Biodegradable soap is a soap that safely decomposes completely after one year. How is biodegradable soap able to do this? Because its ingredients come from nature in a more or less whole form, rather than having been intensively engineered and synthesized in a laboratory.
If your soaps or conditioners contain a bunch of surfactants, petrochemicals, phthalates, parabens and other harsh chemicals, bacteria and other living things have a hard time breaking them down because they are so foreign to the environments the bacteria evolved in.
At the barn, the run off from when you wash your horse goes right into the dirt. In order for the soaps and conditioners to be broken down, they need to be biodegradable.
Why is this so important? Biodegradable soap doesn’t:
Harm aquatic life – i.e. ingredients don’t affect the reproductive development, don’t lead to early mortality, and are not responsible for the blue-sac disease in fish.
Negatively impact plants. (e.g., doesn’t contain ingredients like DBP that affect plant reproduction)
Damage animals’ body functions because biodegradable soaps don’t include ingredients that act as endocrine disruptors or nerve toxins.
Kill bees.
Cause algae blooms.
Harm septic tanks in your home or at the barn.
Always check your labels. If it is biodegradable, the label will be proud of it and tell you. Need a great source for what to buy?
Try EWG (Environmental Working Group) https://www.ewg.org/ewgverified/
Comments