By Pat Pape
As the public’s concern for global environmental issues grows, more businesses are looking for ways to operate in a green manner. This is especially true for conscientious convenience and petroleum retailers with carwashes that dispense chemicals and are publicly perceived to consume large amounts of water.
Reclaiming and reusing soiled carwash water has been a major step in making professional carwashes more eco-friendly. Some form of carwash water reclamation has been in use for about 30 years, and the technology is continuously improving.
“We’ve always gone with a reclaim [water] system,” said Michael Tooley, co-owner of Tooley Oil in Sacramento, California, a company that operates 10 convenience stores under the Shell and Circle K logos. Nine of them offer carwashes. “We’re not using a lot of fresh water except in the final rinse,” he said.
According to a report on water conservation produced for the International Carwash Association, a major benefit of carwash reclamation systems is the reduction in pollutants discharged into storm drains. Because most of the grit and grime collected during the carwash cycle ends up in special tanks, the amount of pollutants that can reach the underground water supply is greatly reduced.
The Spinx Company Inc. has 65 convenience stores in North Carolina and South Carolina, and 27 of them offer customers a chance to wash their dirty vehicles. “We pump our tanks so chemicals don’t go into the sewer,” said Brad Easton, senior category manager for Spinx. “We have to be biodegradable since we recycle the water.”
Of the 383 Kwik Trip and Kwik Star convenience stores throughout Wisconsin, Minnesota and Iowa, 77 have carwashes, almost half with double bays. The company has chosen biodegradable chemicals to wash the cars and to clean the bays. City water is piped and then filtered and softened before touching a vehicle. This process removes most particles or total dissolved solids from the water.
According to Heidi Kerska, carwash specialist for Kwik Trip, the company’s touch-free automatic carwash equipment uses smaller-than-typical nozzles, thus dispensing less water per wash. “We use less than 60 gallons of water per car,” she said. “Washing thousands of vehicles per year, those gallon savings really add up.”
Kwik Trip also runs city water through a reverse-osmosis system before spraying it during the final cycle — the spot-free rinse. “To make spot-free rinse water with reverse osmosis, you have about a one-to-one ratio of waste water. We reclaim the reverse osmosis waste water and use it for the undercarriage cycle on those wash packages that call for it,” said Kerska.
Sand traps in the carwash bays catch dirt and grit, which is later pumped out by an Environmental Protection Agencyapproved maintenance company. The sand is removed, dried and then discarded at an approved facility.
Kwik Trip’s newest systems have an extra conservation tool — an electric eye that actually measures the length of the vehicle being washed. “It knows where to stop spraying so we use less soap and water on a Subaru than on a Suburban,” Kerska said.
As an energy-saving bonus, Kwik Trip’s carwash facilities use a lighting system on sensors. “While we are doing some things green, we continue to keep our eyes and ears open for additional opportunities to help the environment,” Kerska said. “That is a very important issue for us.”
When it comes to cleaning products, less is definitely more among both consumers and vocal green advocates, and carwash chemical manufacturers have gotten the message.
Zep Inc., a professional cleaning products manufacturer based in Atlanta, Georgia, saw sales of its eco-friendly, general cleaning supply line jump 40 percent from April 2007 to March 2008, compared with the previous 12 months.
In response to the needs of professional carwash operators, the company launched its EnviroEdge line of carwash chemicals earlier this year. The offerings range from prep and production products, to polishes and detail products, all of which come in a concentrated form. While it is too early to report customer response, “The initial pipeline for these products is very good,” said Bill Holl, executive vice president for Zep.
The new line has eliminated many controversial chemicals, Holl added. Among these are volatile organic compounds, a wide range of chemicals that can damage soil, air and groundwater; phosphates, which can cause algae and weeds to grow rapidly and choke natural waterways; surfactants, which are known to be toxic to animals, ecosystems and humans; and chlorine bleach, a potentially hazardous oxidizing agent.
Another cleaning manufacturer, Ecolab of St. Paul, Minnesota, has reformulated its professional carwash products so they are environmentally sustainable, says Mark Miller, vice president of marketing for the company.
Using the slogan “Hard on dirt. Easy on earth,” Ecolab recently introduced its Blue Coral Beyond Green sustainability program, which aims to transform the carwash industry, educate consumers and set a benchmark for environmentally friendly carwash operations throughout North America. It focuses on water reduction, waste reduction, energy savings and personal safety.
Ecolab cleaning products are concentrated into small, seven-pound capsules, with two capsules equivalent to the cleaning power of a 55-gallon drum. The solid form helps prevent spills, and the smaller size makes it easier for employees to handle, which has the added benefit of reducing the potential for lifting injuries. In addition, the more compact format drastically reduces the amount of packaging materials required and cuts the amount of fuel used in shipping the product.
