A Very Different Ariel Found in Minneapolis

[foraloysius]

Eugene,

Ariel in the UK (and in the Netherlands) is also a P&G product. I think you're confusing it with Persil that is made by two companies.

 

[zipdang]

Another stain test?

Hey Eugene, my UK Persil Bio powder should arrive next week. If you order the UK Ariel Bio powder, and I send you some UK Persil, would you be willing to run one of your famous stain tests with the two products?

 

[polkanut]

Eugene,

Up here in the northern US, one usually has to go to a Mexican tienda (grocery) for Mexican detergents. At least that is what I've found to be the case.

 

[frigilux]

Louis--- Thanks for the clarification about UK Ariel; For some reason I thought both were made by Unilever in Britain.

 

[frigilux]

Zipdang---Sent you an e-mail.

 

[launderess]

IIRC box clearly states that the product is made in the United States. While Ariel does contain protien enzymes, it is no where there the chemical cocktail marvel of Tide. A quick check of the MSDS will show this.

P&G went with this Ariel to not only dip into the Hispanic market (who know Ariel from south of the border), but in hopes of stopping the distribution of the various phosphate containing versions showing up on Amercian store shelves. Tree Huggers and others were getting on P&G's case that it was selling phosphate detergent in violation of various state's bans on the chemical. Most all assumed that P&G must be selling the product in the States, or else why was it showing up on store shelves.

L.

 

[MrX]

Phosphates do cause huge problems though in some areas, I really don't see any major advantage to using them given the results I get with Persil (UK/IRL), Ariel (UK/IRL) etc, none of which contain any phosphates.

If you've seen eutrophication problems in waterways, lakes, rivers etc, you'd change your mind about using phosphates!

Even with modern sewage treatment facilities, it's quite difficult to remove phosphates from waste water and most treatment plants do not remove them from the water.
In rural areas, where homes rely on septic tanks and other local treatment systems it's simply not possible to remove phosphates at all.

They leech into waterways and work as a fertiliser, causing a massive overgrowth of algae and other plants. These choke up rivers, turn them green and remove the oxygen from the water.
Then fish start dropping dead and floating to the top of the water and you end up with a whole eco system destroyed.

Laundry detergents containing phosphates only really became a huge problem in the late 50s and rapidly became really problematic through the 1960s and 70s as more and more people switched from using simple soap-based detergents to more chemically complex versions and as the automatic washing machine became basically 100% universally available to any household in North America or Western Europe at relatively little cost.

Switching over to zeolites and other non-phosphate water softeners has had a huge impact on improving the environment.

The major issue now is that dishwashers are going through the same kind of growth cycle that washing machines did 30-40 years ago. It's increasingly rare to see a household that does not own one. I reckon you're going to see MAJOR pressure put on to reformulate dishwashing detergents to remove phosphates from the formula in the next few years as dishwashers are becoming a major source of phosphate pollution, even though they use nothing like the quantities of phosphates that old laundry detergents in old washing machines used!

 

[frigilux]

mrx---Living in Minnesota, "The land of 10,000 Lakes" phosphates were a big issue before they were banned. While bags of Mexican Ariel detergent used to list phosphates as an ingredient, they no longer do; Whether this means they have no phosphates or if they merely quit listing them, I can't say.

Launderess---Thanks for the info on green-box Ariel! SA8 With Bioquest® detergent claims to be easy on the environment; What are your thoughts on that claim? (By the way, check out 'your' photo, posted in the "Oh Fab, I'm Sad" thread. You look amazingly like a young Rosalind Russell, these days.)

;-)

 

[launderess]

All water treatment plants have to deal with phosphates and not all of it comes from laundry products. Tons of phosphates are used in many foods for human an animal consumption (which in turn is consumed by humans such as pork and beef), which sooner or later works it's way to the sewage system via human waste. This is on top of the naturally occuring phosphates humans excrete.

While there has been some what of a push for automatic dishwashing detergents to contain less if not nil phosphates, it never really can be at this time. It takes a series of chemical cocktails to replace the functions phosphates do quite well on their own. Clean laundry is one thing, but health and safety become involved when one discusses dishwashing, which why and how automatic dishwasher detergent makers have been allowed a pass on various states phosphate bans.

As for phosphate replacements, Zeolites are soon being removed from European laundry and other products, along with perborate out of environmental concerns.