Wal-Mart to reduce detergent phosphates

Phosphates' doomed fate in detergent cleaners will probably be sealed this week as big box retailer Wal-Mart announced its plans to reduce phosphates in laundry and dish detergents sold in the Americas by 70% by 2011.

Wal-Mart said phosphates from detergents are a significant contributor to water pollution. Wal-Mart pointed out Procter & Gamble's Ariel Ecomax which is said to be Brazil's first phosphate-free detergent as an example of a successful phosphate reduction process by the cleaning products manufacturers.

Another sustainability initiatives in detergents announced this week by Wal-Mart is to have more concentrated laundry detergent products (2-3x more concentrated) in their shelves by 2012. Leading to that is their goal of a 5% packaging reduction in the Americas by 2013.

The retailer giant said they are going to work with their suppliers and various governments in the Americas to make sure their goals will be fulfilled. Wal-Mart said on their Sustainability Milestone meeting this week that they already cut down on the size of packaging used in its U.S. stores and that there were no phosphates in the detergent they sold in the US.