It sounds like an oxymoron – a car “wash” that uses no water.

But some of the best green ideas turn traditional practices upside down. Bayes High Performance Waterless Wash/Detailer reinvents the car wash by subtracting the water. It’s not a “wash” in the conventional sense and the only water used is that contained within the biodegradable cleaner itself.

When we heard about Bayes, we were quite excited to think that you could save the 25 to 50 or more gallons of fresh water you might otherwise use to scrub off your car’s cape of road dust. (During droughts, we drive dirty, to avoid squandering a natural resource. So this opened up possibilities!)

But we were also skeptical. We feared that the Bayes would not work well. We thought it might be greasy, smeary or difficult to buff. We had tried a different waterless cleaner earlier, only to be disappointed that it a) came in an aerosol can; b) had a noxious smell c) was a petroleum product and d) left streaks. And we had buffed with some of those stiff waxes on the market, an exhausting work out.

The Bayes High Performance Waterless Wash/Detailer relieved us of all of these concerns. It sprayed on without singeing our delicate noses or skin. It buffed off easily with microfiber cloths and left a wonderful shine on the family Honda. It felt clean and green, and we’re happy to be able to recommend this nifty eco-cleaner, which is already endorsed by Hollywood’s go-to greenie, Ed Begley Jr.

What’s more, we were able to commandeer an 11-year-old and a 14-year-old (who owed us some time) to execute this project, and we were comfortable that no adolescents were harmed during this experiment.

Bayes is a biodegradable product that’s safe for teens, adults and the environment. It relies on technology that’s similar to other green cleaners, using biodegradable polymers to encapsulate dirt and whisk it away without scratching the vehicle’s paint. All the ingredients are non-toxic as well as biodegradable, says Mark Cunningham, co-founder of Lab-Clean LLC, which makes the Bayes products in the U.S..

“I really believe this is the future of car washing…look how much water we can save and also eliminate all the toxic runoff from the road grime going into our storm drains,” he says.

Not to mention the shiny results. “You are basically washing and waxing your car, every time you wash,” Cunningham adds.

So skip the driveway bath for your car or truck, or even the local car wash, and go waterless.

Bayes is available at many retailers, and online at many stores or at its own online store for $10 for a 16 ounce bottle or $17 for a 32 ounce bottle. Each 16 ounce bottle should provide four to six vehicle cleanings, and it safely cleans the whole car, including the windows, chrome, vinyl and rubber. Bayes also makes several other eco-sensitive cleaners, for wood, granite, stainless steel, leather and bamboo. They are sold at Ace Hardware stores, Kroger, Sprouts and Harris Teeter groceries and other retailers.

Bayes does have environmentally friendly competitors in the car cleaner sector. Those include a line of car care products called Eco Touch, which makes a waterless wash and other car cleaners such as a dashboard protectant and an upholstery cleaner.

There’s also the G.E.T. Green line of car care products made by Green Earth Technologies. Their green car wash uses water, but is biodegradable. They also offer a wheel cleaner, brake dust shield and tire shine product, all using plant-based and biodegradable ingredients.

We’re actually most intrigued by GET’s new G-Clean line of concentrated cleaners they’re introducing for outdoor cleaning projects, like washing off the deck or driveway or cleaning the house siding. These cleaners, intended for use with pressure washes, use eco-friendly ingredients to get rid of mold, mildew and grease stains without using environment-damaging chlorine bleach. That’s an advance we can get behind, and a story for another day.

Hey kids, got another project for you….

Copyright © 2009 Green Right Now | Distributed by Noofangle Media

It might not have been possible a few years ago, but a new paradigm is emerging in the cleaning aisles of our groceries and markets.

Once the top products were those that promised glistening surfaces cleaned with the strongest disinfectants and most potent, marketable-sounding concoctions of “brighteners” and “germ zappers” — devil and the environment be damned.

We’re still interested in germ killers, but the American public also appears to be embracing the greener, cleaner movement. Consider this news just in from Clorox: Their Green Works products, introduced in January 2008, have become leaders in their respective natural cleaner categories  “almost doubling the growth of the natural cleaning category in the first year of launch,” according to their news release.

That means that people are finding and buying Green Works dishwashing soap, all-purpose cleaner, glass cleaner, bathroom cleaner and others, which are all made with natural surfactants and other natural ingredients. And it no doubt helps that this line has been affordably priced and carried by many of your usual retail haunts, like Wal-Mart.

