The Lemon Fool

Why are they so pungent these days (maybe last few years) - not talking about the lemon ones.

T7

Face it, it's your age. Your sense of smell is getting more refined. Have you thought of a second career in wine tasting?

Speaking as the only person in our household who understands how to load the dishwasher properly, I can't say I've noticed any change in the traditional solid tablets. But then, I've mostly gone over to those pouchy things with three liquid colours, which somewhat annoyingly do seem to give a better wash. And don't smell of anything really.

Such as Fairy Platinum Original, Fairy Platinum Plus, Fairy Platinum All in One with Lemon, or Fairy Platinum Lemon All in One with Added Derma-Hydronic Anti-Wrinkle Cream. I might have made one of those up.

BJ

bungeejumper wrote:
Speaking as the only person in our household who understands how to load the dishwasher properly,

BJ

Goes without saying! You are the alpha male!

Jon Richardson Graduate 2017

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Ymh8o6GI_g

bungeejumper wrote: I might have made one of those up.

BJ

Fairy Nuff.

The “pod” things can be positively dangerous - the fluid is caustic - eye injuries

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/a ... 311400408X

Ontop of which, the plastic coating goes straight down the drain.
Now banned in New York I hear.

GrahamPlatt wrote:The “pod” things can be positively dangerous - the fluid is caustic - eye injuries.

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/a ... 311400408X

I don't doubt that. The same could be said of most detergents, including all the dry powders. And I note that the quoted study said that children under five were most at risk, because they bit the pods, deliberately burst them, or squeezed them. If there's an answer to that problem, apart from keeping them out of toddlers' reach, it would be good to hear it.

Ontop of which, the plastic coating goes straight down the drain.
Now banned in New York I hear.

Got a source for that? The ones I can see say that it dissolves harmlessly like gelatin. (In fact it's usually PVA.) Unlike the hard wrappers on conventional dishwash tablets, which often don't recycle at all. . Decisions, decisions....

BJ

bungeejumper wrote:
Got a source for that? The ones I can see say that it dissolves harmlessly like gelatin. (In fact it's usually PVA.) Unlike the hard wrappers on conventional dishwash tablets, which often don't recycle at all. . Decisions, decisions....

Don’t recall where I first heard it. Just searched and found this https://www.packagingdive.com/news/new- ... va/707088/

GrahamPlatt wrote:

bungeejumper wrote:Got a source for that? The ones I can see say that it dissolves harmlessly like gelatin. (In fact it's usually PVA.) Unlike the hard wrappers on conventional dishwash tablets, which often don't recycle at all. . Decisions, decisions....

Don’t recall where I first heard it. Just searched and found this https://www.packagingdive.com/news/new- ... va/707088/

Thanks for the link. Yes, New York has initiated a draft bill (in February) about banning dishwasher pods, but it hasn't passed it yet, and its chances of success are considered to be slim. If the ban does go through, it won't come into force for several years yet.

But first, there'll be a shouting match between the city council, whose hearts are obviously in the right place, and the packaging industry, which claims to have a better grasp of the chemical and environmental issues. (Cue Mandy Rice-Davis: well, it would say that, wouldn't it? ) Here's another account of the story, which seems quite well balanced to me. (https://www.nationalobserver.com/2024/0 ... on-problem)

What we do know is that PVA is on all the government-approved EPA lists for non-toxicity, for non-carcinogenics, and for total dissolution in the sewers and yadda yadda yadda. Indeed, PVA is actually used in some sewage plants as a treatment and settling technique! It'll eventually break down into nitrogen and carbon dioxide (I think?), but that might take many years.

And, in the meantime, will it damage marine life? That's where it gets messy. New York has been adducing the familiar argument about fish and dolphins and shellfish swallowing microplastics in the ocean, and who can blame them? The trouble is that, as far as I know, a fully dissolved PVA doesn't actually create any microplastics. Happy to be persuaded otherwise.

Finally, as the Canadian report says, PVA dissolved in the oceans is hardly even a thing against the much bigger issue of microplastics being washed out of our clothes, which are roughly 80% plastic. And there are no plans to limit those. This one will run and run.....

My head hurts!

BJ