Phosphate-based detergents "best for environment", says LCA

Bans on phosphate in detergents, introduced in several European countries and incorporated in the recently agreed EC eco-labelling criteria for detergents, are harming the environment, according to a life-cycle assessment (LCA) commissioned by Kemira Kemi, a Swedish phosphate producer.¹ But some debatable assumptions, as well as problems of methodology, underpin its findings.