By: Gill Deacon*

There are many times when the path to eco-lightenment is also the path of least effort, and washing your car is one of them. When it comes to keeping your car clean, you definitely want to label yourself an environmentalist. Every good green-for-lifer knows that the most eco-friendly way to wash your car is not to wash it yourself. Let the professionals handle that one for you.

Take it to the cleaners

In the same way that an automatic dishwasher will always beat hand washing dishes for efficiency of water, energy and soap, those professional car wash operations will always be greener than you and your five-year-old on the front lawn with the garden hose.

Here's why:all the junk that you want to get off your car to make it shine and sparkle is the very same stuff that takes the shine and sparkle out of natural water systems and the wildlife that lives there.

The runoff from car washing contains detergents, surfactants and degreasers from the soap, plus all the oils, rust, engine grime, wax and other street dust that's built up on your car. When you do the job yourself, as industrious as you might feel, you're sending that industrial storm of pollutants right down the sewer and into the nearest water system, untreated.

Professional car washes -- usually out of financial self-interest, not environmental high-mindedness (but who cares?) are much more judicious in their use of water. The average home wash uses as much as 440 litres. A commercial car wash uses less than half that. Plus, facilities are usually built with a filtering system in the collection tank so that the contaminants are removed before the water is routed on to a sewage treatment facility.
check out www.riversides.org/riversafe for more information on a Canadian campaign to educate car owners about the environmental impact of car washing.

^*Award-winning broadcaster and bestselling author Gill Deacon is one of Canada's best-known environmental advocates. She is author of the national bestseller, Green For Life, a guide to making sustainable living "the new normal." Gill's latest book, There's Lead in Your Lipstick:Toxins in Everyday Bodycare and How to Avoid Them is a guide to chemical-free body care, being green from head to toe.

This article first appeared on: simplegreenaction.ca