The other day Newsday featured “green” washing machines and a sidebar on “green” laundry detergent. What I found fascinating was that Newsday touted these laundry detergents as green because they were phosphate free.
Hello?? NY state banned phosphates in laundry detergent in 1993. So all laundry detergents you buy in NY supermarkets or big box stores or yes, of course, Shaklee products, are phosphate free.
A little primer here – large amounts of phosphorus in our water supply from phosphates in laundry detergents, automatic dishwashers and other flake soaps (as well as human and animal waste) were allowing the algae to “bloom” in our nation’s waterways. The phosphates (phosphorus) is a plant nutrient. The algae overgrowth choked out the aquatic plant life and disturbed the ecosystem balance. In 1993, several states including NY, banned the use of phosphates in laundry detergent.
Now if you want to discuss what’s new and green, which automatic dishwasher detergents are phosphate-free?
One Mom's Conversion to Green Living 