Household ingredient · Builder / water softener
Phosphates (detergent builders)
Water softeners. The EU limits phosphorus in consumer laundry (2013) and dishwasher (2017) detergents because it feeds algae growth in waterways.
- Expert review pending
Concern level
A minor or very limited concern, such as being an ultra-processing marker only. The concern level sets how many points phosphates (detergent builders) costs on a product’s receipt.
What the evidence says
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Restricted useRegulatory
EU consumer laundry and automatic dishwasher detergents must stay below set phosphorus limits. [1]
Evidence tiers say how sure the evidence is, separately from how much it matters. About evidence tiers.
Rules around the world
| Where | Status | Details | Date | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| European Union | Restricted | Below 0.5 g phosphorus per laundry dose (from 30 June 2013) and 0.3 g per dishwasher dose (from 1 January 2017). | Jun 30, 2013 | [1] |
“Banned” means explicitly prohibited or withdrawn after review; “not permitted” means never authorized there. We use each regulator’s own words.
Names GoodSwap recognizes on labels (16)
- stpp
- phosphate
- phosphates
- 5 phosphates
- 15 phosphates
- 30 phosphates
- sodium phosphate
- disodium phosphate
- trisodium phosphate
- sodium pyrophosphate
- sodium tripolyphosphate
- pentasodium triphosphate
- sodium hexametaphosphate
- tetrasodium pyrophosphate
- tetrapotassium pyrophosphate
- phosphates detergent builders
Sources
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“Shall not be placed on the market if the total content of phosphorus is equal to or greater than 0,5 grams in the recommended quantity of the detergent to be used in the main cycle”
eur-lex.europa.eu