[jon777]

Have been contacted by the environmental waste disposal people as they want to meet me to discuss waste disposal as it happens!

This apparentley is a random visit to industrial premises to talk about potential problems with regards chemicals ect and where we get rid of them.

Now I've always been under the impression that we should dispose of all our dirty water down the toilet as storm drains are a big no no.

The guy is coming to my unit tommorow to go over some standard p/w but when I told him that waste is put down the loo his reply was "oh no dont tell me that sir".

He confirmed what I already knew that storm drains being used is an "offence" but he was very interested in the fact the NCCA are teaching carpet cleaners to use the toilet for their waste disposal.

We are only a small company and use the usual carpet ex products and spotters, theres nothing I would consider to be highley toxic.

Any thoughts on this, am I right or have I been doing something wrong all these years??

[Jim_77]

There's absolutely no problem with disposing of a small amount of waste from carpet cleaning into the sewage system.

I can't remember where I saw it posted, but another cleaner had already encountered this issue.  The official told him that up to a certain amount there is no problem, it's only when the waste is above a certain volume in a day that disposal facilities have to be used.

Tell him to go and follow a wheelie bin cleaner around, they do it in the road and let the water run down the street!

I'm sure if a lot of truckmounters were honest they'd tell you they just flop the waste hose out of the van and let it run down the gutter too.

I can't remember the last time I put waste water down a customer's loo, I either use an outside gulley, manhole, or heaven forbid chuck it under a hedge or something.  Since I've been detergent-free I have no problem with this morally, as the cleaning agent is biodegradable and non-harmful to the environment

[Ken Wainwright]

I think we'd all be interested to see what he/she tells you.

My understanding is that different water companies around the country vary slightly on disposal of our waste water, but the consenus appears to be to dispose into a main sewer, a toilet being the obvious choice. An enviromental officer is obviously something else.

Make sure you have ALL of your MSDS sheets to hand. He/she will almost certainly want to see them.

If you do trauma cleans, you should already be disposing of this waste to licensed facilities.

If there are any issues raised during your discussions as to using customers toilets, I'd respectfully ask if he/she has communicated with the water companies to ascertain a consistant policy around the country.

Truckmounts are a different issue to portys and this could create problems.

Safe and happy cleaning
Ken

[clinton]

I would make sure this is  genuine.

Am sure they need to fix an appointment first and not just turn up

Has someone reported you  

The other post was something similar am sure and it was a few months or so ago on here.

[Doctor Carpet (Ret'd)]

Clinton
I agree.

Interesting post though.

My interest is in that it's claimed we should not dispose down storm drains fluid which is virtually water plus perhaps detergent and a lot of soil particles.

But what does go down storm drains?

Water , leaves and other biodegradable particles and waste products from vehicles - carbon ie oil/petrol/diesel either directly dropped from the vehicle or as particles from the exhaust.

What's the difference? And wouldn't the detergent dropped by some cleaners break down any of the oil deposits?

[jon777]

No I dont think anyones reported me.

Its a random visit and a genuine one. The appointment is tommorrow morning.

Just hope hes not going to be to picky!

The last thing that I (all of us for that matter) need is to have to pay to have our waste water disposed of at a treatment plant

[clinton]

Be good to her from you what happens

Good luck clinton

[Mike Osbourne]

These things nearly always turn out to be just some jobsworth who doesn't have any common. I bet you he has a beard.

I'm sure in the future there will be some euro law that says, well you can do it but it's now gonna cost you.

[Neil Williams]

As a matter of interest what do people do with the waste from hiring a Rug Doctor etc from B&Q, Homebase etc

OR will B&Q, Homebase etc stop hiring these out because the instruction will tell the hirer to dispose of the waste at a designated point some 5 miles away

Yet again another flaw in the regulations.

[Barry Livingstone]

Putting it down the toilet is a LOT different from the drains on the road!!....the storm drains go direct to a river system, this is the reason we flood so much on this ISLAND.............The toilet goes to a treatment plant so should be ok...gets to MIX with all the SWEET CORN

Trust me thats all the see down there my brother worked in one in the Falklands