Dry clean up methods should be used both inside and outside of facilities. Inside, dry clean up should be used for oil and grease spills as well as general floor cleaning. Outside, keeping sidewalks, parking lots and other paved surfaces around the facility clean can help keep our waterways clean too. When it rains, trash, dirt, and chemicals that have built up on these surface can run into the street and eventually the storm drain. Sweep up these areas instead of hosing them down and you can put dirt and trash into the garbage, instead of into the storm drain.

BMP Objective
This best management practice is intended to keep oil, grease, and solids out of the sewer, as well as dirt, debris, and toxic chemicals out of the storm drain system.

Implementation

• Inside or outside, Contain and Clean Up Spills with dry methods. Oil and grease, as well as chemicals can be contained with rags or absorbents such as kitty litter. Cleaning chemicals with water just adds to the waste they may have to be disposed of with a professional hauler. Water containing oil and grease will have to be discharged to the grease trap, which will increase the frequency and consequently the cost of trap cleaning.
• In restaurants, use paper towels to clean up small oil and grease spills because rinsing cloth rags will send oil and grease down the drain Or consider using a laundry service for towels, rags and mop heads
• Use dry methods to clean floors. Then, only if necessary and if wash water will stay on the property, spot clean with a mop. Follow this process:

1) Clean small spills with rags and larger spills with absorbent materials such as kitty litter.

2) Sweep floor using dry absorbent material.

3) Mop the floor and Properly Collect and Dispose of Wash Water.

• If absorbent is used to clean up hazardous waste, it must be disposed of as hazardous waste. If it is used to clean up non-toxic spills such as cooking oil, it should be sealed in a plastic bag and put in the garbage.
• Use a professional laundry service to clean shop rags. Professional laundries are equipped to handle wash water that contains oil. Look for major uniform laundry services in the phone book; many also wash shop rags.
• To clean up oil on floors, you may also use an oleophilic mop (picks up oil and not water). This will reduce the volume of waste liquids and oils you collect and reduce your cost of disposal. Google search “oil mops”. (These mops are not intended for food grade oils, mops will grow bacteria.)
• Sweep sidewalks, parking lots and other surfaces regularly instead of hosing them down. Water may wash motor oil, automotive fluids, fertilizer and pesticides from landscaping, leaves, trash, and dirt into the storm drain. Keep the rain from washing pollutants away by sweeping often and keeping these surfaces clean. Collect sweepings in a dust pan and put them in the garbage.
• Make sure that when garden areas around the facility are maintained, lawn clippings and dirt are swept back into the garden.
• Consider leaving fallen leaves in landscaped areas as mulch, or dispose of them as green waste. Do not allow landscape maintenance to blow leaves into the street or gutter where they can be washed into storm drains.

 DON’T:

• Do not hose off sidewalks, driveways and other paved surfaces.
• Do not bury or hose down absorbent material. Put it in the garbage.
• Do not sweep dirt, grass trimmings, leaves, or any debris into the street. Rain will wash this into the storm drain.

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