The county opened its vehicle wash facility at the Monmouth County Reclamation Center in Tinton Falls on Thursday morning with a ribbon-cutting ceremony attended by officials from local towns.

The facility is the first automated vehicle wash facility built in Monmouth County and will be used by all 53 Monmouth County municipalities, including Red Bank and Shrewsbury, as well as private trash haulers.

The facility also will allow these towns and trash haulers to be in compliance with new state regulations that forbid the discharge of of pollutants from vehicle and equipment washing into the municipal water system or ground water.

Monmouth County Freeholder Director John Curley said the water used to wash vehicles will be filtered and used again for future washes until it cannot be used again.

"Once the recycled water gets to the point where it can no longer be re-used for vehicle washing, this grey water will be diverted to an 8,000-gallon underground holding tank," Curley said. "It will then be pumped into a water tanker truck and taken to the landfill area, where it will be be sprayed both onto the landfill and roads within it as a dust-control measure."

Tinton Falls Mayor Michael Skudera said he feels the facility is great for the borough and will help meet the state-mandated regulations.

This green truck wash is environmentally-sensitive and complies with the new Department of Environmental Protection stormwater regulations," Skudera said. "Tinton Falls and Monmouth County have always worked cooperatively together. Through a shared service agreement with Monmouth County, Tinton Falls and other towns will also be in compliance with the new stormwater regulations by utilizing this facility. This green truck wash is yet another great idea by the Monmouth County Freeholders and their staff."

The facility cost $3.4 million to build with Birdsall Services Group and in-house personnel performing the engineering.

Two other automated wash facilities are planned for the county. One is under construction at the Public Works Complex in Freehold and the location for the third facility is still under review.