Kitchen - Palmolive eco+ gel dishwasher detergent

We human beings have a way of coming up with ideas that seem clever at the time and later turn out to have been a huge mistake. (New Coke, the SUV and bottled water all seem like pretty good examples of this phenomenon.)

Such is the case with phosphates, variants on phosphoric acid that were used in laundry detergents for decades and are still used in many dishwasher detergents.

Grist does a great job of explaining how phosphates in laundry detergents led to 'massive algal blooms in waterways' - which in turn led to legislation and regulation that forced laundry detergent manufacturers to remove phosphates from their U.S. products by the mid-1990s.

But apparently dishwasher detergent makers never got the message. As a result, dishwasher detergents have up to 8.7% phosphate concentrations, at least in some states like Michigan.

Other states like Washington have taken matters into their own hands by mandating that dishwasher detergent makers cleanse their products of phosphates sold in the state by mid-2010.

But Colgate-Palmolive's gotten a jump on its mass-market competitors with its new Palmolive® eco+™ gel that's already phosphate-free.

Palmolive eco+ gel comes in three varieties - Lemon Splash, Citrus Apple Splash and Lavendar Splash. (That's a whole lot of splashing.) All of the varieties are labeled as having 0% sodium tripolyphosphate.

Now a crowd of green bloggers (like Tree Hugging Family) have jumped on eco+ for the fact that it contains chlorine bleach. They claim that chlorine is toxic and that therefore eco+ shouldn't claim green status.

I hear what they are saying, but I think your perspective on this issue probably depends on whether you are a dishwasher is half-full or half-empty kind of person. (Although we all know that we should only run the dishwasher when it's full to conserve water...)

Personally, I feel that Palmolive eco+ detergent is in fact greener than its mass-market counterparts and thus does deserve some eco-cred.

On the other hand, I certainly prefer to buy gentler products that have not been plastered with huge CAUTION labels warning to avoid contact with mouth, eyes and skin, and to call a physician immediately if the product is ingested.

I'm not convinced that chlorine is actually so horrible for the environment once it's sufficiently diluted. After all, we swim in chlorinated pools and we add chlorine regularly to our drinking water supplies in order to kill off pathogens and make the water safe for drinking.

On the other hand, further digging online does reveal health concerns about chlorine in tap water and suggestions that people who drink a lot of chlorinated tap water use carbon filters to remove trihalomethanes, compounds created as byproducts of the chlorine disinfection process.

So...I suppose that all things considered, the best solution would be to find a dishwasher detergent that had neither phosphates nor chlorine bleach. Seventh Generation makes such a product, but it has gotten very mixed reviews on Amazon.

One good alternative that comes to mind is Dapple powder, which contains neither chlorine nor phosphates. I've used Dapple with good results at home, though I do rinse my dishes before putting them in the dishwasher.

But if you can't find Dapple at your local store or if you really prefer a dishwasher gel, I think that picking a phosphate-free detergent like eco+ is a valid lite-green option.

Where to buy:
Palmolive says you can find eco+ dishwashing gel nationwide at mass merchandisers, drug stores and grocery stores.

(Note - Some links updated and formatting corrected 7/23/08 2:17 p.m. EDT)