SEED proposes new, eco-friendly tray cleaning system for dining halls
31.12.69
Students for Ecological and Environmental Development is starting an initiative to make the way campus dining halls clean their dishes more eco-friendly.
The current method requires students to scrape their dishes clean of food and then place them vertically in a dish rack. Dirty dishes are placed on a conveyor belt, rinsed with water to get rid of the extra food and then placed into the dishwasher. SEED is proposing the use of new dish racks that would eliminate the need to rinse the dishes, skipping a step and saving a significant amount of water.
The idea began in 2009 as a Design for America project led by Weinberg senior Thea Klein-Mayer and alumnus Yuri Malina (McCormick ‘11). Klein-Mayer and the DFA team spent several months conducting research in Sargent and Allison dining halls, both of which use circular conveyor belts to transport dishes from the halls to the kitchens. The team realized the water used to clear dishes of food scraps could be eliminated with a more innovative dish rack.
Source: Daily Northwestern
Dishwasher film blamed on phosphate-free soap
31.12.69
Glenn Haege: The Handyman Dishwasher film blamed on phosphate-free soap
I get a lot of calls from listeners asking why their dishwasher doesn't clean the dishes as well as it used to or that the inside of the dishwasher has a white film on it. In most cases, it isn't a problem with the dishwasher but rather with the detergent being used.
In July 2010, 16 states, including Michigan, banned phosphate-laden dishwasher detergent because phosphates are a source of pollution in lakes and streams. The rule means that detergents can't have more than 0.5 percent phosphates, versus the more than 6 percent phosphates many detergents used to have. As a result, popular dishwashing detergent brands, such as Cascade, are now phosphate-free. Unfortunately, it was the phosphates that made the dishes sparkle.
Lucinda Ottusch, a consumer advocate with Whirlpool's Institute of Kitchen Science, www.instituteofkitchenscience.com, said the white residue people are seeing on their dishes and in the dishwasher is calcium in hard water.
Source: The Detroit News