Green? Or Clean? With dishwasher detergents, that is the question.

In attempting to green my dishwasher, I stumbled on the complex question of dishwasher liquid. These are the green decisions that I hate: they are complex, there aren't always obvious alternatives that work, and the facts about the matter are controversial. But I'm jumping ahead of myself.

Greening your dish detergent breaks down into two primary categories: 1) packaging, and 2) ingredients.

Dishwasher Detergent Packaging
Dishwasher detergent comes in three primary flavors of packaging: plastic bags, plastic tubs and cardboard boxes. In any ordinary situation, I'd advocate for the cardboard boxes. Plastic bags aren't recyclable in my area AND are made out of oil, so obviously the worst solution. Plastic tubs are made out of oil, and you can't recycle them completely because the caps aren't allowed.

Cardboard boxes usually contain powder detergents, however, and my dishwasher doesn't seem to like these. It never dissolves completely, and my glasses are covered in spots. My prerequisite for an environmentally-friendly solution is that it has to work, so powder is out.

If using the plastic tubs, packaging can be minimized by buying as large of a bottle as I can find, which will have a larger product:packaging ratio, and thus smaller footprint. Then, experimenting with the amount of product actually required in the dishwater will improve that ratio even further. At the end of its life, recycling the plastic container is extremely important.

Here's what I am trying to do:
1. Buy the biggest size plastic container I can find. This will have a larger product:packaging ratio, and thus smaller footprint. Dishwashing liquid isn’t really going to expire, after all, so this is both more monetarily and 'packagingly' advantageous.

2. Experiment with how much detergent I use. Of course, the dishwashing liquid company recommends you will both dishwasher cups completely full. They’ll sell more product that way. There’s often no need to fill the soap area completely full. About half full works fine for us. If you figure out how full it really needs to be, you can save soap, money, and packaging.

3. Recycle the plastic bottle. Whatever packaging you end up getting, at the end of its life, recycling the container is extremely important.

Dishwasher Detergent Ingredients
This is where things start to get really complicated. I sort of assumed going-in that dishwashing liquid is fine for the environment. It's got to be non-toxic, because we eat from things washed in it, so how could it be harmful at all?

Looking at my Cascade, they don't do a great job disclosing their ingredients. Apparently they are not required to by law. They say the ingredients are "Sodium Carbonate, Sodium Silicate, and Enzymes". But then elsewhere on the bottle they say "Cascade Gel averages no more than 4.5% phosphorus in the form of phosphates." So phosphates would be another ingredient, right? Is that an enzyme?

Apparently in cleaning products of all sorts there are lots of possibly toxic/polluting substances to watch out for. In dishwasher liquid, the two environmentally-impacting culprits are 1. phosphates, and 2. petroleum distillates.

Phosphates
Phosphates help make hard water softer, allowing the cleaning ingredients to work better and faster. When put into waterways, phosphates also create huge algae blooms, starving the ocean of oxygen, killing sea life, and creating "dead zones".

My home state (go Washington!) was the first to pass a law requiring the reduction of phosphate in detergents to 0.5% by 2010. Several other states have followed, and now it seems the detergent industry (which consists pretty much only of P&G) is committed to subbing out phosphates with a synthetic ingredient by 2010. Good news!

Petroleum Distillates
I'm not sure if Cascade does, but many soaps and detergents use petroleum distillates or other petroleum-based ingredients. Not only can these be toxic in large amounts, but you're using oil! That's nearly as annoying as when I realized that my tub of Vaseline was petroleum jelly.

Apparently it's hard to get away from these petroleum products. They must serve some vital purpose, as even the Seventh Generation dishwasher liquid product (apologetically) contains them.

Do Natural Dishwashing Detergents actually work?
When I found out about phosphates and petroleum distillates, I set out determined to find a substitute product that would work for our household. But my online research discovered that many people who use greener detergents say that they don’t really work.

