Solvent Free
Our solvent-free parts washers eliminate the atmospheric evaporation of the harmful solvents commonly used. This also eliminates the respiratory hazard to service technicians. Above all, it removes the chance that solvent may be spilled harming the environment. The best part is that all of the grease and grime removed from all of those dirty parts is extruded off into bio-safe traps treated with bio-remedial soap. The oil hungry bacteria in the bio-remedial soap consume all of the oil and grease rendering the waste harmless to the environment.
Climate Control
Huge ceiling fans circulate the air through the shop. These fans allow the shop to remain comfortable year-round and eliminate the need for wasteful air conditioning. Also, eliminating the A/C means you eliminate the chance of refrigerant leakage.
Recycle Oil
We take in thousands of gallons of used motor oil each month. Oil is drained into special pans that eliminate the risk of spillage, splashing, or leakage. When these sealed pans are full the used oil, it is pumped directly out into a closed tank to await recycling. The recycled oil is used to fuel local industrial heaters, reusing the oil rather than creating industrial waste.
Tire Recycling
Rather than burning all of those old tires or sending them off to fill another landfill, we send our used tires to local recyclers. In “turn” they create a multitude of products, including the mulch we use in our landscaping beds. It doesn’t blow or wash away, lasts longer, and it looks great! Turning Radials into Roses is just one more way we make sure that we minimize our impact on the environment.
Bulk Oil Storage
What about new oil? Keeping oil in retail packaging on the scale required to do business would be an ecological nightmare in terms of waste. We keep our oil in bulk in sealed tanks. This eliminates packaging waste. It also carries benefits for your car in that bulk oil storage allows consistent quality on a large scale rather than quart to quart. And since it is metered, if your car requires 4.6 quarts of oil, 4.6 quarts is what is pumped. Its far more accurate and insures your vehicle gets the care it needs without costing you more than it has to.
Fluid Recovery
Freon and Refrigerants – Being in the hot Texas climate, A/C is something most of us cannot live without. However, releasing refrigerants into the atmosphere is something the planet could do without. Contrary to popular belief, Freon (R-12) and the R-134a (new) refrigerant do not get “used up” or consumed. We have a rather elegant solution to make sure we don’t waste or release Freon. Freon is pumped out of the sealed system of the vehicle, filtered, and restored by the same machine. This reduces the need for “fresh” refrigerant and protects the environment all at the same time.
Body Shop
Body Shop Solvent Recycling – Just like when painting your home, a solvent, similar to mineral spirits, is a necessary to our state of the art body shop. We manage to use a tenth of the solvent that should be required for a shop of our output and size. This is accomplished through the use of a machine that filters and distills the used solvent until the impurities are dried into a “puck” about 10% of the volume of the recycled solvent. The solvent gets reused and the disk gets proper chemical disposal.
Precise measure paint – Paint is mixed with the help of a computer and it virtually eliminates waste by recalculating necessary quantities to correct the composition, preventing a batch wasted because of over-pouring.
Down Draft Paint Booths – No body shop is truly full service without a state of the art paint-shop; Monument is no exception. But paint booths can pose specific problems where environmental protection is concerned. We use HVLP guns to minimize the aerosol effect. This reduces the evaporative waste and pollution, and that more paint gets on the car! Downdraft ventilation ensures paint mist and aerosol are not released into the air but rather collected and filtered out.