Green Sin: Using Dishwasher Detergents with Phosphates
In conjunction with our popular green sins poll in the sidebar, we’ve been discussing your green sins this month, and this particular green sin actually causes a green mess! However, only 4% of voters say they still use detergent with phosphate. Round of applause.
Makers of laundry detergent in the United States, Japan, Canada and some European countries no longer include phosphate as an ingredient. I know many people with clean clothes, so phosphate-free laundry detergent must be working.
Including phosphates in dishwasher detergent is still popular in the US and other countries. That doesn’t make sense to me. The practice was widely discontinued in laundry detergent since the phosphate was causing algae blooms that smothered aquatic life and otherwise made lakes and streams unhealthy and smelly.
The good news is that some US states are starting to ban dishwasher detergents with high levels of phosphates.
If you’re still buying dishwasher detergent with phosphates, look at the alternatives. I’m currently using Ecover tablets and love them, but I’m going to try them out a while longer before posting a review. I have reviewed Seventh Generation’s powder, and Jennifer reviewed the gel.
Method is another alternative, but I haven’t tried their automatic dishwasher product. Jennifer is planning a review of Biokleen dishwasher powder. Other phosphate-free dishwasher detergents are available as well. If you’ve tried a phosphate-free detergent you liked, please let us know.
A word of caution: Always read the ingredients in any product claiming to be “green,” “eco” or “earth-friendly.” A true green product will list its ingredients, and bleach, which can irritate your lungs, shouldn’t be one of them.
Visit our other green sin posts this month:
•Raid on Spiders
•Why Buy Recycled Paper
•Leaving Unused Appliances and Chargers Plugged In
•Reasons to Carpool
•Driving an SUV (choice added by reader)
•Recklessly Use the Printer
Algae bloom photo via flickr/soil-science.info photostream.
I’m living in Costa Rica right now, which has the reputation of being an environmental paradise. There is a lot of natural beauty to marvel at, but…
The way people’s homes are built here, their toilets drain into septic tanks/beds (which is fine) and everything else drains into the street (in towns) or down the hill (in the countryside). So you see bits of rice and pasta and veggies floating down the street when someone does dishes, and cloudy, grey laundry water floating down the gutter when someone washes clothes.
I remember the algae-choked waters of Lake Ontario from when I visited my grandfather at his Port Credit house in the ’60’s. Now the beaches of Toronto are relatively clean and I swam there regularly. I wonder how much of an effect the dirty dish water and laundry water of Costa Rican households has on the oceans. Maybe it’s just a drop in the bucket. But a drop in the bucket is what we all thought laundry detergent in the Great Lakes was 40 years ago!