My Caveman Chemist model of the world is that all detergents are the same (e.g., see this soap, shampoo, and shaving cream in one bottle or this laundry detergent that can also be used to clean floors
). Thus there would be no difference in damage to the environment from using Tide to wash clothing versus some other brand. Ditto for Cascade versus some other brand of dishwasher detergent. Now that phosphates have been more or less banned there isn’t a distinction among detergents based on phosphate content. Yet Whole Foods carries a whole aisle of detergents whose labels imply that somehow the Earth will be better off if I buy those brands, e.g., Seventh Generation, rather than the poisonous products of devil-worshiping Procter & Gamble. The Seventh Generation web site isn’t very informative. Their laundry detergent is “non-toxic” (so it is actually better for drinking than Tide? Straight or with ice and soda?). They have no “dyes or synthetic fragrances,” but Tide has a fragrance-free variant. And is fragrance harmful to the planet? If we are going to roast our planet about 5.4 billion years ahead of schedule (when the red giant Sun would have done it for us), what’s wrong with a pleasant odor?
So… can our household reduce the amount of environmental harm that we cause by using “eco” detergents in the kitchen and laundry? And is the answer different whether we are putting this into a septic versus a municipal sewage system?
MSDS is your friend.
Compare:
http://www.seventhgeneration.com/sites/default/files/assets/pdf/msds/English/MSDS_2X_Laundry_Detergent_0.pdf
with
http://www.pg.com/productsafety/msds/fabric_and_homecare/detergents/Liquid_2X_Tide_HE_Detergent_All_Scents_-_MSDS_updated_01-21-14.pdf
It appears as if the main surfactant in 7th gen is sodium lauryl sulfate, which is made from coconut oil. SLS is a very common (and cheap) ingredient found in many shampoos, etc.
Tide has Benzene sulfonic acid, whose feedstock is petroleum.
Probably neither one is really good for you, but generally something made from a vegetable oil is usually less toxic than something that starts with a petroleum feedstock. However, I don’t recommend drinking either one so I’m not sure that should be the criterion. Consumer Reports usually gives top cleaning scores to Tide but since most of us don’t work in coal mines or as auto mechanics our clothes are usually not that dirty and a mild detergent is usually adequate. My suggestion is to get a cheap detergent (like the Costco Kirkland house brand) and use that except for stubborn stains when you get out the Tide.
I didn’t like the way my dishes looked with non-phosphate detergent ( covered with a white film), so I stayed with phosphate (you can still get it for commercial use, though not in the supermarket). Since 99% of all people switched to the non-phosphate kind, the tiny amount of phosphate I am contributing won’t destroy the planet.
Many fragrance free detergents actually have fragrance to achieve what humans believe/perceive to be the absence of fragrance.
I generally buy the organic stuff, my thinking that “organic” food in 2014 is pretty much what normal food was in 1974. However, there are instances where this makes sense and instances where it doesn’t. Laundry detergent is an instance where it probably doesn’t.
I have found that for food, a better guide than the organic label is to check the list of ingredients and to screen out anything that has corn syrup or where the list of ingredients seems too long and/ or contains too many things you can’t identify. If you want to be “eco-friendly”, just consume less.
The camouflage uniforms worn by soldiers are made from a fabric which absorbs near-infrared wavelengths, making them harder to detect with thermal imaging. This masking capability is compromised by optical brighteners (the “dyes” Seventh Generation is talking about), which are found in most detergents.
I’m not aware of any other non-religious differences.
The labels you read shows you how “eco” the product is at the consumption end. Is there anyway to find out how “eco” those products are at the manufacturing end? Is the manufacturing process causing more damage (produce more waste, cut more trees, etc.) to produce those “eco” product?
Pending research on manufacturing part, it could very well be that “eco” labeled product is just a marketing ploy to make you buy one product over another.
Some people use ‘grey water’ from their washing machine for the garden and other purposes. Here’s an example, though I don’t see a prohibition on the main chemical mentioned above: http://ecologycenter.org/factsheets/greywater-cleaning-products/
There has also been talk about refiltering waste water to get drinking water, so less chemicals would help there. I live in CA where greywater is worth doing so your mileage may vary as to whether you’d care.
As discussion of Procter & Gamble increases, probability of misspelling the first word as Proctor approaches 1 (and use of and instead of ampersand approaches 0.5).
I’m pretty sure I’m no more toxic for using tide over seventh generation. But it doesn’t stop my wife from spending more on the green stuff 🙁
It would be great if someone had a link to an article on this.
The main difference is the use of SLES, the manufacturing of which can leave trace amounts of 1,4-dioxane, a carcinogen. But not enough to worry about: http://m.thesweethome.com/reviews/best-dish-soap/#hazardous
My wife and my oldest daughter claim they are allergic to the detergents that have fragrances.
Izzie: Interesting note on SLS. I occasionally get canker sores in my mouth and SLS is suspected as a trigger. While I can’t find any good ‘real’ studies, I find that using SLS-free toothpaste seems to leave me with many fewer canker sores. So possibly switching to something environmentally better will cause me more pain…..
I don’t think that SLS is environmentally “better” than SLS-free toothpaste. It it marginally “better” than SLES detergent and almost certainly better than benzene based surfactants, but I don’t think either of those are in non-SLS toothpastes. However, some non-SLS toothpastes (Sensodyne) use Cocamidopropyl betaine as their surfactant (the stuff that makes toothpaste “foam” in your mouth), which is also a coconut derived soap. One theory on why you get canker sores from toothpaste is that the soap washes away the natural mucus protective layer from your soft tissues. Although CB has not been studied (AFAIK) I’m not sure that it would be much better (though CB is a less effective detergent than SLS). The best bet would be to get a toothpaste without any surfactants (soap) at all such as Tom’s Clean and Gentle. This uses Glycyrrhizin (make from licorice root) as a foaming agent. OTOH, one of the functions of toothpaste is to “wash” your teeth so taking the soap out of it may make it less effective in removing gunk. But my understanding is that most of the benefit of brushing comes from the mechanical action of the bristles and not the toothpaste anyway (aside from the fluoride).
We have found so-called “eco-detergent” does not clean as well as the name-brand detergents. Consumer Reports agrees with us. Three of the five recommended detergents are by Tide, one is Whisk, and one is the Sam’s Club in-house brand.
Seventh Generation is ranked 38th or so.
Info here if you are a subscriber: http://www.consumerreports.org/cro/laundry-detergents.htm
And #6 is the Costco house brand “free and clear”. The Sam’s Club/Costco stuff costs around 11 or 12 cents/load and the Tide is around twice as much per load (though you could probably cut the cost by waiting for it to go on sale). I also wonder whether the ratings would be affected by exceeding the recommended amount – if you used 1.25 or 1.5 x the amount of Sam’s detergent, would it be both better and cheaper than Tide?
Generally in items like dish detergent (the kind for hand washing) or shampoo, the 1st ingredient is water and the cheaper brands contain more water and less surfactant, so you don’t save anything by buying them, you just get to schlep more water home.
@Izzie, Sam’s Club and Costco are quite different and I wouldn’t lump them together. Sam’s Club aka Walmart has consistently been one of the worst places to work while Costco has been one of the best employers in retail. I think it shows in both the service and the product quality.
This article lists no less than five types of chemicals in laundry detergents that are potentially harmful. I’d be most concerned with phenols and phthalates.
http://gimmethegoodstuff.org/safe-product-guides/laundry-detergent
Tide, i.a., is specifically called out as “The Bad Stuff”. Anything with fragrance contains phthalates.