Stern warning issued to shoppers buying washing up liquid on next supermarket run

A warning has been issued for those who buy washing up liquid - as there can be huge impacts from the bottles it comes in. Those who purchase the cleaning product have been advised to make changes, due to the

As households can go through millions of plastic bottles a year, it's not the packaging that is causing the biggest issue - it's the ingredients in the liquid that can cause the most harm every time you wash your dishes.

Cleaning have warned over the risks the product can have on our seas due to a combination of fossil fuels and chemicals inside which mean that every time your sink drains into the sewers, you could be putting aquatic life at risk.

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According to Sustainably Lazy, washing up liquid has an active ingredient called 'surfactants', which are the active ingredient which strips dirt off dishes and keeps it suspended in the water.

But the experts warned that "mainstream brands use fossil fuel-derived surfactants, many of which end up in rivers and harm aquatic life."

Ethical Superstore echoed this and said: "Most conventional washing up liquids contain sodium lauryl sulphate or SLS. This acts as a surfactant, meaning it reduces the surface tension of the water and creates foam, leading to extra cleaning power. But it’s not without its issues.

"SLS doesn’t just dissolve away to nothing when it’s used. After it goes down the plughole it can end up lingering in our waterways, endangering marine life and doing untold damage to the ecosystem," as reported by

A study in the Journal of Applied Microbiology revealed the true extent surfactants can have and the damages that can be done to marine life.

It reported: "The use of surfactants in households and industries is inevitable and so is their discharge into the environment, especially into the water bodies as effluents.

"Being surface-active agents, their utilization is mostly seen in soaps, detergents, personal care products, emulsifiers, wetting agents, etc.

"Surfactants are capable of penetrating the cell membrane and thus cause toxicity to living organisms. Accumulation of these compounds has been known to cause significant gill damage and loss of sight in fish."

While the ingredients are harmful, the plastic bottles are also causing in issue to the environment. It's reported that more than 170 million tonnes of waste s produced a year, but only one third of plastic packaging is recycled. It's always advised to opt for refillable pouches of washing up liquid in order to reduce the amount of plastic bottle waste.

Do you have a story to share? Email niamh.kirk@reachplc.com

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