Detergents

Detergents cause water to penetrate more in the clothes (they are tensioactives) and thus they sweep away dirtiness. The movement of the washing machine also helps to clean. Conventional detergents generally use petrol derivates and some pollutant ingredients. Phosphates, followed by phosphonates or percarborxylates, are most harmful to lakes and rivers (they cause eutrophication). Some whiteners are toxic for aquatic life. Moreover, detergents often contain optical whiteners (artificial colours which make laundry look more brilliant and white) which nowadays are petrol derivates (formerly a blue dye extracted from a plant was used). Let us look for detergents with less pollutant ingredients.

How can we do it

We should check the labels of detergents whose main ingredient are not phosphates or phosphonates, percarboxylates. Now they are being used less and less even in conventional detergents. It is also convenient to avoid EDTA and NTA ingredients (nitrilotriacetic acid). On the label of any washing powder all the ingredients contained have to be mentioned if they account for at least a 0.2% of the weight of the detergent.
We should give priority to those we can find at shops dealing in ecological products (even there is no stamp which identify them as so yet). Those which do not contain (or contain little) phosphates and substitute those petrol derivates with vegetal oil such as palm or coconut oils, which ,nonetheless, usually come from industrial monocultures which have a negative social and environmental impacts.
To wash white clothes it is better to use washing powder without whitener (many of these will be found at ecological shops) and to add sodium percarbonate to the washing machine. Some ecological manufacturers are selling them and we also can find them at some drugstores. The label of the detergents with at least a 0.2% of whitener should mention Oxygen-based or chlorine-based whiteners, the last ones being less advisable.

Many washing powders contain superfluous ingredients, perfumes, antibacterial ... or stuffing: in the non concentrated detergents, up to half of their contents only serves to increase its volume. Let us look for the detergents with fewer ingredients.

How can we do it

Let us use only concentrated detergents and preferably in powder, especially in bars. Liquid ones are recommended for delicate clothes.
Ecological detergents use very few superfluous ingredients and if they contain perfumes, they are natural ones (essential oils). Some brands are: Almacabio, Eco Lino, Ecover, Lympha, Sodasan, Ulrich.
A big cardboard packaging is better. Let's not use in any case monodose bags.

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Data d'actualització: 10/06/2010 - 19:26