So here’s where the shift occurs, when green becomes not just the sensitive thing to do, but the smart business move. What is Clorox doing next? Making more green cleaners! They’re adding a Green Works^TM Natural Laundry Detergent and Green Works^TM Natural Laundry Stain Remover, bringing to 10 the number of green cleaners in the line.

Bleach? It’s a wash out.

Copyright © 2009 Green Right Now | Distributed by Noofangle Media

Celebrating its 20th anniversary, Biokleen has released three new eco-sensitive, consumer products that compete head-to-head with conventional-brand soaps and sprays.

The new products extend the company’s “Bac-Out” and include a floor cleaner, a bathroom cleaner and a “freshener”.

Bac-Out Multi-Surface Floor Cleaner uses Biokleen’s trademark enzymes to clean tile, stone, vinyl and most wood floors. With lime and citrus oil extracts, this convenient cleaner leaves a fresh scent and uses no harsh or floor-stripping chemicals.

Bac-Out Fresh is a fabric “refresher” that can eliminate odors on pet beds, curtains, linens and in cars. It uses Biokleen’s proprietary enzymes to “digest” odor-causing dirt and bacteria. Bac-out Fresh is designed to compete with the ubiquitous Febreeze, but uses natural lavender or lemon and thyme oils instead of artificial fragrances.

Both products, along with a third, Bac-Out Bathroom Cleaner, rely on vegetable-based surfactants and use no dyes or preservatives.

We tested Bac-Out Bathroom Cleaner against some competing natural cleansers that use hydrogen peroxide. The Bac-Out and the hydrogen peroxide cleaners both loosened dirt, mold and mildew, making it easy to brush away.

The Bac-Out Floor Cleaner also did a stand-up job. We tried it on polyurethane-coated wood floors, which can be finicky, and were rewarded with a clean sheen.

Of the three new Biokleen consumer products, one can probably live without the freshener. Too bad. It’s the most fun, and could be justified as aroma-therapy for the cleaning person (moi). A test of both the lavender and lemon-thyme varieties suggests that pet hideaways, closets, athletic gear and musty linens are indeed transformed by a Bac-Out Fresh treatment. If lavender linens and lemony lavatories perk you up, this might have a place in your cleaning caddy.

Our criticism with the Bac-Out Fresh: We’d like to see it in a bigger bottle, or a larger container that could be sold as a refill option if the product takes off.

To its credit, though, water is the last ingredient on the Bac-Out Fresh labels, indicating that these solutions are not diluted.

Biokleen makes only concentrated products, a policy that helps keep the company’s carbon footprint low, says vice president of sales and marketing, Cindy Rimer.

“We don’t just make one or two concentrated products, everything we make is concentrated. So we’re saving waste in containers and shipping. We don’t use water as a filler,” says Rimer, who has been promoting the family-grown Vancouver, Wash., company, to raise awareness about green cleaners and all that Biokleen does to help the environment.

Foremost, of course, Biokleen provides consumers with green, biodegradable cleaners. Cleaning with these green products is just as important as driving a hybrid car and reducing home energy use, Rimer says, “because everything we use in our home goes out the drain and into the water and the air and out into our environment.”

Cleaning with natural products also removes toxic substances, such as caustic bleaches and disinfectants, and their fumes from the the indoor air.

But green cleaning doesn’t mean second-rate quality. Biokleen’s enzyme technology, for instance, uses microbes to consume dirt, working as well, if not better than conventional brand cleaners, Rimer says. The Bac-Out floor cleaner, “actually gets in there and will digest, say in your kitchen, excess food particles, grease, dirt and odors,” says Rimer, whose father Jim Rimer started the company in the 1980s, initially making commercial-grade natural cleaners. Rimer’s husband, Barry Firth, is the company’s general manager.

Behind the scenes, Biokleen (motto: Tough on Dirt, Gentle on the Earth) follows a strict regimen that keeps solid and water waste to a minimum. It rinses and reuses water needed for production and does not discharge chemicals into area waterways. For its efforts, it has won the Washington state Governor’s Award for waste prevention.

Biokleen’s household and industrial cleaning products are developed and manufactured in the U.S., and are available in more than 1,500 retail outlets and at many online retailers, including Amazon.com and drugstore.com.

