Laundry Relief – What We Do is Unique

Help After the Hurricane

A hurricane pounds the southern coast of the United States; filthy, unsanitary water is everywhere. People are displaced, their homes ruined and yet they have to go on with their lives. We try to help and ease that burden. In addition to providing mobile showers, VPS can also step in with a mobile Laundromat.

 

Our Portable laundry is working in South Africa 

 A village in Africa uses wash tubs and a sporadic supply of local water to hand-wash their clothing. It’s hard work and not very clean.  A man from the village searches online for a better idea and finds VPS Enterprises’ website.

 After many emails and conversations between a South African businessman and VPS owner, Kurt VandenPlas, design ideas were drafted to build a trailer to house washers and dryers to help our friends in  a country half a world away.  

As plans evolved and were finalized, the businessman and his partner traveled from South Africa  to Northeast Wisconsin to VPS headquarters in the middle of a blustery Wisconsin winter—with all the glory of ice and snow on the ground. For two businessmen from South Africa this was quite the eye-opener. They were also amazed at the quality of custom work and immediately ordered two portable laundry units.

The units were custom built to meet the needs of another country,  including seven washers and dryers, folding tables and a 500-gallon water tank to hold water– because many communities in South Africa do not have a continuous source of water.

 Another challenge was to build the portable laundry to European electrical standards. After a quick course in learning these different standards, it was also necessary to purchase specially made washers and dryers, lights and pumps that were manufactured to European standards.  It took six weeks to build the two units. Next hurdle was to deliver the trailers. Kurt and his team towed the trailers to Baltimore where they were inspected by US Customs and then were finally loaded onto a ship to make their 2 ½ month journey to South  Africa.  The latest report from our friends in South Africa is,  “All is going well with the portable laundry.”

This is How We Do It:

Kurt builds each trailer to house washers and dryers. He starts with a trailer bed and installs washers and dryers inside with water hookups. The trailer has its own holding tank of fresh water along with a generator that heats the water.  Another holding tank collects the waste water for proper disposal later.

Kurt builds the hook-ups for the washers and dryers.

Washers and dryers are installed on one side of the trailer with folding table/work area on the other side.

Exterior view of the mobile laundry trailer

The Making of a Custom Portable Shower

When a volcano erupted in Iceland in March 2010, it caused flights to be grounded for a couple of weeks in New York. Officials at JFK Airport called, “We have thousands of stranded travelers here in the airport—  we can’t fly with ash in the air. Everyone is camping out in the waiting areas and they need showers!”   We responded immediately by taking our portable shower units to New York. We were on the road in just a few hours.

Hurricane Katrina – it was one of the largest disasters of our lifetime in the US. Everything is under water, homes and businesses destroyed, including the water supply. There’s water everywhere, but none of it is safe or clean. Thousands are displaced and basic needs—like a shower – become essential. VPS responded.

That’s where Kurt VandenPlas put ingenuity and skill together to create portable shower trailers. He builds each one from scratch. The sum of the parts—creates a nice warm, mobile shower.

Kurt builds the base for the trailer that will hold the showers:

The trailer fits onto the custom built base :

This sketch shows how the showers will be built inside–unit can be custom built to hold from 8-18 shower stalls:

The stalls, shower heads and parts are assembled in the trailer.

The portable showers are clean and tidy inside.

Each trailer has its own clean water tank attached underneath the trailer and a generator that heats the water. The waste water from the showers is also contained in another tank – and will be properly disposed of when full.

The trailer is easily moved from one place to another to accommodate the needs of people. These units are sent to disaster areas, but they are also used for special events, like a big festival or a bike tour. In fact, the portability allows it to follow an event—such as a bicycling tour. As the cyclers go from one location to another, the portable units follow the tour and provide a clean refreshing,  portable shower at the end of a long, hot ride.

Here we are at a country festival.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

VPS has created a Very Portable Solution to meet a need.

From a Bicycle Enthusiast

We wait all winter for the dates of our annual long-distance bike tour. How we bikers love it—hitting the open road—watching the fields pass by, anticipating a stretch of shade to cool us off—even just for a few moments as we cycle through the coolness.

 We ride with passion and sweat; we drink water all day long and sweat some more. At the end of a long day’s ride, pushing up and down hills and doing what we love, we pull into a park to camp – the sweat dried to our skin, muscles happily tired.  It’s a basic park—no extra facilities. We pitch our tents, think about dinner, but what we really want is a nice refreshing shower to get rid of the baked-on sweat and dust from the day’s ride.

And what comes tooling along our route, moving with us each day is a portable shower! Clean, wet and refreshing. Soap and water feel so good  to get the grit off; and sinks with mirrors attached to the outside of the trailer feel like an incredible luxury. VPS, Thank you for providing a refreshing shower. There’s nothing like it!  

And now, what’s for dinner?

 A Passionate Cycler

 

 

Four Areas Where You Are Covered

We take care of things that you don’t want to have to think about—like where and how you get clean, where to get your clothes clean and where you take care of “business” – bathroom “business”, that is.

