Want to know why?
Glad you asked.
A small back-story first.
I've never been a fan of dishwashers. For two people, I'd just as soon wash the dishes and put them away. It has a finality about it.
Hubby loves the dishwasher. So when he cleans up, dishes go in the dishwasher. When I clean up, they get washed and put away. Hence, the dishwasher was run about once per week.
Several weeks ago, I noticed the dishes were not very clean. The glasses were so cloudy and spotted I took them all out of the cupboard and washed them by hand. It took about a week for the light bulb moment to occur. I grabbed our brand new bottle of Kirkland Signature automatic dish washing soap and saw the fatal words: Contains no phosphates.
WTHell!!
Idaho hasn't banned phosphates in dish soap. As a matter of fact, our local grocery stores were doing a booming business selling dish soap to our Washington neighbors because they did ban such soap. I guess since 27 states have banned phosphates, the manufacturers figured it wasn't worth it to make two formulas.
Statist bureaucrats were led to believe by some greenie-weenie activists that phosphates cause algae growth in the rivers. No never mind that most of it is filtered out before hitting the water. Want to know where the real problem is? Fertilizers. Or, I should say, improper use of fertilizers. You know, the ones that these very same statists are allowing to be dumped in huge quantities on their golf courses.
The upside is it has spurred the creation of a whole new line of products. Rinsing agents for your dishwasher are lined up 20 deep on grocery store shelves. Some of these agents are so great they melt the logos off your souvenir cups.
And don't for one little second think you're going to kink the system by buying TSP (tri-sodium phosphate) at the hardware store and adding a bit to your soap dispenser. Read the small print on the label - TSP contains no phosphate. What?
But I have a solution and I'll share it with you.
Can you say
*ReStockIt??
ReStockIt sells Cascade for institutional use that includes phosphates. It does indeed get your dishes clean because restaurants and nursing homes need to have clean dishes. You and I? Not so much.
I ordered my Cascade (after clicking a little box saying it was for industrial use), on a Sunday evening and the following day it was on my doorstep. How did they do that??
After being forced to hand wash my dishes for a period of time, my entire attitude changed. No longer do I wish to hand wash dishes. Ever! I pile so much stuff in my dishwasher now, we're running the dang thing almost every day. All the white film on my glasses is gone, the inside of my dishwasher is not coated, and my dishes sparkle.
* I receive no monetary compensation from ReStockIt. I'm just doing this as public service for all those who wish to have clean dishes. I purchased a case of six (large) boxes for $54.99. If you can't use that much, share it with your friends. Phosphates have a shelf life of about one year.
More:
NPR: Dishes Still Dirty? Blame Phosphate-Free Detergent
Desert News: How harmful are phosphates in detergents?
1 comment:
Wow! Thanks for posting this! As soon as I finished reading I ran to the kitchen and grabbed my dish soap to take a look. The box said if the date stamp started with "P", it did contain it and if it started with "z" it did not...
Mine does ;)
Post a Comment