"I will fill up two buckets with water: A wash bucket and a rinse bucket.
First I will dunk the pad into the wash bucket then spray liberally with Super Degreaser. Massage the degreaser into the pad with your hands and let it 'soak' with degreaser for 30 seconds or so. Then re-dunk it into the wash bucket and massage the pad under the water; you will see the polish release from the pad. Then ring the pad out over the wash bucket thoroughly.
Then dunk the pad in the rinse bucket to make sure any wash solution is released. After a while the rinse bucket's water will become a little cloudy, so I tend to dump it and fill it with clean water.
Then spin the pad on a rotary polisher (if applicable) and let air dry.
Keep in mind that some foam pads will take a very long time to dry to allow time for this: The Meguiar's foam cutting pad, the Lake Country Hydro Tech pads, and the blended Lake Country white foam take longer to dry then normal pads.
P21S total auto wash is my favorite right now, but while cleaning out the garage I came across a nearly full jug of Simple Green. It has to be 10 years old. I don't know whether to experiment with it (diluted) or call the E.P.A.
I use the TAW with microfibers, foam brushes and a spray bottle with water for the final clean up. I still can't bring myself to hose down any engine bay. It takes way too long to do this, but it sure beats water-induced electrical problems.