Mobile Detailing vs. the Environment

Mobile Detailing vs. the Environment
What you need to know to comply with the law

By Keith Duplessie 

Many detailers act like ostriches, sticking their heads in the sand when it comes to wastewater. They know what the law is, but they ignore it, hoping it will go away.

Far too many detailers are in violation of the Environmental Protection Act in Canada and the Clean Water Act in the United States because they wash cars and/or engines in the street and allow the effluent (water and chemical) to be discharged into the storm drain or directly into the ground. Storm drains are engineered to handle only rain water and discharge the water directly into the rivers and streams untreated.

The sanitary sewers, on the other hand, treat all effluent before it is discharged into the rivers and streams. All carwash operations, service stations, quick lubes and any business that discharges liquids other than plain water will have a connection to the sanitary sewer, including an oil/water separator. These connections come at no small cost to the operator. Sewer connection charges and monthly sewer-use costs can amount to hundreds and even thousands of dollars monthly.

Do you understand why carwash operators complain about mobile carwashes, charity carwashes in parking lots and mobile detailers who are not only violating the law but avoiding the payment of costs the carwash operator is obligated to pay? Without question the issue of wastewater discharge is a big deal for detailers—or so it should be. There is more pressure being exerted on the government agencies to do something about the polluting of our environment.

Detailers, whether mobile or fixed (who have no connection to the sanitary sewer), had better wake up because they are subject to substantial fines, personal liability and the possibility of losing their business licenses.

This is a big problem. Most detailers either don’t care about the laws or don’t know about the full extent and power of this legislation. Even if they are aware, the majority feel they cannot afford to comply and therefore don’t.

The reality is, if your business discharges wastewater into a storm drain or onto the ground, you are breaking a federal law!

Washing your car in the driveway is illegal if the effluent flowing into the storm drain contains any oil, grease, detergents, waxes or degreasers. However, there is no enforcement because it is not done commercially.

When a detailer washes cars and/or engines, he uses water and chemicals to clean and wash away the dirt and grime. This waste contains 100 to 10,000 ppm of hydrocarbons that runs into the drain or soil. What this means is that you are polluting the environment. How many times a day/week/month do they do this?

Mobile detailers 

A single mobile detailer can generate anywhere from 1 million to 10 million gallons of affluent each year. The hydrocarbons on a single car can amount to at least 1 ounce of hydrocarbons each time it is washed, and this does not even take into consideration the hydrocarbons that would come off an engine. Where you might use about 8 to 10 gallons of high-pressure water for a rinse, the contamination would also include several ounces of soap. Just imagine more than 14,000 detail businesses washing five vehicles per day over a five-day work week and you can understand the amount of pollution generated by our industry of 14,000. About 80 percent of them do not have a proper effluent discharge system. This estimate may even be conservative.

You can see that a substantial amount of water pollution comes from the hydrocarbons discharged into the rivers and streams by detailers. Some hydrocarbons float and form a film on the water. The barrier inhibits oxygen from entering the water and interferes with aquatic insect life, which in turn affects marine life. Other hydrocarbons dissolve in water making it highly toxic.

When you consider that cleaning hydrocarbons off engines and vehicle bodies will require strong detergents, aggressive acids, phosphates and high-alkaline products, the problem is compounded. Hydrocarbons are not necessarily as harmful or toxic as many other substances, but it is the volume in our business that is the problem.

Simple: Don’t wash engines or cars without the proper containment or discharge system. No matter how you look at it, the solution is not simple or inexpensive. But as a member of the detail industry, you must take the first step. In a speech at Enviro-Clean, Doug Latimer, whose company manufactures containment mats, suggested this simple action plan:

1. Become fully aware of the impact of the Environmental Protection Act and the Clean Water Act on your business.

2. Analyze your situation to see what has to be modified or changed.

3. Re-educate and retrain yourself and your people to operate legally and in compliance with the law.

4. Identify and source the necessary information and resources to help you.

5. Develop and implement a plan of action.

6. If you are washing cars and engines, you must register with your local authorities. You should think about doing it. The National Pollution Discharge Elimination System, enacted Oct. 1, 1993 in the United States, is something you should know about.

You must realize that you are a polluter if you don’t have a proper effluent discharge system or catch pad for your discharge. You are facing rising insurance costs given the risks involved and you may find that you will be liable for cleanup as well as fines. Worse yet, any properties you pollute could ultimately be rendered worthless and you would be held personally liable.

There are people who offer help for businesses who want to become “environmentally safe.” You must first admit you are a polluter and then work to find a solution. These experts can help you with solutions. Why not join together with other detailers in your area who have the same problem and work together to find a solution? There is always more power in numbers. The Professional Detail Technicians Association (PDTA) and other organizations can help.

Borrowing from the commercial pressure-washing business, some suppliers to the detail industry have developed a portable mat that will contain any liquid, eliminating the chance of runoff into the storm drain or onto the ground. The contained liquid can then be extracted and taken to a proper disposal site. These typical mats consist of two parts, the pad itself and the underlay, which is a piece of non-absorbing material that protects the pad from abrasion and damage from ground surface characteristics. The mats also have a foam or air berm to hold the water in the mat.

Rather than getting too technical on how the pad works, suffice it to say they do work and are becoming a reality for mobile detailers and carwashers who hope to stay in business in the long-term and avoid fines.

You can no longer afford to be an ostrich putting your head in the sand about a problem that is a reality for the detail industry. You are going to have to comply, and the compliance will be a lot less expensive than being fined for non-compliance, or worse, being responsible for clean-up and even the loss of your business. 

Keith Duplessie is the Aftermarket Sales Manager for Detail Plus Appearance Systems in Portland, Ore. He can be e-mailed at keith@detailplus.com.