What is Eco-Friendly Pressure Washing?

When most people think about Eco-Friendly cleaning, they think about harmful and nonharmful chemicals.  Usually the stronger the detergent the better it cleans. So how do you use a strong soap and still be Eco Friendly?

You want to manage the waste!  Where does all the waste go when it comes off a surface being cleaned? If it goes into the storm drain not only will the environment be negatively affected, but you might run into legal issues with the city as well. Property owners should ask their cleaning companies how they manage the waste runoff.  As a property owner,  you are  responsible for Best Management Practices on your property. To avoid citations from the city and hurting the environment you should do your research and ask these four questions for pressure washing services.

1.) What happens to your wastewater?

• If  detergents are applied before pressure washing then the chemicals should be reclaimed using a commercial vacuum system and stored in a chemical tank.

2.) What kind of spill kits do you use?

• Spill kits are a secondary line of defense. The proper spill kits to use are Oil/Water kits. Which allow water to pass through while collecting all petrol waste.

3.) How do you dispose of your waste?

• I’d estimate that 9 out of 10 pressure washing companies don’t reclaim the waste.  But the ones that do should be able to show you a receipt from previous disposals.  This is important to insure that your waste isn’t going to be dumped as soon as it is out of site from you house.

4.) What type of Vacuum do you use?

• If the pressure washing company responds with anything other than a stage 2 or stage 3 vacuum then I would keep looking.  The only efficient way to reclaim this much waste is by using a commercial system.  Most commercial pressure washing systems (hot water + waste recovery) will range upwards from $60,000 – $100,000.

Keep our rivers clean and Tahoe blue. Do your research before making a decision and our environment will thank you.