So, what else do we have on our plate?  Try a ton of chemical residue from washing detergent which contain harsh chemicals that are completely unnecessary for us to ingest and terrible for the environment.  I am not a fan of giving science lessons, but I do want to explain that dish-washing detergents and rinse-aids are full of bad stuff.  Chlorine, when heated, can release toxic fumes, and phosphates are very harmful to our water systems.  In fact, it has been banned in laundry detergents and replaced with polycarboxylates (a synthetic substitute) and the affects of it are still unknown.  Then, we are told to purchase a rinse aid, sold to us by a hyperactive talking blue bottle.  After skimming the MSDS sheets online at the product’s website (Jet Dry in case you were wondering), I have found that the agent used to remove scum, residue, and improve dry time actually contains chemicals that should not be left on skin or clothing, and that is an eye irritant.  Not much else was available, but from what I found, I know that I don’t want that stuff on my dishes.

 So, the simple solution  is as follows:

Use an eco-friendly automatic dish-washing liquid such as ATTITUDE’s (that smells like lime and tea tree - all organically pressed and natural essential oils, no chemicals there), or Ecover’s dish-washing powder.  For rinse aid, good old vinegar will do just fine.  Add it in where the Jet Dry used to go (once it is empty of course, no mixing).  Vinegar will remove spotting beautifully.  Cheap and eco-friendly, that’s what we like!