For almost a year now, I’ve been personally testing eco-friendly dish soaps in search of one that is just as concentrated as conventional brands.  Then a conversation in the comments section of Eileen’s Eco-Pet Peeves post made me wonder if eco-friendly soap was any better than conventional soap.  Was my whole mission in vain?

During this conversation, Gina made the intriguing point that all dish soaps are bad for the environment, whether they’re advertised as “eco-friendly” or not.  Soap biodegrades in rivers and streams, algae feasts on it, and algae bloom results.  This lowers the oxygen levels in the water, which is detrimental to fish and wildlife.  Gina concludes, “The only way that soap can be slightly less bad for the environment is to come in more recyclable packaging and to be more highly concentrated so the bottles are smaller.”

Gina linked to this article, which claims that there’s no environmental advantage to either plant-based or petroleum-based soaps.  The article is written by the Soap and Detergent Association, “Home of the U.S. Cleaning Product and Oleochemical IndustriesSM.”  As oleochemicals are derived from biological oils or fats (as opposed to petrochemicals, derived from petroleum), this appears to be a reputable source.

So what, exactly, is so “eco-friendly” about eco-friendly dish soap?  They usually advertise that they are plant-based rather than petroleum based, and they also claim to be phosphate free.  In addition, eco-friendly soaps contain natural fragrances.  Here are the issues we need to look at when seeking out soap:

Phosphates.  Here’s an article talking about the “phosphate problem.”  Phosphates are mainly to blame for the algae bloom mentioned above.  The article also contains a handy chart for figuring out which dish soap ingredients are desirable and undesirable.  I noticed that most brands of dish soap on store shelves advertised that they used no phosphates.

Plant-based vs. petroleum-based soaps.  I thought plant-based soaps must be better for the environment than oil-based ones–and I figured they’d be safer on aquatic life once they went down the drain.  However, my sister pointed out that coconut-based soaps come from . . . well, coconuts.  They do not grow those locally in Portland, Oregon, so where are they coming from?  Who knows how many coconuts have to be harvested and if they’re harvested in a sustainable manner.  Then they have to travel thousands of miles to be turned into soap.  Is this really eco-friendlier than using oil?

Biodegradability. Here’s another article that made me question the eco-friendliness of “biodegradable” soap: Even Biodegradable Soap Can Pollute Water Sources.

Plastic Bottles! The one thing that’s indisputably greener about conventional dish soap is the packaging.  If I used the generic $1.50 bottle of dish soap from Safeway, I’d go through just 2.7 bottles of the stuff in a year.  Plus, they often make refill bottles of the cheap conventional soap, so even fewer plastic bottles would head off to the recycling bin.  Compare that to eco-friendly soaps.  The most concentrated one I found did not last nearly as long as the conventional kind–so I’d go through at least five bottles of “eco-friendly” soap a year.

On Tuesday evening, I will finally post my much-awaited review of the eco-friendly soaps I tried.  I figured out how long they last, how much they cost, and how many plastic bottles they’d waste.  I’ll also reveal my solutions to the dish soap dilemma, so stay tuned!  In the meantime, please add to our conversation about soap and the environment by posting a comment.