With all the information at your fingertips through the internet these days, why would anyone still choose a chlorine pool? I don't get it. Asthma is a very real danger; studies/articles you can read about it here, here, here and here.
Please think long and hard before you decide to let your family and friends dive into nasty, toxic, chlorinated pools. The thing I realized about chlorine pools is that what is being sold by the pool maintenance person (and demanded by the customer), is a pool that looks good. Appearance is all-important. So important that your pool guy probably doesn't think twice before he dumps in a bit more chlorine before he leaves, just to make sure the pool looks good all week. Then you swim in those chemicals - perhaps even that afternoon! Not good...not good at all. Especially when an excellent alternative exists...but that's not where I'm going tonight. Let's talk Chlorine for a bit...
I kind of remember when I was a kid and Chlorine felt like a good thing. The white puppies on the chlorine bleach ad, the proud proclamation on labels that chlorine bleach was in a cleaning product, and the ultra-clean, safe feel of "whiter-than-white". I remember the way cleanser cleaned the kitchen sink like magic (I got that stuff all over my hands all the time!). Then the tide began to turn...
Now people put chlorine filters on their showers because we found out that more chlorine gets absorbed through your skin and breathed in as steam than you will ever get by drinking tap water. Now there are the issues of dioxins (extremely toxic by-products) that result from the chlorine bleaching of paper products. Now people are becoming very concerned about all this "bleaching" of coffee filters, feminine products, bathroom tissues, and tons of other paper things that maybe just, well, don't have to be so white? Or can at least certainly be bleached in a different way (Europe seems to have gotten that, but it's slow going in the USA).
Paper mills switched to chlorine dioxide from elemental chlorine, which reduced dioxin by-products, but potentially harmful hydrocarbons still remained. Good old Hydrogen Peroxide works perfectly well, so why use the toxic stuff - even if it's just a little toxic? Where is the integrity and committment to sustainability from these paper mills?
As consumers, we are responsible for our choices, and the end effect of those choices as well. Information helps you to make informed, responsible choices. In that spirit, here are the Chlorine-free paper definitions (courtesy of Conservatree):
PCF - Recycled paper in which the recycled content is unbleached or bleached without chlorine or chlorine derivatives. Any virgin material portion of the paper must be TCF. PCF recycles, encouraging sustainability, and uses no chlorine or chlorine derivatives in the process - the most environmentally sustainable choice.
TCF - Virgin paper that is unbleached or processed with a sequence that includes no chlorine or chlorine derivatives. TCF is great, but only uses virgin paper (read more trees).
ECF - Elemental Chlorine Free - Virgin paper processed without elemental chlorine but with a chlorine derivative such as chlorine dioxide. ECF is what to use when you can't find better quality, because it is still poisoning the environment.
The greater demand for PCF anf TCF, the more mills will bite the bullet and switch their bleaching process. If you cruise around on the Conservatree website, you'll find a wealth of sources for responsibly produced paper, stationery, cards, journals, calendars, etc. So next time you go down to the Ojai Hallmark to get a birthday card for Uncle Bob and they don't have what you're looking for - ask them to start carrying environmentally responsible paper and order it from one of the online companies instead. Be a responsible consumer.
