Effects of laundry soap with and without phosphates

by Bridget
(Fort Wayne, IN USA)

My science project was seeing the effects of phosphates in laundry soaps. I used standard laundry equipment Speed Queen and the boxes of soap purchased in a laundry for individual washes.

I used one box per load with only cloth in each run of the washer. I dried as normal. I tested various laundry soaps on various cotton wash cloths. I used all the same brand of white cotton cloths and the same stain of grape juice (2 tablespoons) poured on each cloth and let set over night.

I tested the results of a washing with the soap comparing which did a better job of removing the stain.

I did these 30 years ago during the last "green" revolution and it is now appearing again as a news maker. Phosphate has been shown not great for the lakes but it also is wonderful for removing stains. The best laundry soaps out there do contain any form of phosphates.

My results showed TIDE was the worst performance WITHOUT phosphates. The best performer was WISK with phosphates. I did this with 5 different soaps at the time using 5 with and 5 without phosphates. I presumed back then that a company would arrive at a solution to the stains. There are very few current substitutions to phosphates that do not endanger lakes streams and fish.

Barry's Response - It's strange that there has been so little effective, official research into this area. Thanks for you input, Bridet.

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