In Sacramento, California Retail Management (CRM), a company that operates 11 convenience stores, nine featuring carwashes, uses Ecolab products and then recycles the packaging. “I think our customers get a certain level of comfort in knowing that what we’re doing is okay [for the environment],” said Tom Upton, general manager for CRM.
Ecolab’s regulatory affairs staff stays on top of new and pending environmental legislation in North America, and that information impacts product development. “This is not a one-and-done kind of program for us,” Miller said. “This is clearly the first step in a very long process.”
While these kinder, gentler products may be better for the environment, they can’t impact the buying public unless consumers know about them. Both Ecolab and Zep offer promotional materials to their customers, ranging from simple signage to customized marketing programs.
Miller is convinced that customers care and will make purchasing decisions based on earth-friendly practices. Recently, he visited a professional carwash customer who had posted a simple “We recycle water” sign at his location. “He had a line of people waiting,” he said. “A carwash down the street (without similar signage) did not.”
The new move toward green products requires carwash operators to help educate customers, Miller added. “It’s in our industry’s best interest to be 100 percent above board and explain it to consumers so they understand it and can make more informed purchasing decisions.”
The ultimate in green convenience retailing will make its debut in the summer of 2008: the first eco-friendly Good to Go convenience store, carwash and alternative fuel station in Grand Chute, Wisconsin. The site features a 1,500-square-foot store and six nozzles dispensing alternative fuels and regular gasoline, as well as an eco-oriented friction carwash with a conveyer system.
“Customers just get on the conveyor and put their car in neutral,” said designer Dustin Scheckel, vice president of innovation for Good to Go. “It can wash multiple cars in the tunnel at the same time.”
While the average conveyor carwash uses 40 to 50 gallons of fresh water per car, Good to Go’s three-tank water reclamation system will use two gallons of fresh water, added to 43 gallons of reclaimed water, for each car. Company officials estimate the carwash will save more than 2.7 million gallons of fresh water over the course of the year. Naturally, the system will wash all autos with fully biodegradable detergents. The carwash facility further saves on energy costs with a combination of LED lighting and natural sunlight.
“We’re combining the philosophy of the 1970s with the technology of the 2000s,” said Steve Nicholas, Wisconsin developer and president of Good to Go, adding that Good to Go carries the green theme to great heights. The roof of the carwash is flat, covered with soil and planted with sedum, a hardy succulent that stores water in its leaves. The retail portion of the business offers typical convenience store fare, plus organic items and recycled paper products.
To protect groundwater, EcoCreto Enhanced Pervious Concrete was used to pave the Good to Go parking lot. This permeable paving material allows up to four inches of rainwater per minute to flow through the pavement to the groundwater table. This system prevents storm water run-off, which contributes to flooding and to the polluting and increased temperatures of rivers and lakes, and it encourages the natural biological breakdown of pollutants to take place in the underlying stone detention basin and soils.
Good to Go also donates one tree to a local school or park after every 100 washes. “Everywhere people are talking green, but we are walking the walk,” said Angie Nicholas, vice president of neighborhood relations.
In 1996, the residents of San Antonio, Texas, found themselves in a dangerous drought situation. Their underground aquifer — the city’s sole water source — was dropping at an alarming rate of one foot per day. Even though later research indicated that San Antonio carwashes are responsible for approximately 0.16 percent of the city’s total water consumption, carwash operators faced a complete shutdown.
Realizing the potential impact on his industry, Bill Sartor, owner of four local carwashes and former president of the International Carwash Association, stepped up to tackle the problem. Working with municipal and business leaders, he helped the city devise a carwash water-saving certification program that spells out minimum standards for water usage and recycling.
By earning the city certification, carwash operators demonstrate their commitment to the environment and low water consumption in their daily operations. In addition, they are permitted to use special signage that indicates their certification from the San Antonio Water System. These standards are now part of the San Antonio city code, and new operators must meet the basic criteria of the program, whether or not they chose to earn the certification.
Today, Sartor is an advocate of water conservation and the carwash certification program, often traveling around the country to speak to his colleagues and spread the word. “There is nothing in the certification program that is onerous for any operator,” he said. “It’s stuff that all operators ought to be doing anyway.”
Thanks to a growing focus on environmental issues, the operation of all businesses is changing and professional carwashes are likely to retain a conspicuous position, based on water consumption and chemical usage and disposal. But those challenges are not enough to keep dedicated carwash operators from pursuing growth.
“I wouldn’t build a station without a carwash,” said Tooley of Tooley Oil. “In our market, most gas stations built in the last 10 years have a carwash, and it’s a competitive disadvantage if you don’t have one.”