As you know we use run a dishwasher on a regular basis. We probably run it once a week on average and when we do we 
make sure to use phosphate free dish soap. This type of soap will not cost you any more than any other dishwasher soap yet you are ensuring that the dirty water from you dishwasher isn’t contaminating your local water source. Cascade is a brand we like. We’ve tried other ones but we find this type really gets our dishes clean which is key because otherwise you have to wash them again which just uses more water.
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Timely comment – our dishes aren’t being washed as well lately, and I’ve been thinking it could be the detergent. Maybe the generics are the reason.
Anwyay, I know your recommendation has worked well for me in the past, and if it’s also environmentally friendly in that way, I might go back to it.
We have tried to use the pricey “green” stuff but it just doesn’t work well enough. We figure using the phosphate free product (1 bottle – not quite the individual packs shown) we’re doing our part, spending less than the green stuff while still achieving results.
I’ve seen several articles suggesting that removing Phosphates has caused a decline in how the products work. Personally, my dishes seem to still come clean, but if you ask some people, they would say Environment be damned, I want clean dishes!
I actually spoke to someone at cascade and they said there was a law that banned phosphates in dish detergents as of the end of last year, so they were forced to change their formula. Actually, I just looked it up, I guess it’s only part of the country that’s banned, but I’m sure it’s not practical to have 2 types of detergents, so I bet most of the US is phosphate free these days.
http://www.environmentalleader.com/2010/06/29/sixteen-states-ban-high-phosphate-soap/
You would be surprised. I bet they make both as many people are convinced the only way their dishes get clean is by using phosphates.
The new Cascade doesn’t work nearly as well as the stuff with phosphates. Our dishes and dishwasher were coming out with a white film and weren’t nearly as clean as they used to be.
We’ve now managed to find the commercial version of Cascade, which still has phosphates, and our dishes are now clean again.
That’s too bad. Ours come out just fine. Perhaps you have a faulty dishwasher?
Oh my God, I am so angry because of this ban. Guess what!? I buy a dishwasher and detergent and pay for hot water so I can clean my dishes. Anything that stops that from happening defeats the purpose.
I hope you tree-hugging FM types realize how much people hate this kind of foolish legislation. You’re not helping your cause; you’re just making people use more chemicals, more hot water, more electricity, and probably the new chemicals are just as evil as the old ones. Plus, you make people like me to angry they could just spit. Damn it so much!