biodegradable soaps

[sneek]

what megs car washes are biodegratadable? besides hyperwash and shampoo plus because i'm in canada and i dont have acces to the detailer line but intoder to be able to wash your car you need a biodegadable soap

i dont think DC wash and NXT are but thoses are the only 2 that you can get in canada

[Mike Phillips]

I'm pretty sure all Meguiar's car wash products are biodegradable. In most cases the real problem, or issue is the contaminants you're removing using soap and water are not biodegradable.

[sneek]

• When washing your car on your private
property, you are only permitted to use water,
as only potable (drinkable) water is permitted to
enter Calgary’s storm sewer system – no soap.
Drainage Bylaw 26M98
Storm Sewers & Disposal
• Only rainwater and melted snow should
run into The City of Calgary’s storm sewers.
Dumping any type of other substances,
such as motor oil, paint, solvents, washing
vehicles with soap and sweeping debris into
roadways and sewers, negatively affects our
rivers and local waterways.
Drainage Bylaw 26M98

nope its just the soap i found out the no soap is allowed biodegadable or not

its a $500 fine for a first offence double next time and for a third offence its 5 times that ($10,000)+jail time

[Mike Phillips]

Originally posted by sneek


It's a $500 fine for a first offense double next time and for a third offense its 5 times that ($10,000), +jail time

Wow! That seems very extreme compared to all the other forms of pollution that enters air, land and water systems.

[FromThisSoil]

So...do you send the bill directly to local government when you're in need of a new paint job because you can't wash your car...or because the car wash scratched the heck out of your paint job?

I'm in highway construction and by the sounds of it, you must have a seperate rainwater and sanitary sewer system. I guess the rainwater system feeds into your local waterways without treatment.

[sneek]

Originally posted by FromThisSoil
So...do you send the bill directly to local government when you're in need of a new paint job because you can't wash your car...or because the car wash scratched the heck out of your paint job?

I'm in highway construction and by the sounds of it, you must have a seperate rainwater and sanitary sewer system. I guess the rainwater system feeds into your local waterways without treatment.

yup you got it !
i now wash my car at my friends house because he has a tripple garage and the third one has a draining system calgary is no fun for detailing.
the people that live across the street from me still wash their cars outside but personally im not taking the $500 risk

[gb387]

WOW... That seems a little crazy! Could end up an expensive car wash! You would think biodegradable soap would be no problem. Your comon kitchen/bathroom cleaners are more dangerous than a car wash soap.

[sneek]

but as FromThisSoil said they drain diffrently so ya detailer in calgary ring it in all year round

[Mike Phillips]

Now I really feel bad, I just finished washing our Pilot, our Ford Focus and my Blazer...

Lots of water...

[SpoiledMan]

From the dealings that I had with California Ocean Safe(I was on their side), it doesn't matter that the product is biodegradable as it needs oxygen to degrade. The need for oxygen to degrade takes the oxygen out of the water that the creatures that live in the water need to survive. Even in California, nothing more than *clear* water is supposed to go into the storm drain. Anything more is cite able and the fines are stiff!

[FromThisSoil]

In my own opinion, I think all municipalities should use a combined system for their waste and water run off.

I understand many places have a separate system, but when you think about it, all the grease, grime, oil, and other fluids that could possibly come off a car during normal driving ends up on the street, which is then washed into a catch basin, which then travels through a series of of sewer pipes and then ends up in the local waterways anyway.

It makes far more sense to combine the systems and send it all the a treatment plant for cleansing and then it will be released.

Some places which have a combined system (IE: New York City) have large volumes of water being treated. Sometimes when it rains hard, the treatment plants can get backed up and release RAW SEWAGE right into the East River. Actually a huge underground reservoir is being constructed to take care of this problem right now.

So...as you can see, no system is perfect, but my opinion is, prohibiting people from things like washing their cars really isn't doing much to solve the problems of water pollution.

Why not ticket people who have older cars who drip fluids onto the roadways? Where do they think that goes? When it rains, it gets swept into a catch basin and then put directly into the local waterways, untreated.

Washing a car is the least of our worries. I would suggest petitioning to repeal this law...

[Godiva]

Meguiar's is biodegradeable?

Where do the suds come from? I always thought phosphates were needed to produce suds and phosphates are bad for the environment. If Meguiar's is biodegradeable, where do the suds come from?

And...why do we need suds at all? I find them annoying. Bubbles don't clean the car. I'd rather have a suds-free or at least low-suds shampoo. I'd be able to SEE the water I'm washing with. I would think a suds-free/low suds shampoo would be both better for washing the car and better for the environment.

[Jeff Smith]

Have you thought about calling the local Municiple Govt office? Not to complain, but to ask of there is any kind of workaround they might allow or suggest.

Canada is very tight on a lot of things like this. I was in Halifax, Nova Scotia a few years ago. I ran out of cologne and went to the local drug store to pick some up. I asked the Lady behind the counter for some Stetson and people actually stopped to see what I was doing. I did not know what the issue was until I returned to the states and saw a TV show like 20/20 or something and saw where in Halifax thy can actually fine you if someone reports that you have a strong cologne on. Some thing to do with peoples rights who have allergies or something like this.

[FromThisSoil]

Originally posted by Jeff Smith
Have you thought about calling the local Municiple Govt office? Not to complain, but to ask of there is any kind of workaround they might allow or suggest.

Canada is very tight on a lot of things like this. I was in Halifax, Nova Scotia a few years ago. I ran out of cologne and went to the local drug store to pick some up. I asked the Lady behind the counter for some Stetson and people actually stopped to see what I was doing. I did not know what the issue was until I returned to the states and saw a TV show like 20/20 or something and saw where in Halifax thy can actually fine you if someone reports that you have a strong cologne on. Some thing to do with peoples rights who have allergies or something like this.

I remember reading how some people complained about magazines putting perfume/cologne samples inside...

People's rights have have allergies...give me a break. What's next? Maybe I should make it so people can't walk their dogs on the street because I have a pet dander allergy? PLEASE!

[sneek]

lol never heard that before but like you i like wearing colonge but i like Hugo Dark Blue! i actually know that they bann sending certain samples of perfumes and colonges but i didnt know why

but back to the subject of washing a car
my buddy that lives about a block away from me has a tripple garage and when hes parents dont park their boat in theres a drain system in there and i wash my car at his house ... but usually i have to wash his car too which is very unrewarding ... its an 85 suzuki samurai with tons and tons of rust and only 60sum horses