If you have a kitchen, one thing is for sure, you have to clean your utensils. You can do it manually or mechanically using a dishwasher. With that, you have to go for the best and most people tend to go for Tide, the laundry detergent brand.
Tide is owned and manufactured by Proctor & Gamble, an American company that specializes in a wide range of personal health or consumer health and personal care and hygiene products. Tide is beloved and has 14.3% of the global laundry market to Omo’s 5.2%. That said, how is it doing compared to the environment? This article covers Tide’s role in the environment.
Tidal Pods are not good for the environment. Well, the active ingredients in the Tide capsules are biodegradable, which means only the cleaning ingredients are biodegradable. However, other ingredients in Tide capsules are not biodegradable.
Also, they are not recyclable and can only be used and disposed of through the plumbing system. This means that, in the long term, they will not be good for the environment.
In general, detergent capsules, packs, or liquitabs are water-soluble bags of ultra-concentrated laundry detergent. They contain about 10% water compared to 50% water or more in liquid detergents.
They are designed to eliminate the need to dispense liquid or powdered detergent; you just need to throw the capsule in your washing machine.
What makes them harmful to the environment is that they contain a very harmful chemical cocktail. The impact of chemicals lasts well beyond your wash cycle and is therefore harmful to the environment and you and your family. Brands like Tide use a lot of these chemicals, some of which they don’t disclose.
However, for those who reveal, five of them are concerning. Firstly, there are phosphates, which are particularly harmful to the marine environment when dispersed in their washing wastewater. They create algal blooms that deprive marine flora and fauna of oxygen.
Second, they include formaldehyde, a chemical generally associated with the preservation of corpses. It is an ingredient classified by the EPA as a class B1 probable carcinogen, which means it is associated with an increased risk of cancer and, in the marine biome, reproductive impairment.
Thirdly, it has 1,4 dioxane, which is probably one of the worst additives. Dioxane is another carcinogen that presents a serious combustion hazard. Exposure in marine environments damages the central nervous system, eyes, and skin or scales of marine animals.
Fourth, we have bleach, often used to lighten white clothes. Its vapors cause respiratory distress and contact with the skin and eyes can cause caustic burns, both in humans and in marine life. Finally, we have ammonium sulfate and quaternary ammonium sanitizers, which are strong, corrosive cleaning agents.
They are known to cause eye, skin, and lung damage with even minimal exposure to human and marine life. In addition to these chemicals, detergent capsules are responsible for growing household poisonings, since thousands of children will eat them without knowing it.
This is important because of their strong fragrance and bright colors, which makes the pods deceptively look like a delicious treat to enjoy.
In general, No. Tide capsules are not biodegradable. Well, the active ingredients in Tide are biodegradable, which means that only the cleaning ingredients are biodegradable. However, the remaining ingredients are not completely biodegradable.
The biggest problem that comes from this is that they contain chemicals, harmful chemicals. Well, the pods can rot, but it also means that the chemicals will leach into the soil, poisoning the plants and the soil in general.
This also means that you should not compost the Tide capsules, for fear of poisoning your compost which will, in turn, do the same to the soil and plants. It also means that the chemicals can affect the helpful microorganisms that help in the composting process, stopping the entire process altogether.
Tide pods are known to contain at least the five ingredients listed above, which are known to be bad for the environment. They are phosphates, bleach, formaldehyde, dioxanes and ammonium sulfate, and quaternary ammonium sanitizers.
They are particularly harmful to the marine environment, affecting both the water and marine animals. They will further affect human life due to their toxicity and will poison children who like to eat or lick anything that has strong fragrances and bright colors, such as Tide capsules.
Of course, the detergent in Tide Pods contains only 10% water, and less water means they’re lighter and much more efficient to ship, reducing your carbon footprint. In addition, they gave the potential to reduce packaging waste.
However, its effects on the environment far outweigh these merits. The only environmentally healthier alternatives include laundry detergent sheets, soap nuts or soap dishes, Dropps Eco Pods, or Dr. Bronners Castile Soap.
The outer packaging of Tide Pods is made from a water-soluble polymer, polyvinyl alcohol. The polymer is technically safe, although it can break down into a toxic monomer called vinyl acetate. The toxic monomer is known to harm aquatic life forms and cause tumors in rats.
That is why all conventional detergents carry a warning that says: Harmful to aquatic life, with long-lasting effects. Also, the hard plastic box that the envelopes come in is rarely recyclable.
Also, even if the coating breaks, it doesn’t dissolve until the right microbes are introduced, and they’re only found in a water treatment plant. As such, if not in the city sewer, these products will leave traces of chemicals other than carbon dioxide and water.
