Do you know what is in your dishwasher detergent? Manufacturers of dish washer detergents add phosphates to their detergents to clean the extra food left on by the regular wash cycles. But what happens to the phosphate after the dishes come out of the dishwasher?

After the water that has been used to wash dishes, enters the main stream water to be cleaned, they act as food for algae. The excess of the phosphates over feeds the algae. The algae grows and causes the oxygen in the water to be depleted. With no oxygen in the water fish and plant life die in the water.

If you keep washing your dishes in hard water, you will be buying new dishes in a higher frequency. Hard water is, well, hard on dishes. Throwing away dishes isn’t just hard on the environment, it is rough on the wallet too.