1000 Flowers for the Planet - #61 Use Phosphate-Free Detergent

 

1000 Flowers for the Planet - #61 Use Phosphate-Free Detergent

Phosphates become detrimental when they over fertilize aquatic plants and cause stepped up eutrophication. Eutrophication is the natural aging process of a body of water such as a bay or lake. This process results from the increase of nutrients within the body of water which, in turn, create plant growth. The plants die more quickly than they can be decomposed. This dead plant matter builds up and together with sediment entering the water, fills in the bed of the bay or lake making it more shallow. Normally this process takes thousands of years. (source: http://www.water-research.net/Watershed/phosphates.htm)

So in turn, this causes the death of fish and other marine animals because the oxygen in the water is depleted. In Australia, think of our beautiful and unusual platypus – every time you wash your clothes, are you causing the death of our platypus?