Do It Yourself: Natural and Eco-friendly Homemade Sanitizer
- Claudyne Li
- Jun 20, 2020
- 4 min read
article by Claudyne Li in Essay Writing Competition UNM 2020
A number of pneumonia cases with symptoms of fever, body weakness, coughing, and shortness of breath that began happening in Wuhan, China in a short time have changed the paradigm of the plague into a global disaster. Various parties give top priority to this new disease and immediately enact disease control measures and medical treatment. The disease pathogen was identified as a new virus, which was later confirmed by the World Health Organization (WHO). WHO named the virus 2019-nCoV while the International Committee on Taxonomy Viruses (ICTV) named SARS-Cov-2. Pneumonia caused by a viral infection is then called new coronavirus pneumonia (COVID-19) by WHO.
The corona virus infects indiscriminately all people who cause common but deadly flu. These viruses are mostly transmitted by droplets, and can also be spread by fecal-oral transmission routes. Prevention of the spread of the corona virus that can be applied is to wash hands using soap and running water, keep a distance between people, and wear a mask. The development of modern and dynamic society requires humans to always move fast, instant, and use time as efficiently as possible. Prevention of corona virus which requires people to maintain the cleanliness of the body, especially hands using soap and water is considered troublesome because it cannot be carried around.
The use of hand sanitizers in the form of gel, liquid, or foam is one of the virus prevention solutions that save energy and time. Antiseptic hand sanitizing gel preparations are the product of choice today because it is convenient and easy as we can carry anywhere. This is your next best option if water and soap aren’t available. The use of a hand sanitizer is very easy enough to just drip gel on the palm of the hand and then flatten the surface of the palm. However, the soaring case of COVID-19 has caused many hoarders of essential goods, especially goods to prevent transmission of viruses such as masks and sanitizers. The difficulty of obtaining ethanol and triclosan as active ingredients sanitizer provides opportunities for the use of active ingredients in plants to be made as a natural alternative. Piper betle Linn or betel is one of the plants that are known to be efficacious as an antiseptic (Sari and Isadiartuti, 2006). Traditional use is usually by boiling betel leaves then boiled water is used to gargle or clean other body parts, or crushed betel leaves and then placed on the wound (Mardisiswojo, 1985). It is known that the betel leaf content is essential oil consisting of hydroxy chavicol, cavibetol, estargiol, eugenol, metileugenol, carvacrol, terpenes, sesquiterpenes, phenylpropane and tannins (Sari and Isadiartuti, 2006).
In addition to betel leaves, the utilization of sweet orange peel waste (Citrus sinensis) is also known to be able to inhibit the activity of microorganisms and pathogens. Sweet orange peel extract has the antioxidant activity of 70.2% using DPPH method and contains several compounds such as C-glycosylated flavones, O-glycosylated flavones, polymethoxylated flavones, O-glycosylated flavanones. Antimicrobial components of sweet orange peel are essential oils composed of decanal, octanal, and linalool components (Dewi, 2019). Orange peels also contain essential oil which consists of various components such as tepen, sesquiten, aldehyde, esters, and sterols (Friatna et al., 2011). Essential oils can inhibit the growth and kill bacteria by disrupting the process of formation of membranes and cell walls that are not fully formed (Mehmood et al., 2015 in Dewi, 2019).
Based on the potential of the two ingredients, betel leaves and sweet orange peel waste, the utilization has the opportunity to be used as a simple hand sanitizer that can be made by yourself to support the prevention of corona virus outbreaks. Read on to find out how.
First of all, the orange peel waste is blended with a blender using a little water. Betel leaf washed with running water until clean and dried.
After that, the betel leaf is cut into six parts. Prepare water in a small saucepan to boil as much as 100 mL.
Put the betel leaf (50 grams) into the boiled hot water, then the hot water boiled a small saucepan transferred into a larger saucepan to be heated by steaming it in low heat (Sari and Isadiartuti, 2006).
After 15 minutes, remove and let stand for a while to cool down.
After chilling, the betel leaf marinade is filtered and taken as much as 50 mL to be mixed with 40 mL orange peel wastewater (ratio 5: 4).
Betel leaf extract and orange peel wastewater can be used as a sanitizer.
Based on Sari and Isadiartuti's research (2006), the antiseptic formula of betel leaf extract starting at 5% to 25% in the orientation of the inhibitory extract towards the growth of microorganisms, starting at 10% levels has shown antiseptic activity. Betel leaf extract sanitizer can reduce the amount of normal skin flora. With increasing levels of betel leaf extract, the number of colonies has decreased and at 25% levels showed no growth of microorganisms on the media. The use of sweet orange peel waste as a sanitizer is not only an additional ingredient but also gives a fresh aroma. Giving sweet orange peel waste can also reduce the loss of the active content of chavicol betel leaf, which is a component in essential oils that are easily oxidized.
Betel leaf Piper betle Linn and sweet orange peel waste (Citrus sinensis) are antioxidant and antimicrobial ingredients because they contain essential oil components. Both can be used as sanitizers because they are antiseptic. Making betel leaves and sweet orange peel waste as a simple homemade sanitizer can be done at home and become a solution to prevent transmission of the virus without having to find it difficult to buy sanitizer made from alcohol. (CL)
References
Dewi, A.D.R. 2019. Aktivitas Antioksidan dan Antibakteri Ekstrak Kulit Jeruk Manis dan Aplikasinya sebagai Pengawet Pangan. J. Teknol. dan Industri Pangan 30(1): 83-90.
Friatna, E.R., Rizqi, A., dan Hidayah, T. 2011. Uji Aktivitas Antioksidan Pada Kulit Jeruk Manis (Citrus Sinensis) Sebagai Alternatif Bahan Pembuatan Masker Wajah. Jurnal Penelitian Mahasiswa UNY 6(2): 1-10.
Mardisiswojo, S. dan Harsono R. 1985. Cabe Puyang Warisan Nenek Moyang. Balai Pustaka. Jakarta.
Sari, R. dan Isadiartuti, D. 2006. Studi efektivitas sediaan gel antiseptik tangan ekstrak daun sirih (Piper betle Linn.). Majalah Farmasi Indonesia 17(4): 163-169.
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