Four areas where we make sure “facilities” are available:

• Special events – large festivals, weddings, anniversaries, music events, corporate events.
• Parks and other recreation areas.
• Disaster relief—such as after hurricanes, tornadoes and floods.
• Construction sites – lots of workers on site, with nowhere to “go.”

Special events – A wedding or corporate event in your plans? We have luxury restroom trailers that will make you and your guests feel, well pampered. For high-end events, think oak and marble on the inside with porcelain-style sinks and 100% clean. Kris at VPS, Inc. adds in a few personal touches on occasion. An outdoor wedding or a high-end corporate event  is possible with all the nice things taken care of; our business is to take care of your ”business.”

Parks/recreation areas – A day on the lake fishing or playing in the park is great family fun. Keeping yourself hydrated is what we hear from medical professionals and others in order to stay healthy, especially in summer. Hydration means, it has to go somewhere and portable restroom units by VPS are in many area parks and recreation areas in Northeast Wisconsin. Our units are far from the “old outhouse” of days past. Today, it’s all about being spacious, well-lit, clean smelling with plenty of hand sanitizer.

When Disaster strikes how do you take care of basic needs? Tornadoes, hurricanes, fires, floods—it’s all devastating. We’ve come to the rescue with portable restrooms, hot/clean showers—yes, even showers! And Laundromats that are contained in a trailer. Kurt builds each unit – his own custom design—we carry and heat our own water and dispose of it later as well. Most importantly, we jump into immediate action when we get the call. It’s our “calling” to help those in need.

Construction sites – If you are building it, well then, you can’t use it yet. We provide portable restrooms on construction sites year-round, to help those who are making life better for others with new buildings. VPS has a process where we keep the units functioning even during our cold winters. There is no  “third tree on the left”—na-ah—Just clean, fresh, portable toilets placed on the construction site for those hard at work.

Look for us throughout Northeast Wisconsin: Green Bay area, Fox cities, Manitowoc, Oconto and Marinette.

Used Restrooms for Sale

Are you looking for a portable restroom solution for a cottage, hunting land etc…  We have used restrooms in good repair for sale.  Call today for pricing and to see what we have available.

Green Bay Packers Season

Tailgating and the Packers go hand-in-hand,  let VPS be your preferred portable restroom provider.   We have a variety of restrooms to choose from, such as our standard restrooms with hand sanitizers in them, our deluxe restrooms with sinks and also our trailered restrooms which have heat and air conditioning.  Contact VPS for game day special pricing!

Hurricane Season is here!

VPS can help with disaster relief efforts by providing mobile showers and laundry service to your site.  We have provided services for Hurricane Katrina and Rita. Call us today for information!

Safety First with VandenPlas Sanitation!

Our staff of service technicians are health & safety certified  through the Portable Sanitation Association Int’l. in providing portable sanitation for special events and construction sites.  You will receive the highest quality restrooms and service from VPS for your event or job site.  Our service technicians also go through yearly MSHA Training to help insure safety at your gravel & sand pits.  Our professional service tecnhicians also are uniformed, wear safety vests and hard hats. Call us today for your portable restroom needs!

Restrooms fit for royalty

By Steve Arvenson – The Denmark News (reprinted with permission)

Let’s face it — it’s not usually the most pleasant of situations — especially for the ladies. But if you want to have fun at festivals, concerts or other outdoor events, it’s a situation you’ll likely have to encounter
– the portable toilet.

But now a New Denmark company is offering an alternative. A high-end portable toilet that may put your bathroom at home to shame.

A look inside the high-end portable bathroom facilities offered by VandenPlas Sanitation.

VandenPlas Sanitation on County R in New Denmark is offering a new luxury toilet trailer that has all of the comforts of home, and maybe even a few more.

“We do a lot in the community with all of the different organizations,” Kurt VandenPlas said. “Part of what we saw people and companies wanting is more upscale, depending on what event they have. So we got in to more upscale about eight years ago, to a medium as far as the scale goes. These units are top-of-the line.”

The units are manufactured in Texas by a company called Advanced Containment Systems.

“It is all oak interior with oak floors, simulated marble walls, a skylight, heat, air conditioning, hot and cold running water, surround-sound stereo system,” VandenPlas said. “When you’re in there, you think you are in a very upscale restaurant or business bathroom. You don’t know that you’re in a trailer. That’s the whole idea behind this. You don’t have that feeling that you’re in some kind of cubby.”

The units have been around for a few years but VandenPlas waited on purchasing any until the need for them arose.

“We knew these units were out there but we waited for the market to catch up. Once we started getting the requests, we basically almost rushed into it because the need is there.

The units are perfect for corporate functions like company picnics or large golf outings, VandenPlas said. They’re also a good fit for high-end outdoor weddings.

VPS Launches Mobile Laundromat Solution

In continuing our vision for delivering Portable Solutions, VPS has developed a Mobile Laundromat for large scale laundry needs, such as for disaster relief, forest fires and at large scale camping type events.  Our Mobile Laundry Trailer is equipped with 12 washers, 12 dryers and tables for folding clothes.  You have the option of setting the washers and dryers to be coin operated or to run free of charge. For more information on our Mobile Laundromat solution or to schedule a delivery please call Kurt at 866-863-6505.