About Us

Avoiding toxic furniture, beds, paints, carpets and the rest!

After recently buying a home, I started investigating what the furniture I intended to buy was made of. I was surprised and concerned to find that most items contain harmful flame retardants, glues and materials that have been linked to cancer, asthma, allergies and more.

As I investigated further, I found that these harmful chemicals were not just limited to furniture, but could also been found in paints, carpets and food. Consequently, the air quality inside the home is often worse than our most polluted cities.

Unfortunately finding non-toxic items proved to be considerably more difficult than expected - the majority of retailers do not specify the components and materials used in their products, and when they do they are often hidden behind acronyms such as PE or CH foam (both of which contain harmful chemicals).

Helping you find the good stuff

Given the difficulties involved in buying items for a non-toxic home, I decided to set up Trusty Canary to defend you against harmful toxins in the home.

The website is inspired by the trusty canaries kept by coal miners that let them know if dangerous gases like carbon monoxide and methane were present. Unlike those trusty canaries, however, I hope to warn you of the toxic items in your home with well-researched articles and recommendations.

Based in Canterbury in the UK, I will be focussing on sourcing non-toxic items in this country.

Guiding principles

The aim of Trusty Canary is to ensure that everyone has the information to put together a comfortable, non-toxic and healthy home for themselves and their families by adopting the following guiding principles:

  • Investigate issues thoroughly to help separate truth from fiction
  • List alternative products and determine their relative merits
  • Suggest additional ways to improve the home environment, for example with house plants
  • Review products for their non-toxic, organic, vegan and environmental credentials
  • Build a friendly community to discuss how to make a non-toxic home