New waterless car wash pushes "green" theme

Written by Jill K. Dion
Sunday, 01 November 2009 17:03

Green and white checkerboard motif highlights the Going Green Waterless Handwash that opened Saturday on Old Gate Lane, a car wash modeled after West Coast establishments focusing on today’s green, environmentally-friendly theme.

Mark Casey and Chris Lewis worked their way gradually into their new three-bay garage car wash after falling victim to the economy and being laid off from their jobs.

Lewis already had opened a waterless car wash in Atlanta, Ga., and is about to open one in Charlotte, N.C., and got in touch with Casey about doing the same here.

They worked mobily for awhile, traveling to the cars that needed washing, and then secured a small shop to house their business before opening the new place Saturday.

Lewis said theirs is the first waterless car wash in Connecticut.

So what is a waterless car wash? It’s basically a hand car wash using not water but a biodegradable spray solution called Dri-Wash N Guard, that can actually be used to clean a wealth of products, according to the product label, from clothes, to dishes to cars. The spray cleans the car and leaves a protective coating on the car’s surface.

“It’s much more than washing,” Casey said.

Lewis ad Casey are distributors of the product, which has been around since 1991. Its label touts its “greenness”, describing the solution as a “biodegradable liquid containing no toxic solutions or bleaches.”

The typical car wash takes about 15 minutes and leaves the typical vehicle clean and shiny, much the way Armor All shines up a car dashboard.

The cost here ranges from $19.99 for an exterior wash to $26.99 for an interior and exterior cleaning, to $99 for car detailing. There are member prices, too, however. Customers can become members and pay somewhat lower prices on the cleanings and in-between “care cleanings,” which do not use the product but basically consists of a rub-down to recreate the cars luster between treatments.

Staff will wash cars here, or they can be dispatched as a mobile car cleaning service.

Although this is a waterless car wash, Lewis and Casey said they will have to use water in the winter to spray cars covered with snow and ice.

“But we’ll spray the cars on a recovery mat, and then we’ll reuse the water until it can’t be used anymore,” Casey said.

The water will be treated with a cleaning solvent between uses, and when it has to be disposed of, it will be disposed of with a company that handles discharge like motor oil and the like.

Lewis said shops like these are big on the West Coast, where water shortages make it taboo to use water to wash cars or feed lawns. The green thinking has now moved to the East Coast, especially to environmentally aware communities like Milford, where a large contingent of environmentalists have been pushing the green philosophy for several years.

Casey led a tour of the large, open garage Saturday, pointing out the green and white theme and the lack of machines and drainage systems. About a half dozen employees, some family members among the mix, sprayed and wiped cars until they shined.

Casey, a Milford resident, said opening a car wash was a natural career move for him, a thought that his mother and sister echoed.

“When I heard he was going to do this, I said, ‘There is no one better than him,” said his sister, Robin Kelly. “He always had the most beautiful, meticulously clean cars.”

Evelyn Casey, their mother, remembers her son polishing his bike with Turtle Wax when he was 12 years old and then grabbing his cleaning gear and riding off on his bike to clean people’s cars.

So, yes, Casey said, this was a natural move.

“To me, this is fun,” he said.

Since Casey and Lewis are distributors of the cleaning product and owners of the new car wash, customers have a choice: They can stop in and buy the Dri-Wash for about $25 and clean their own cars, or they can leave the work to the staff here.

The car wash, at 254 Old Gate Lane near the Quality Inn, will be open Monday through Wednesday from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m..; Thursday and Friday, 8 a.m. to 8 p.m.., Saturday 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. and Sunday 8 a.m. to noon.

For information, people can visit the company’s Web site, ggwhw.com.