Other than the intoxicating smell of new text books and notebooks, the familiar scents of back-to-school may be changing. Ammonia-scented hallways, newly sealed and fuming gym floors, odorously painted classrooms as well as lawns with the subtle scents of pesticide treatments, may be a thing of the past.

In today’s more environmentally conscious world, public and private schools are rethinking how they maintain their buildings. Reducing toxic chemicals in schools – as in our homes — is not only good for the environment, but for those who use these buildings.

In Maryland’s Montgomery County outside of Washington D.C., the public schools have long taken a pro-active approach in using non-toxic cleaners.

“We want our buildings to be clean and at the same time healthy for our students, faculty and the person doing the cleaning,” says Larry Hurd, building services trainer for the school district.

Ten years ago, the district, which oversees 200 schools, changed from an oil-based sealer for their wood gym floors to a water-based sealer. It works well, says Mr. Hurd, and toxins are no longer an issue. “The oil-based sealer was bad for the students and other visitors to our schools, but it was real, real bad for the person applying the sealer.” That person was exposed to the sealer fumes for as much as four hours.

Another major change in Montgomery County involved switching to a single less-toxic cleaner that replaced seven conventional cleaners that had been used in the schools — one for windows, another for floors, another for restrooms and so on. Starting about three years ago, the school system began using the green cleaner Alpha HP, made by Johnson Diversity, for all their cleaning uses, Hurd said.

The wood floors throughout the district are no longer stripped with caustic chemical strippers. Instead they are top-scrubbed with water and Alpha PH, which removes the two top coats, says Hurd, and involves less time and no toxins.

Alpha HP, a hydrogen peroxide-based cleaner, has been certified by Green Seal, a nonprofit company that promotes products that don’t harm the environment. Hydrogen Peroxide cleaners break down in the environment into basic elements faster and more completely than many other chemicals, such as ammonia or chlorine bleach, used in conventional cleaners.

More and more schools are getting on board with environmentally safe cleaning products, says a Green Seal spokesperson. In fact, schools across the entire state of New York is now going with Green Seal-approved cleaning solutions, and in May the state of Illinois adopted a similar green cleaning program, the Green Clean Schools Act.

In addition to being safe, Hurd points out that the Montgomery County School District saves on water since Alpha HP uses a measured dispenser system. Depending on the job, the Alpha HP powder is measured out and then mixed with just the right amount of water. And the one quart Alpha HP container is also recyclable.

“We’re really proud of our program,” says Hurd. “All our custodians are put through basic training. We take a systematic team approach to cleaning in which we clean all year long, looking for healthy ways to clean around the clock. We detail one quarter of our buildings every day – walls, floors, lights — so by the end of the week, everything has been thoroughly cleaned.” Years ago, Hurd notes, schools spent the summer cleaning to get ready for fall. But with the buildings being used all year long, “you can’t wait till summer to clean.”

No Kids Were Harmed During This Cleaning

At the Northwest School in Seattle, Washington, the environment is one of the three legs on which the school is founded, notes science teacher and environmental program director Herb Bergamini. The private school (pictured at top) was founded in 1980 and one of its key tenets, Bergamini says, is that “the students be invested in taking care of their space, their environment from the get-go.” Taking care of their environment at a young age, he says, will help them take care of it once they enter the “real world.”

Recycling, reducing carbon emissions and composting are not all these kids do. They actually are responsible for keeping their school clean. Scraping gum from the desks, cleaning toilets, vacuuming, maintaining wood floors are part of their day. Led by a senior, each student group is made up of all grades, sixth through 11th, as well as a faculty member who assists the seniors with leadership skills. On Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, classes stop at 9:40 a.m. and for the next 10 minutes, each team does their assignment. There is also a janitor who oversees the restrooms and dining rooms.

Besides learning responsibility, the students realize that their actions – such as sticking gum under a desk or leaving a half-filled recycled bottle in a bin – have an effect on their fellow students.

In the last year, says Bergamini, “we have switched to the ‘Simple Green’ line of products. We also use Bon Ami scouring powder and Murphy’s oil soap for the wood floors. Because our building is more than 100 years old, we have a lot a wood.” Simple Green cleaners are non-toxic and biodegradeable and meet Green Seal’s environmental standards. The non-toxic Bon Ami , Bergamini points out, has no dye, chlorine or perfume and is safe for the environment.

