According to an article in the Spokesman Review Palmolive has produced a more eco-friendly product called Palmolive Eco that is the first major liquid dishwasher detergent to comply with a Washington State July 1 restriction dramatically limiting the use of phosphates in detergents. The ban was initially created for Spokane, Whatcom and Clark counties by the Washington state Legislature in 2006, but the ban will become effective statewide in 2010.

Todd Mielke, Spokane Couny Commissioner, says that the phosphate ban is necessary to meet federal clean water standards. The newspaper reports that “Phosphates flowing into the Spokane River encourage large blooms of plant life in Lake Spokane, which in turn reduce oxygen in the water and hurt fish populations.”

With major brands like Electrasol, Sun, and Cascade not showing up on the shelf after the phosphate ban takes effect, Palmolive Eco will assume the lion’s portion of real estate on the grocery store shelves. A local grocery distribution company in Washington, URM, will stop delivering detergents with phosphates on July 16 and estimates that it’s deliveries of Palmolive products will skyrocket from about 3 percent to above 90 percent.

Who else is likely to get some extra attention? - The very cool Seventh Generation eco-friendly products have been phosphate-free for years and will hopefully also gain some major space on the shelf while other brands try to produce an eco-friendly alternative. Seventh Generation has been around for over 20 years and was one of the first self-declared socially responsible companies. The company’s name, Seventh Generation, comes from an Iroquois tradition that “In our every deliberation, we must consider the impact of our decisions on the next seven generations.” Seventh Generation eco-friendly products are designed to be “green” by “saving natural resources, reducing pollution, keeping toxic chemicals out of the environment and making the world a safer place for this and the next seven generations.”

Sattler Eco & Fair Labor Clothing

http://www.sattlerclothing.com