I ran across an interesting article on a great blog called triplepundit.com that talks about phosphate legislation and misinformation in the state of Washington. Here it is in it's entirety:
In an effort to reduce water pollution, the state of Washington initiated a ban on dishwasher detergents containing phosphates. Spokane County was the first to implement the ban last year.
Now while Washington isn't the only state to implement such a ban (Maryland, Pennsylvania, Virginia, Michigan, Vermont, Minnesota, Illinois, Massachusetts, and New York have either banned or are in the process of banning dishwasher detergents containing phosphates), Spokane, for some suspect reason, has drawn the attention of critics who are claiming that residents are actually driving out of the state to get dishwasher detergents that do contain phosphates.
Really?!!!
What we're now hearing is that some Spokane residents are driving about 10 miles or so to buy their phosphate-friendly detergents in Idaho. And why would they spend the extra time and gas money to get those detergents? According to reports, the non-phosphate varieties don't work as well. Here's an excerpt from a recent AP story...
“Many people were shocked to find that products like Seventh Generation, Ecover, and Trader Joe's left their dishes encrusted with food, smeared with grease and too gross to use without rewashing them by hand. The culprit was hard water, which is mineral-rich and resistant to soap.”
My friends, I live in Maryland, and we have extremely hard water. I've also used both Seventh Generation and Ecover, and have NEVER had a problem. Don't get me wrong, if you let your dirty dishes sit for a few days, then just throw them in the dishwasher, you might not get the best results. But the eco-friendly varieties have never let me down. And I'm suspicious of anyone who claims otherwise.
Nonetheless, I don't plan to lose much sleep over those in Spokane who can't live without their phosphates. After all, we expect the business community to do their part to clean up their acts. So shouldn't we expect the same of ourselves?
It's easy to blame “big business” for all of our environmental problems. But all too often we find excuses to shirk our own personal responsibilities. The business community has provided us with non-phosphate dishwasher detergents. So it's on us, the consumers, to do the right thing. And switching over to eco-friendly dishwasher detergents is the right thing.
It's not rocket science, folks. When large amounts of phosphates are discharged into waterways, they can cause excessive algae growth, which robs the water of oxygen fish need to survive. So doesn't it make sense to make a very simple change that can help us limit the phosphates being discharged into our waterways?
Of course, that doesn't mean we necessarily need a full-scale ban on dishwasher detergents containing phosphates. After all, most of us support a free market system that doesn't have to rely on government intervention. And I'm all for it. So instead of a ban, how about this: If some folks want to continue using the phosphate-friendly detergents – let them. Just make sure you tack on the environmental damage cost to the price of that detergent. Do that, and you'll see just how fast those eco-friendly detergents really do work!
Link to the story here:
So, what do well-intentioned consumers do when legislation is passed and then unfounded "gossip" causes less well-intentioned consumers to ignore these regulations in favor of using products that have proven to be harmful to our environment? Ask our little froggy what he thinks!
1 comment:
This is impossible to read because of the color of the font.
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