In the Irving Independent School District, composed of 35 schools and located in the Dallas-Fort Worth area, crews use another Green Seal-approved cleaning product called Stride Citrus Neutral Cleaner. In addition, Irving schools spokesman Tony Thetford says the school district is in the process of taking competitive bids on several green cleaners in hopes of adopting them. “We have gone out for bid on the Aquaria Floor Finish, Freedom Floor Stripper, Alpha-HP Multi-Surface Cleaner, and Glance NA Glass Cleaner that are Green-Seal certified. These products will be added to our inventory as soon as possible,” Thetford said.

Beginning with all 20 elementary schools, custodians are using new Pro-Team Super Coach HEPA Vacuums with HEPA filters that remove nearly 100 percent of dirt and allergens from floors and surfaces, Thetford says.

Leslie Reichert, aka the Cleaning Coach, advises homeowners and cleaning professionals on green methods of cleaning. But her advice can also be applied to schools. In fact, she recently assisted the Northbridge High School in the Worcester area of Massachusetts by suggesting they use microfiber cloths, one of the mainstays of her cleaning program.

“The new design of the school was nearly all glass. The janitors were spending a lot of time spraying the class with ammonia-based cleaners. I gave them the blue micro-fiber cloths which they just spray with water. No chemicals are involved. It saves on paper towels and they’re not filling up the students and janitors’ lungs with chemicals,” Reichert said.

Reichert also recommends mops that come with removable and washable microfiber pads or central vacuum systems.

Keeping Critters Out

Pesticide maintenance is another issue that affects the environment. The Northwest School in Seattle recently completed a major remodeling, says Bergamini. Although the Seattle area is probably not a mecca for critters, he says they made sure they removed all points of entries.

In warmer climates, such as Texas, keeping the schools free of bugs is more of an issue and may require some form of pesticide. Andy Garza, the Regulatory Compliance and Training Coordinator at Irving ISD, says Irving “has implemented a pro-active Integrated Pest Management approach. We are conducting structural and landscaping inspections to identify any repairs that need to be completed to prevent pest ingress. We are using monitors to identify pest activity before it becomes a problem. Finally, we use safe, non-chemical control methods (glue boards, light traps, etc.).”

The EPA doesn’t rule out the use of pesticides, stating that they are “powerful tools for controlling pests.” But they advise that they be used judiciously since children tend to be more sensitive to these chemicals than adults – especially young kids who may be crawling or putting their hands in their mouths. Specifically, the EPA suggests that schools use integrated pest management (IPM). As stated in their website: “IPM is a safer and usually less costly option for effective pest management in a school community. A school IPM program uses common sense strategies to reduce sources of food, water and shelter for pests…and takes advantage of all pest management strategies, including the judicious and careful use of pesticides when necessary.”

Among the common sense strategies suggested by the EPA:

• Make sure the problem or pest is identified before taking action.

• Vegetation, shrubs and wood mulch should be kept at least one foot away from structures.

• Cracks and crevices in walls, floors and pavement are either sealed or eliminated.

• Lockers and desks are emptied and thoroughly cleaned at least twice yearly.

• Food-contaminated dishes, utensils, surfaces are cleaned by the end of each day.

• Garbage cans and dumpsters are cleaned regularly.

• Litter is collected and disposed of properly at least once a week.

• Fertilizers should be applied several times (e.g.,spring, summer, fall) during the year, rather than one heavy application. (And, we might add, there are organic fertilizers that help build the soil and don’t produce nitrogen-heavy runoff.)

• If pesticides are necessary, use spot treatments rather than area-wide applications. (See our interview and video with Michael Bohdan of The Pest Shop in Plano for more ideas on organic pest control.)

In Irving, Garza says the key to using chemicals is in the application. “What makes a chemical safe,” he says, “is the person applying it and the way in which the chemical is applied. The IISD strictly enforces appropriate application times and waiting the proper amount of time necessary for safe reentry.”

More and more, environmentally clean schools are becoming the standard. As Montgomery County’s Larry Hurd says “Kids and staff are happier when their school is clean. When the air is good, you feel better. It’s a better experience for everyone.”

Copyright © 2008 | Distributed by Noofangle Media