Why everything is dirtier
mises.org
Why everything is dirtier
1–10 of 18 posts
Re: Why everything is dirtier
#2Since I work for a producer of STPP (the phosphate ingredient in detergents, usually not TSP) I can agree on the whole with this article. Governments around the world are banning phosphates from domestic detergents to prevent water eutrophication (algal blooms etc.). However, domestic applications account for no more than 2% of the problem, the remaining 98% come from human waste (crap) and agriculture (both phosphate fertilizer and animal waste).
It is therefore rather "symbolic politics" with politicians trying to get a "greener image" on this issue, rather than actually fixing the environment.
What's more, sewage treatment plants could also reclaim phosphate from wastewater and collect it to be recycled, this would close the cycle.
But this probably won't happen, right now governments are looking at banning STPP from automatic dishwasher detergents as well, and industrial and institutional cleaners are next. So you can expect a lot dirtier dishes soon as well.
For more information you can check out http://www.ceep-phosphates.org/ which is the European lobby for phosphate producers. They have some good background information on this.
Re: Why everything is dirtier
#3When you add the tablespoon of TSP be sure to handle it carefully:
Re: Why everything is dirtier
#4When you add the tablespoon of TSP be sure to handle it carefully: http://www.inchem.org/documents/icsc/icsc/eics1178.htm
Laundry detergent used to contain "STPP" TSP is not common https://secure.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/wiki/Sodium_tripol...
Re: Why everything is dirtier
#5[deleted]
Re: Why everything is dirtier
#6An anoying article. The author rants at length about how evul the gubmint is for banning clean shirts, calls "trisodium phosphate" "a natural element" which cannot be correct chemically correct, and falls for the "natural must be safe" falacy. He totally fails to even mention the reasoning that led, rightly or not, to this chemical compound being no longer used, never mind adding up pros and cons of it.
The first para at wikipedia ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trisodium_phosphate ) is more informative, which is a damning lack of reasearch.
Re: Why everything is dirtier
#7I'm not sure I buy the "government banned this to promote consumerism" argument, but I'm definitely interested in trying it out as an experiment.
Re: Why everything is dirtier
#8An anoying article. The author rants at length about how evul the gubmint is for banning clean shirts, calls "trisodium phosphate" "a natural element" which cannot be correct chemically correct, and falls for the "natural must be safe" falacy. He totally fails to even mention the reasoning that led, rightly or not, to this chemical compound being no longer used, never mind adding up pros and cons of it. The first par…
While the article is so long and so wrong in the beginning that I can't blame you for not reading the whole thing, but he does mention the reason
The idea was to help the fish in their oxygen competition with algae
Re: Why everything is dirtier
#9Since I work for a producer of STPP (the phosphate ingredient in detergents, usually not TSP) I can agree on the whole with this article. Governments around the world are banning phosphates from domestic detergents to prevent water eutrophication (algal blooms etc.). However, domestic applications account for no more than 2% of the problem, the remaining 98% come from human waste (crap) and agriculture (both phosphat…
While it may be correct (I don't know) to say that the current problem is 2% detergents, the numbers were different 40 years ago when phosphate started getting banned, one source saying 50-70% of the problem being detergents [1]. One could say, on a percentage basis, it was successful.
[1] http://www.colorado.edu/conflict/full_text_search/AllCRCDocs...
Re: Why everything is dirtier
#10Since I work for a producer of STPP (the phosphate ingredient in detergents, usually not TSP) I can agree on the whole with this article. Governments around the world are banning phosphates from domestic detergents to prevent water eutrophication (algal blooms etc.). However, domestic applications account for no more than 2% of the problem, the remaining 98% come from human waste (crap) and agriculture (both phosphat…
STPP is already being restricted in automatic dishwasher detergents as well now. Here is what Consumer Reports had to say:
"The good news is that while the low-phosphate products we tested for our last dishwasher-detergent report tended to perform worst overall, several low-phosphate products from different brands were very good this time around." (1)
[1] http://news.consumerreports.org/home/2010/07/phosphate-ban-d...