Enviro-Girl heard on the news that people in Wisconsin are encouraged to keep an eye out for deadly blue algae–a bluish tinted plant growth that occurs in lakes and rivers that is extremely toxic to people and animals. Algae blooms are encouraged by fertilizer runoff from farms and lawns–phosphorus, an ingredient added to kick-start growth, was the target of a recent state ban on fertilizers with phosphorus and the subject of a new proposal: banning detergents using phosphorus. Washington State, Maryland, Pennsylvania, Virginia, Michigan, Vermont, Minnesota, Illinois, Massachusetts, New York and Indiana have bans on detergents with phosphorus.
The use of phosphates to remove grease and stains from dishes and clothes has been widely accepted for decades–but phosphorus is really difficult to remove, eluding waste water treatment efforts and often flowing into waterways where it promotes algae growth, which takes up oxygen in the water, which ends up killing everything else swimming nearby.
One one hand, banning harmful substances is a great idea–it keeps the environment and people safer. On the other, this decision intrudes on consumer choice–many people claim phosphorus-free detergents don’t work as well.
Enviro-Girl uses Seventh Generation detergent and feels pretty satisfied with how clean her family’s clothes come out–she’ll dab some Oxy Clean on the occasional stain in a preemptive strike, but that’s it. Two years ago she switched to Palmolive Eco+ and while she sometimes has to wash a few things over by hand, her dishwasher is still a more convenient option.
The greener choice for protecting our water is to clean with phosphate free detergents, using high efficiency dishwashers and washing machine. Don’t rinse your dishes–the food stuck to plates makes your dish soap more effective–scrape plates and bowls into the compost pile or trash. Skip the dry cycle and let air do the work for you.
What’s your experience with phosphate bans, reader? Do you use phosphate free detergents? Do they work?
I’ve used 7th generation cleaners for so long, I’ve forgotten any differences I might have initially noticed.
I think they work great, and my only complaint about them is that the whole product line isn’t available at all stores. Having to go to more than one place to get cleaners sort of defeats the enviro consciousness purpose. But that’s not 7th Gen’s fault. People – demand environmentally friendly cleaners!
I think they do work, but my husband remains unconvinced, so this is a regular debate in our house.
I wash only in cold water. I used to use hot – what with the kids playing bball, soccer and track but the clothes get just as clean with cold water. It’s all about breaking the surface tension with soap – not the temperature of the water.
I use method’s smarty dish and I love them! We also have a bottle of Palmolive Eco+ and occasionally we use both. I also use vinegar in the “jet dry” holder and that seems to work wonders. Our dishwasher is not a very high quality one so we do rinse the dishes before we load them. Here in the Pacific Northwest the bans on phosphate detergents are spreading which has caused a black market on them. The news actually interviewed a SHM that crosses the border, fills her minivan up with phosphate detergent, and then comes back and sells it. It amazes me the lengths that people will go. I think it is a health/safety issue just like wearing seatbelts. Sometimes others have to intervene for the good of the whole. (sorry for such a long-winded comment. you just touched on a passionate subject)
It’s been so long since I had a phosphate in my house that I can’t remember how things looked then. And I’m not a particularly good housewife, so we’ve learned to get along with smiles on our faces and a stain here and there.
Actually, I’m trying soap nuts now. We’ll see how that goes.
Jenny
Borax is a great stain-remover, laundry booster. I use it on most of my laundry loads.
I love my laundry detergent and dish soap, I think they work great. I get both from Costco. I use Ecos laundry detergent (a great bargain there) and the generic earth friendly liquid dish soap Costco makes. I use them because I try to keep only natural products in my house but I didn’t know this about phosphates! Thanks for such an informative read!