Wednesday, March 12, 2008

Virginia Makes Sure Your Dishwasher Doesn't Pollute the Chesapeake Bay

Good news from Richmond:
Dishwasher detergent may make your stemware sparkle, but the phosphates contained in most brands are among the most damaging pollutants in the Chesapeake Bay.

Now, Virginia is poised to ban phosphates from all home dishwasher detergents, a move environmental groups say will reduce one of the major contaminants dumped in the bay each year. [...]

Under the new rules, phosphorus will be eliminated from home dishwasher detergents except for a trace level of a half-percent or less.
I wasn't aware of the dishwasher detergent-Bay pollution link until this bill came along. I looked for phosphate-free dishwasher detergent at my grocery store, but every brand contained around 8% phosphate.

Virginia joins Maryland in banning phosphates from dishwasher detergent effective 2010. It's a small step towards improving the Bay's health, but every step is a good one!

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

I buy the Seventh Generation dishwasher detergent which contains no phosphates. http://www.seventhgeneration.com/Free-and-Clear/Dishwasher-Detergent My local Harris Teeter carries some Seventh Generation products, but not the dishwasher detergent yet, so I get it at My Organic Market in Alexandria.

Brendan O'Connor said...

Trader J's man, it's got everything (almost). Their store brand d-washer det. is phosphate-free though. Cool stuff on the VA/MD bans--is the VA one looking like it'll def go through?

The Green Miles said...

You're right Googla, I don't want to have to buy my dish detergent somewhere besides Harris Teeter, but I guess I'll have to.

Brendan, Gov. Kaine has signed the VA phosphate ban into law and it will take effect in 2010.