Monday, May 5, 2008

Old Fashioned Car Washing Isn't Kind

I never thought about the environmental impact of washing a car in the driveway, but according to the website www.cleanlakes.ca:
All the soap, scum and oily grit runs along the curb, then into the storm drain and directly into creeks, rivers and ultimately our Great Lakes. This causes pollution, which is unhealthy for fish and contaminates our drinking water sources.

Clean Lakes offers these tips to make sure you are not contributing to the problem:

The best choice is to take your car to a commercial car wash that recycles the water and sends dirty water to the sanitary sewer, especially if you plan to clean the engine or the bottom of your car. Many car washes re-use wash water several times before sending it to the sewer system for treatment.

If you must wash your car at home, use soap sparingly. Use a hose nozzle with a trigger to save water.

Pour your bucket of soapy water down the sink when you're done, not in the street.

While I haven't washed my car in my grandfather's driveway for years, I have been emptying buckets of soapy water into the street after washing my windows. Yikes! I won't be doing that again. As for knowing which car washes in fact handle soapy water properly, you'd have to make inquiries at the independent car washes and hope that you get an honest answer. I checked Sunoco's website, because I use either their EcoWash drive-through or the less costly self-wash stalls, and this is what it states:

Sunoco uses the finest and most ecologically sound products. Sunoco only uses EcoLogoM products.

A Sunoco ecowash car wash uses the same amount of water as you would washing your car at home or even less. And the water that drains to the sewer system at a Sunoco ecowash car wash is treated and contains no harmful pollutants.

Biodegradable soap and wax is used with soft, hot water.

I used to vaguely wonder about the environmental impact of using a car washing system created by an oil company, but now I can feel good about going to Sunoco. Not being familiar with EcoLogo, I googled it just to make sure that it is legitimate. It is a North American certification program run by an environmental marketing agency called TerraChoice which meets ISO 14024 standards - which is good.

The Clean Lakes website has good pictures and information about the evils of car washing, pet waste, leaky car engines and lawn fertilizer, but does not actually explain what kind of organization it is. The City of Windsor is depicted as a "partner" along with other Ontario municipalities, but nowhere does the site explain what that means. Too bad. Maybe I'll get to the bottom of that one day. For now, I'm satisfied to learn about the evils of old school car washing.

1 comment:

margaret atkinson said...

i find that the super pressure sprayer at the self-serve car wash places are good without soap. and heck, it's just gonna get dirty again! :) especially in lovely windsor!