Some people see grit left on the dishes, others end up with mold deposits growing in their dishwasher (nasty!) Many people are amending their green detergent decision with pre-washing their dishes, a bad trade-off that sacrifices energy and water.

A lot of people seem to be happy with two detergents: Ecover, and Trader Joe's, but neither are sold in my area.

Who out there has a great, widely-available dishwasher liquid they can recommend? Anyone? Else, it's back to Cascade for the time being...

Comments

[Amy]

Dish Wash Automatic Concentrate http://www.shaklee.net/awest/product/00295
Clean Credentials

* Natural
* Concentrated
* Biodegradable
* No phosphates
* No chlorine

[Michael Herzfeld]

My partner and I use 7th generation powered dishwasher detergent and haven't noticed any of the bad things you mentioned above. Perhaps it's because we have a newer dishwasher, or perhaps it's because we tend to run it on Sanitary mode (plus no-heat drying). Whatever the reason, it has always worked great for us.

[Brian Cantin]

Just a bit of speculation here, but isn't the volume of clean, palatable water you're running through your dishwasher counter-productive to the whole green intent you're going for? Would it not be more green to roll up your sleeves and wash your dishes in only the amount of water you actually need to get them clean?

I could be wrong, I'm not sure if there's been a study done on this - but I started hand-washing my dishes with the intent of using less water.

[bravenewleaf]

Great question, Brian. It's a common misconception that handwashing is more efficient than dishwashers. Dishwashers are remarkably efficient at using water. If you go yesterday's blog post, you'll see a pointer to one study outlining the salient data. Here, I'll put a link to it:

http://www.mtprog.com/ApprovedBriefingNotes/PDF/MTP_BNW16_2008January17.pdf

I've verified this myself just by watching my water meter run as my dishwasher goes. So stop your handwashing and let the machine do the work! :)

Amy and Michael - thanks for the recommendations!

[mattro2.0]

At our house we use Biokleen Powder. (from Vancouver, WA) We subscribe to all the suggestions you made in the prior post, specifically no pre-rinsing. We also run "short wash" with no problems with dish-washing. You can find the stuff at many places, including QFC, Fred Meyer, PCC, Whole Foods,etc..

[Deb C]

I have had great luck with Seventh Generation products. They make a gel type as well as a powdered variety. I found that the powder actually works much better in my dishwasher here in Massachusetts. If you aren't happy with whatever product you try, they will refund your purchase price. Just save your receipt.

[terra]

Diamond Bright Gel Dishwasher soap I love from Melaleuca! Whenever I use other brands my dishes never look real clean and sparkly.(Plus it is made without harmful chemicals, algaecausing phosphates or bleach) Just one 41.7 oz bottle ($7.29) cleans as many loads of dishes as 4 bottles of Cascad! You use a fraction of soap that you would normally use of other brands. If anybody is interested in this product or any other Melaleuca products you can email me and I will send you a link to the website. melaleucaterra@yahoo.com thank you

[cwhitten]

I use Shaklee and love it! I hardly use any and I don't wash my dishes before hand, just do a quick rinse cycle on my washer. Then I run a smart wash cycle that can tell how dirty my dishes are.

[greenmomma]

I live in Washington State, but just recently ran out of Cascade dishwashing soap. Up until I went to the grocery store to get more, I had NO IDEA that they were going to take Cascade off the shelf. I probably would have stocked up the last time it was on sale. The new eco-friendly stuff I bought (there were only two choices) is the worst. So, I've been researching alternative ideas online, and trying to come up with my own solution. Currently, I'm adding baking soda at the front end of the wash and white vinegar at the final rinse. It's still not "scrubbing" my dishes for me, but there's less residue left on the dishes at the end.

[nick]

How well your washing up detergent works is often dependent on the quality of your water. If you have very hard water, some detergents just don't work properly. This would explain the varying results people above are seeing with the the same detergents.

[nick]

Does anyone know if washing up detergents are toxic? Should we really be using them at all? It seems counter intuitive to me to wash what we use to eat with chemicals. Are there any non-toxic alternatives?