container, therefore cutting down your plastic consumption.

Eucalyptus oil is amazing stuff and you'll see it mentioned regularly throughout this site. If you do purchase it, try to buy in bulk as you can pick it up for around US$14 for 16 oz.

I've read that European doctors used to use eucalyptus oil to disinfect and sterilize their equipment. Do be careful when handling eucalyptus oil as it's quite potent and can cause skin irritation in it's undiluted form.

Here's another disinfectant recipe if you're not particularly fond of the smell of disinfectants:

Grapefruit Seed Extract Disinfectant Spray

Ingredients:

1 gallon warm water
20 drops grapefruit seed extract
Mix and pour in a spray bottle

That's it!

Just a note on surface disinfectants: which good hygiene is a wonderful thing, as a species we run the risk of becoming so paranoid about bacteria and viruses that in our attempts to wipe them out, we create stronger, more resilient bacteria. As has been noted in the case of staph, the excessive use of antibiotics has created super-strains which are now resistant to *all* antibiotics. It's food for thought.

If you have some earth friendly disinfectant tips you'd like to share; please add them below