Floor mats are often used by restaurant kitchens to provide comfort, safety, and relief to staff members. The floor mats capture droppings (food particles, oils and grease, etc.) and other pollutants such as bacteria and dirt. It is important that floor mats are cleaned properly to ensure that the dirt, food, grease, bacteria and other pollutants don’t leave the property and/or enter a storm drain.

BMP Objective
The purpose of the best management practice is to prevent pollutants such as dirt, bacteria, oil and grease from leaving the property and entering the storm drain system or waterways.

Implementation
DO:

• If using toxic detergents or cleaning agents to clean the floor mats, consider non-toxic alternatives – See "Use Non-toxic products".
• Whenever possible, wash the floor mats indoors into drains that are plumbed to the sanitary sewer system.
• Instead of using floor mats, consider using non slip shoes for all employees. This may eliminate the need for floor mats.
• If a sink (such as a mop sink – never in a food preparation sink) is available and is large enough to handle the size of the mat, wash the mat in the sink where the pollutants can be rinsed into the sanitary sewer system where the wastewater will be treated.
• If floor drains are available (and drain to the sanitary sewer), use a hose to wash the mats and allow the wash and rinse water to drain into the sanitary sewer lines where the pollutants will be treated.
• Make sure to dispose of all wash water that contains oil and grease in a grease trap or interceptor.
• Utilize a vendor/service that will properly wash your floor mats at their remote facility designed for such purposes.
• Use fully launderable mats that can be washed in laundry machines.
• If you must wash your floor mats outdoors, then be sure to implement the following practices:
  • NEVER let wash water enter the street, gutter or storm drain,
  • Protect downstream inlets,
  • Collect wash water and rinse water for disposal into the sanitary sewer system for proper treatment, by: using a wet vac to suck up the wash water into a canister for proper disposal into the sanitary sewer; or washing the floor mats in a container and empty the container into the sanitary sewer.
• If there is limited amounts of oil and grease and food waste, it may be appropriate to wash floor mats in a grassy areas and allow the rinse water to infiltrate into the landscaping.