The environmental concerns aren't entirely baseless, but thirty years ago, laundry uses of phosphates were targeted by "tree huggers" as detrimental to the environment and campaigns were begun to make them illegal in most areas. They are still found in abundance in dishwasher detergents (until 2010 anyway) and in nearly every processed/packaged food we eat (as preservatives) In all honesty, our bodies expel more phosphates as waste into the environment in a few days than were ever used in laundry products. For those in rural areas on septic systems, the restricting of phosphates can be understood as they would have a direct effect on the local water cycles and rivers, streams, etc. but if you live in a city with a municipal water system, the phosphates don't make it past the filtering & purification processes.
