Traditionally, soap has been made from animal or plant derived fats and has been used by humans for cleaning purposes for several thousand years.
[2][4][5] In this context, “Soap Substitutes” refers to cleansing products that significantly reduce or eliminate some or all of the components that have the potential to cause human or environmental harm.
Throughout the last 100 years many changes have been made to the formulas of cleansing agents for these purposes, but the process of developing effective substitute detergent formulations that are completely harmless to humans and the environment is ongoing.
This article outlines some of the problems and concerns about synthetic surfactant based cleaning products since their popularization in the early 20th century as well as how these issues have been addressed, both technologically and legislatively.
[7] Many of the first synthetic detergents were made from compounds that contained branched carbon chains, which persist in the environment for far longer than their linear counterparts.
[6] Consequently, this led to the buildup of these foamy surfactants in water treatment plants as well as the formation of large flotillas of foam in waterways.
[6] Public pressure led the US and Europe to ban the use of alkyl benzene sulphonate (ABS) and other branched chain surfactants in 1965.
[6] However, most wastewater treatment processes generally remove only a small fraction of the phosphate in the water, and subsequently large quantities are released into waterways.
[6] When large quantities of phosphates accumulate in waterways, it causes a bloom in algae and a subsequent lack of oxygen in the water, which severely damages the aquatic ecosystem.
[15] Even today, there remains a lack of technologies for phosphate removal in the smaller water treatment facilities found in non-urban areas.
[16] By the early 1970s there was also significant public pressure on the United States government to ban phosphates in detergent cleansing products and congressional hearings on the topic were held.
[15] Today, formulations with zeolites, polycarboxylates, citric acid, and sodium bicarbonate are among the most effective and popular substitutes for phosphates in detergent cleaning products.
[26] This, along with improved water treatment processes, has greatly contributed to a significant reduction in the amount of phosphate from detergent in waterways.
These efforts have resulted in an overall reduction of the phosphate concentration in US waterways and some of the ecosystems most effected by eutrophication, such as Lake Erie, to show drastic improvement.
[6] There have been more recent efforts to increase the environmental sustainability of laundry and dish detergents via the addition of enzymes that break down dirt and grease.
[37] In 2016, the FDA banned the marketing of Triclosan, along with several other antimicrobial agents, in antibacterial detergent products because “manufactures did not demonstrate that the ingredients are both safe for long-term daily use and more effective than plain soap and water in preventing illness and the spread of certain infections”.
There are many resources for instructions on making soap at home, and the only required ingredients are plant or animal fat, water, and lye (sodium hydroxide).
It is also noteworthy that there are many homemade products that are highly efficient at cleaning, such as hot water, vinegar, baking soda, lemon juice, salt, coffee powder, ascorbic acid, and grapefruit extract.