As has already been established, the pods contain a very harmful chemical cocktail, which is not only harmful to the environment but also you and your family. Their shocks last well beyond your wash cycle and, unfortunately for Tide, they don’t reveal all the ingredients they use to make their pods.
However, for the acquaintances, we know that they are extremely harmful to the environment, as well as to human and marine life. For example, the phosphates that will be dispersed in the wastewater from your washing will create algae blooms that will deprive marine flora and fauna of oxygen.
They also contain formaldehyde, a chemical generally associated with the preservation of corpses, and have been classified by the EPA as a class B1 probable carcinogen. Bleach, 1,4 Dioxane, ammonium sulfate, and quaternary ammonium disinfectants can cause respiratory distress, damage the central nervous system, and affect eyes, skin, and scales in both humans and marine animals.
Well, this is not an effect on the environment, but wait! individual pods and sachets are conveniently made to eliminate the tendency to overdose. Unfortunately, they cannot be used alone to pretreat stains, and the dosage cannot be tailored to the size and soil of the laundry load.
Remember that they were made as a way to extract more money from the same product, which means that paying more for a convenient product, which is equal to the original, will not be enough. This will therefore force you to use more capsules, injecting more chemicals into the environment, even though the powdered version could have been more effective and less harmful to the environment.
In addition, they have bright colors and trick children into thinking they are sweet. That’s why in the year between 2012 and 2013, the American Association of Poison Control Centers reported more than 7,000 cases of young children who ate sandpiper capsules, and 10,570 cases in 2017.
Between 2012, when they hit the market, and mid-2017, the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) reported eight deaths related to the ingestion of laundry detergent pods.
Dishwasher-safe pods are bad for the environment! There are no two ways around this, and they will do more harm than good. The misleading part that makes a campaign for dishwasher capsules is the outer packaging. It is made from polyvinyl alcohol (PVA), which is a storage-stable, water-soluble synthetic polymer.
Being water soluble means that it will dissolve when in contact with water, which makes it preferable. They are small and pre-dosed, allowing you to store them anywhere and not have to estimate measurements. The ideal detergent capsule should dissolve in both hot and cold water, leaving no material that could clog the pipes.
Unfortunately, there is more to this. Firstly, not all dishwasher capsules are ecological, according to a site that focuses on the green environment, Ecognom therefore will harm the environment while claiming to help you clean your dishes.
Second, PVA is just as irritating as the dish detergent inside, so it requires a light wash and cold water rinse if it gets on the skin or in the eyes.
Third, we have determined that they can be easily swallowed by children, which can lead to poisoning and worse, death. How is a product safe if it can result in fatalities?
Finally, and most importantly, it’s packed with nasty ingredients, from toxic surfactants to hormone-boosting fragrances. They include but are not limited to, phosphates, formaldehyde, bleach, 1,4-dioxane, and ammonium sulfate, and quaternary ammonium disinfectants, all of which are harmful to the environment, humans, and marine life. And these are the only known ingredients so far since most companies do not publish all the information about them.
Overwhelmingly, liquid detergents are better than capsules. Liquid detergents are a popular choice, as they work as stain removers and can work on grease, and are less expensive than capsules.
Capsules, on the other hand, are premeasured doses of detergent combined with a stain-fighting liquid and a fabric brightener. Their only advantage over liquid detergent is that they are convenient and easier to handle than huge jars of detergent since they are pre-measured.
However, they are more expensive and increasingly dangerous to have around the house, as their colorful exterior resembles candy. In addition to the children who were injured and died from swallowing the pods, NBC News reports that two children and six adults with cognitive impairment died between 2012 and 2017 as a result of ingesting the pods.
From an environmental perspective, pods are harmful to the environment and make it worse. It’s outer packaging, advertised as recyclable, is rarely recyclable. They are not good at treating stains and require excessive use for them to do the same.
They also cannot be adjusted for small loads or for hand washing individual items, making them inconvenient. In addition, they are manufactured with dangerous chemicals, most of which have adverse effects on human and marine life.
As for liquid detergents, their packaging is recyclable and more respectful of the environment, it is more economical and can be adjusted for small or single-hand washes, as well as for heavy loads. They are also more stable than pods, making them ideal for spot pre-treating or spot cleaning.
https://tide.com/en-us/our-commitment/sustainability/saving-energy
https://www.nbcnews.com/business/consumer/laundry-pods-can-be-fatal-adults-dementia-n773366
https://thetylt.com/culture/detergent-pods-or-liquid
