Written answers

Thursday, 1 February 2007

Department of Environment, Heritage and Local Government

Laundry Detergents

5:00 pm

Photo of Dan BoyleDan Boyle (Cork South Central, Green Party)
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Question 292: To ask the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government if his attention has been drawn to the fact that certain popular laundry tablets for sale in supermarkets here have 30% phosphate content; and if he will legislate against the use of high phosphate contents in such products in view of the fact that algal blooms and eutrophication of water are huge issues here and that a number of European countries have legislation requiring phosphate free versions of these products. [3198/07]

Photo of Dick RocheDick Roche (Wicklow, Fianna Fail)
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The phasing-out of phosphate-based laundry detergents has been progressed principally in the context of a voluntary agreement made in 1999 between the then Minister for the Environment and Local Government and the Irish Cosmetics and Detergents Association (ICDA), which represents some 90% of the domestic laundry detergents market in Ireland, and by ongoing liaison between my Department and the non-ICDA sector.

The agreement provided that, by end-2002, 95% of all domestic laundry detergents marketed in Ireland should be zero-phosphate. This target was substantially achieved — figures submitted by ICDA show a market share of between 93% and 94% for phosphate free products. A survey undertaken by my Department in October 2006 in Dublin City Centre supermarkets, found that twenty of the twenty two ICDA products contained zero phosphates. The majority of non-ICDA companies have also phased out the use of phosphates in their "own-brand" laundry detergents. My Department is continuing to pursue the implementation of this target and the ultimate replacement of all phosphate based detergents by environmentally friendly alternatives.

The EPA Phosphorus Regulations National Implementation Report 2005 noted that the voluntary agreement with ICDA is having some effect. The report states that Dublin City Council has at least partly attributed substantial reductions in phosphorus levels at their monitoring stations to the implementation of the agreement. A comparison of Molybdate Reactive Phosphorus (MRP) concentrations in Ringsend influent sewage between the 1998-'99 and the 2002-'04 periods indicates a reduction in the MRP concentration from 4.6 mg/l P to 2.8 mg/l P in the catchment. I will, however, keep the need for any legislative measure in this area under review.

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