It's summer and it's hot. People go about their business drinking ice-cold teas and sodas and hauling out buckets and hoses for the car wash. It's a familiar and comfortable picture. But it's too comfortable, as some might say. Thing is every time someone waters his or her car it's the environment that pays the dues. An average 80 to 140 gallons of water is lost every time you wash your car. If that amount of wasted water doesn't scare you—all those tons of otherwise clean drinking water—to be honest, we don't know what will.
Be eco-friendly. Start by taking care of your car. Keep a small trash can behind the seats, and buy a vehicle cover if you don't have a garage and keep the car out on the driveway. Less dirt on the car, the less often you'd have to clean it. Another option is to use green or environment-friendly car care products. With all these recent talks about the environment, manufacturers of car cleaning products found ways for you to clean your car without spilling chemicals into the public wastewater and putting the planet at risk.
Here are some that stand out.
Let's talk about eco-friendly car soaps
Washing your car with soap is essential if you want to give it a nice sheen before your next dinner date. But if car soap damages to the environment, what now? Good thing not all car soaps are environmental hazards.
First be a nutritionist stalking the grocery shelves for harmful chemicals in canned products—that is, read the labels. Avoid all soaps with phosphates in the. Phosphate is a harmful chemical common in car soap products; it promotes the growth of algae in a water supply, diminishing oxygen content and endangering aquatic life. You do not want phosphate in your car soap.
So it's either a car soap without phosphate in it or your very own homemade natural car soap. If you choose to go with the second option, here are some tips for a nice wash:
Prepare two buckets of water, one with clean rinse water and the other with lukewarm water mixed with a small amount of pure castile soap. This solution is a nice eco-friendly substitute from commercial car soap products.
Use different microfiber towels or soft sponges for each bucket.
Wash and rinse the car in small sections. Change water as needed.
Eco-friendly car wax for a green clean
Car wax does all sorts of good things for the car. Wax gives the car a nice long-lasting shine, reduces UV ray damage on the car surface, adds an extra layer of protection from rain, snow, dust, etc. But how sure are you that your brand, despite all its advantages, doesn't take its toll on the environment?
Again check the labels before settling on a particular brand. Ignore everything with the chemicals mineral spirits, kerosene, silicone, and petroleum-distillates in them. These are known carcinogens and they have adverse effects on the environment. You should only use all-purpose car wax without any of these chemicals thrown into it.
A homemade solution: Make your own car wash soap
You'll need:
¾ cups powder laundry soap
1 cup liquid dish washing soap
3 gallons hot water
Directions:
Mix laundry soap and dish washing liquid in a large bucket until powder is completely dissolved. Use hot or lukewarm water.
Add water if the solution is more concentrated than you need it to be, add soap if the car requires serious cleaning.
Scrub using a soft rag or sponge. You can use this solution on the hubcaps, windows, and tires.
Rinse as soon as you're done so the soap doesn't leave residues on the surface. Dry using a different soft towel.
Conserve water
It's related to eco-friendly products, what green cleaning is about, but it's also about minimizing the use of water. Waterless car wash services are already out and doing business; how they do it though is a trade secret. You can also use water-friendly car care products to help limit your use of water. Some great brands include Eco Touch Waterless Car Care, Freedom Waterless Car Wash, and NO-WET Waterless Car Wash.
But if you have to use water at least wash over the lawn so the water is soaked up by the soil and the harmful chemicals, if any, doesn't get into the public wastewater.
Car washing is important but it doesn't have to be at the cost of the planet. There are other ways to clean the car. Greener ways. We hope the above tips help you, in some small way, keep the car clean and at the same time preserve a quality and pollution-free living environment.
