UK Homes Issued Critical Alert About Washing-Up Liquid Purchases

 

It was recently revealed that British households dispose of millions of plastic bottles of washing up liquid every year and only half are recycled.

According to cleaning experts, both the ingredients in washing-up liquid and the bottle it comes in are harming the environment every time you wash up. Every time you drain your sink, you are releasing fossil fuels and chemicals, potentially putting aquatic life at risk.

Eco-friendly blogger Sustainably Lazy said dish soap has 'surfactants', which are the active ingredient which strips dirt off dishes and keeps it suspended in the water. But, warned: "Mainstream brands use fossil fuel-derived surfactants, many of which end up in rivers and harm aquatic life."

Ethical Superstore backs up the warning. It says: "Most conventional washing up liquids contain sodium lauryl sulphate or SLS. This acts as a surfactant, meaning it reduces the surface tension of the water and creates foam, leading to extra cleaning power. But it’s not without its Issus's doesn’t just dissolve away to nothing when it’s used. After it goes down the plughole it can end up lingering in our waterways, endangering marine life and doing untold damage to the ecosystem."

A study in the Journal of Applied Microbiology revealed the extent to which surfactants can damage marine life, reports the Express.

It said: "The use of surfactants in households and industries is inevitable and so is their discharge into the environment, especially into the water bodies as effluents. Being surface-active agents, their utilisation is mostly seen in soaps, detergents, personal care products, emulsifiers, wetting agents, etc.

"Surfactants are capable of penetrating the cell membrane and thus cause toxicity to living organisms. Accumulation of these compounds has been known to cause significant gill damage and loss of sight in fish."