In Sweden, around 30 million car washes take place annually in Sweden, and around half of these take place on the street according to the organization Hållbar carwash. This despite the fact that the procedure is harmful to the environment.
But the winds are turning, and more and more municipalities and private individuals now want it to become illegal to wash the car at home.
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8 out of 10 municipalities want to ban car washing at home
In the Great Car Wash Report conducted by Hållbar car wash, 58 percent of Swedes answer that it should be forbidden to wash the car at home. This is an increase from 40 percent the last time the study was conducted in 2020.
Among Swedish municipalities, resistance to washing the car at home is even higher. 83 percent of the municipalities think there should be legislation that specifically applies to car washing at home.
Washing in a dedicated car wash is better for the environment – Photo: Pontus Lundahl/TT
However, whether any legislation will become a reality is unclear.
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There are too few car washes
The solution if you are not going to wash the car at home is to go to a dedicated car wash facility.
One of the reasons why many people still wash their cars at home may be that there is too little of a range of car washes, says Robert Dimmlich, initiator of Sustainable Car Wash and CEO of the Organization of Sweden’s Service Stations (OSS).
– In order for more people to stop washing their cars on the street, accessibility to approved car wash facilities must improve. At an approved car wash, heavy metals are collected in treatment plants where they are taken care of in a safe way instead of polluting our nature. It should be easy to wash correctly, says Robert Dimmlich.
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Is actually already illegal
While there aren’t necessarily any laws specifically against washing your car in the driveway or on the street at the moment, that doesn’t mean it’s necessarily allowed.
In the environmental code, it says that you may not release untreated water into nature. For example, washing the car on a gravel field or lawn can lead to soil and groundwater contamination.
According to the Public Prosecutor’s Office, this can result in fines or imprisonment for up to two years.
The fact that it is bad to wash the car at home is due to the fact that both the detergent and the dirt that runs off the car contain substances that are harmful to nature.
According to the organization Hållbar Biltvätt, washing cars on the street leads to 1,000 tons of oil and 50 tons of heavy metals flowing into lakes, oceans and waterways every year.
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