Issues surrounding the environmental impacts of cleaning agents derive from the chemical compounds that compose the products. The innumerable cleaning agents available on the market contain countless chemicals that have been proven to have dire consequences on the environment as well as its inhabitants.
Initial impacts of cleaning agents on the environment derive from the production of these goods as considerable energy and water resources are used in their manufacturing. Further, the 6.2 billion pounds of raw material used each year in synthesizing cleaning agents inevitably recycle back into the environment as waste. The circulating chemicals of discarded cleaning agents and waste products, typically dissolved in lakes, oceans, groundwater and rivers, inflict their damaging effects on delicate systems and their populations: for example, laundry detergents containing the nutrient mineral phosphate. The water contained in a load of laundry is solvated with phosphates, a remover of hard water mineral on clothing, and is discarded into the water supply. The dissolved molecule provides an excessive amount of the nutrient to aquatic organisms, resulting in algae blooms. The disproportionate consumption of oxygen from flourishing algae may devastate an ecosystem as other organisms are vulnerable to suffocation and nutrient starvation.
New evidence suggests the role of cleaning agents in endocrine disruption as many chemical compounds mimic hormones. Health related consequences range from growth, metabolism and reproductive defects that invade the population of an ecosystem. The effects of chemical cleaning agents on individual organisms create challenges for the environment as the accumulation of negative events equate to large-scale damage.