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Four tips for washing cars and garbage cans.
Today I was cleaning out a very smelly garbage can in my driveway by squirting a bunch of dish soap into the can and turning my water hose nozzle to jet-stream mode. After swooshing the sudsy mixture around with a makeshift mop, I unceremoniously dumped the dirty water down my driveway… and then… the guilt kicked in.
If you read my Green Gutter Guilt article, you know I was having guilt about leaving grass clippings in the gutter after mowing, and how I was contributing to the contamination of our lakes and streams. Now I have sudsy water guilt.
After quickly hosing down my driveway to cover the evidence of my soapy water (I live on a slight hill and it didn’t take long for it to look like it was my neighbor who was polluting the gutters and not me), I got to thinking of what an Ordinary Environmentalist can do to reduce water pollution when washing their cars and garbage cans in the driveway.
I did a bit of research and learned that it is more environmentally friendly to take your car to a carwash then wash it in the driveway.
According to a June 10, 2010 Los Angeles Times Article by Jerry Hirsch titled "Environment-friendly tips for washing your car", a car wash is designed to capture the dirty water, which includes brake dust, grease and detergent, and either send it to a treatment facility or to their own filtering system.
Hmmm… but what about water consumption? According to the article, a garden hose at full force uses about 7 gallons of water per minute. If you leave the garden hose running, it will exceed the average 7-minute commercial car washes’ water consumption within 2 minutes.
For convenience and costs, people often prefer to wash their own cars. The article sourced some tips to help at-home car washers be environmentally friendly:
1. Wash the car on the lawn. This way you water the lawn too, and it doesn't run down the gutter. I’m going to have to assume that typical car washing soap isn’t going to kill the lawn. Maybe I’ll offer to wash my parent’s cars and test it out on their lawn first.
2. Use a water hose that has a nozzle you can shut off when you are not using it.
3. Use a bucket and biodegradable soap that is chlorine- and phosphate-free to scrub the car down. Avoid dish soap, which could remove your car's wax finish. (Whoops have to change that practice)!
4. Dump your dirty soap bucket into a sink or toilet so that the water gets to a treatment center. If you just toss it in the gutter, it will go into a storm sewer and eventually drain to your local waterway or ocean.
These four tips are easy to do, and you can get a clean(er) smelling garbage can and a shiny car without the Dirty, Sudsy Water Guilt!
Today I was cleaning out a very smelly garbage can in my driveway by squirting a bunch of dish soap into the can and turning my water hose nozzle to jet-stream mode. After swooshing the sudsy mixture around with a makeshift mop, I unceremoniously dumped the dirty water down my driveway… and then… the guilt kicked in.
If you read my Green Gutter Guilt article, you know I was having guilt about leaving grass clippings in the gutter after mowing, and how I was contributing to the contamination of our lakes and streams. Now I have sudsy water guilt.
After quickly hosing down my driveway to cover the evidence of my soapy water (I live on a slight hill and it didn’t take long for it to look like it was my neighbor who was polluting the gutters and not me), I got to thinking of what an Ordinary Environmentalist can do to reduce water pollution when washing their cars and garbage cans in the driveway.
I did a bit of research and learned that it is more environmentally friendly to take your car to a carwash then wash it in the driveway.
According to a June 10, 2010 Los Angeles Times Article by Jerry Hirsch titled "Environment-friendly tips for washing your car", a car wash is designed to capture the dirty water, which includes brake dust, grease and detergent, and either send it to a treatment facility or to their own filtering system.
Hmmm… but what about water consumption? According to the article, a garden hose at full force uses about 7 gallons of water per minute. If you leave the garden hose running, it will exceed the average 7-minute commercial car washes’ water consumption within 2 minutes.
For convenience and costs, people often prefer to wash their own cars. The article sourced some tips to help at-home car washers be environmentally friendly:
1. Wash the car on the lawn. This way you water the lawn too, and it doesn't run down the gutter. I’m going to have to assume that typical car washing soap isn’t going to kill the lawn. Maybe I’ll offer to wash my parent’s cars and test it out on their lawn first.
2. Use a water hose that has a nozzle you can shut off when you are not using it.
3. Use a bucket and biodegradable soap that is chlorine- and phosphate-free to scrub the car down. Avoid dish soap, which could remove your car's wax finish. (Whoops have to change that practice)!
4. Dump your dirty soap bucket into a sink or toilet so that the water gets to a treatment center. If you just toss it in the gutter, it will go into a storm sewer and eventually drain to your local waterway or ocean.
These four tips are easy to do, and you can get a clean(er) smelling garbage can and a shiny car without the Dirty, Sudsy Water Guilt!
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