Rob Eno, RedMassGroup:
Some of you may have seen the story about Spokane County in Washington banning phosphates in dishwasher detergent. The Associated Press via Yahoo had the story.
Supposedly the new phosphate free dish detergent does not effectively clean dishes. This has led to two things. First, the rewashing of dishes, using more energy and water. Secondly, the importing of contraband phosphates from Idaho.
Near the end of the story is a paragraph listing the states that will force their residents to use sub-standard dish detergent, yup you guessed it, we’re on the list!!
Among other states that have banned or are banning phosphates in dishwasher detergent are Maryland, Pennsylvania, Virginia, Michigan, Vermont, Minnesota, Illinois, Massachusetts and New York. A bill on Capitol Hill would impose a nationwide ban.
I’ve tried to find when we’re getting hit with this ban. Looks like we’ve got one more item to smuggle in from New Hampshire. Just remember to pay your use tax!
NPR:
The weekend water emergency in Toledo is over, as least for now. Yesterday, Toledo’s mayor took a big sip of H2O for the cameras, as he declared his city’s water supply safe. But Toledo is located near the shallow, flat, western basin of Lake Erie, which still faces the threat of toxic algae blooms. The algae are fed by phosphorous, mainly from fertilizer running off from farmland.
Team RMG would have protested building codes when they were first introduced too. Their dream state is Somalia, where the government is as weak as it can be.
Forgive my ignorance, but what are phosphates, why should they be banned, and how do they end up in our drinking water if they are in dish detergent?
… for life on earth. It is a key component of fertilizers. Phosphates are molecules of phosphorus and oxygen.
Phosphates do not, per se, end up in our drinking water… or at least if they do, are not harmful to us… but because they are such powerful fertilizing agents they cause algae blooms, some of which are toxic, and which suck oxygen out of the water killing off fish species and creating ecological situations in which other toxins can thrive… So phosphates are to ecosystems what water is too life: necessary but you don’t want to drown in it. The EPA terms it nutirient pollution but the basic idea is that too much of a good thing is not a good thing….
“nutrients” not “nutirients”
The comment from petr above this explains the harm phosphates do to the environment.
The same chemical behavior that makes them so effective as fertilizers (and as vital components in living organisms) also makes them very effective cleansers. One very popular cleaning agent until the 1960s was “TSP” — Trisodium phosphate. The high reactivity of the phosphates in TSP make it very effective at cleaning everything from bricks, grout, and concrete to laundry and dishes.
Unfortunately, it is also therefore very effective at destroying waterways.
Probably because they work – my understanding is phosphate holds food in solution. Our town has very hard water and the first version of the zero phosphate detergents were horrible – it now seems the new versions work fine.
According to this 2013 “Massachusetts Nutrient Management Report”, phosphates accounted for “up to 10 to 12 percent of all the phosphate present in wastewater.”
Phosphorus is also present in fertilizer (it’s the second of the three numbers on each bag). Nitrogen (the component indicated by the first number) is another major water pollutant.
Runoff from our highly-prized and therefore highly-fertilized lawns (and, to a lesser extent, gardens) remains a potent force in choking our waterways and drinking water sources with algae, weeds, and scum.
Also, phosphates have been banned in laundry soap nationwide since 1993. As to dishwasher detergent, have people in MA risen up with their pitchforks and torches since their stores stopped selling phosphate detergents? If so, I missed it. Rob Eno needs a better search engine, so he can find some real issues.
Eno’s post is from 2009.
I was struck by it back then. If anything, he has become even more anti-regulation.
where are the caravans of people going to other states for their detergent? Or is the phosphate FREEEEEDOM stuff exactly the same as the BIG GUBMINT non-phosphate version & no one’s noticed the difference?