Posts tagged green dry cleaning
Green Dry-Cleaner
Aug 27th
The year was 1970, the show was Sesame Street, the crooner was Kermit the Frog and the song was “Bein’ Green” a lament about how ‘it’s not easy being green’. Interestingly enough, it was also the year President Nixon formed the heretofore non-existent federal Environmental Protection Agency. Fast forward 40 years, and while being green still isn’t easy, it is a desirable goal for anyone who cares about leaving our children a healthy eco-system to live in. Today, being green is no longer an expression of melancholy because it makes you less than others around you; it’s a call to action to make the world a better (greener) place.
At Sudsies, we’re yellow (like the sun), we’re blue (like the sky) and yes, we’re green, like the world we want to live in. We practice what we preach and live every working day reducing, reusing and recycling everything imaginable. We use multiple cleaning processes and all of them in an uber-environmentally responsible way- reducing, recycling, purifying and reusing to the point where with one little ounce of cleaning fluid we can clean 15 garments and with one gallon we can clean 2,000! Amazing, isn’t it! And you should take comfort in knowing that our laundry uses only biodegradable detergents, conditioners and sizings, with bacteriostat additives. But that’s only the start.
We’ve reduced our carbon footprint through an in depth vehicle maintenance regimen. We invested in water recirculation systems and installed low water usage equipment throughout our production facility. We overhauled our lighting and office equipment to be energy star rated and mercury free. We even have a motion detector in our storage rooms and bathrooms so the lights go out whenever anyone leaves the room. We use recycled paper, glass and metal in our lunch room, and went so far as to invest tens of thousands of dollars in high quality hangers suitable for recycling. Our plastic covers are biodegradable, we car pool or use public transportation to get to work, and the list goes on and on.
We didn’t do it all overnight. It took time. It took thought. It took planning. It took money to invest in new technologies and supplies. For us, being green is a work in progress. Last year, we were accepted as a FOUR leaf member of the Green Cleaners Council, where we are constantly made aware of new things (big and small) we can do to make a difference. We are eager to rise to their ever evolving and intensifying challenges to do more, to be greener! For Sudsies, green isn’t a fashionable fad that businesses are wearing this year, green is who we are – whether it is in or out of fashion.
Eco-Friendly Dry Cleaning
Apr 6th
Green energy. Green initiatives. Green companies.
Green this. Green that. Green me with an eco-friendly whiffle ball bat.
That’s right. Everyone – and everything – is going green. In fact, chances are YOU have already “gone green” (go ahead, look in the mirror…if you dare). Or if you haven’t, your neighbor has (and is probably chastising you for lagging behind the times). But what does it all mean, really? Would you necessarily even know it if you’ve already gone green? And once you go green, can you ever go back?
Simply put, it means living a more environmentally friendly and conscious lifestyle. By choosing to do things – both big and little – a little bit differently than the ways most of us have done them in the past. You know, like recycling bottles and cans. Printing out fewer emails. Purchasing more fuel-efficient automobiles. Biking and walking to local spots. These are all ways we can work to reduce our individual “carbon footprint” on the planet. At a time when it needs all the help it can get.
Individuals like you aren’t the only ones taking further steps toward establishing and maintaining a more eco-friendly world, however. Businesses are also getting in on the action, perhaps motivated by consumers and their increasingly healthy and conscious choices. Companies both large and small alike are researching and implementing more environmentally sound practices, and often listening closely to consumer feedback and suggestions in doing so.
Examples range from Enterprise Rent-A-Car offering “carbon offsets” (allowing consumers to fund green energy projects to compensate for polluting behavior) to New Belgium Brewery manufacturing and bottling craft beer entirely via alternative energy sources to Clif Bar eliminating shrink-wrap packaging and shipping its organic energy bars via biodiesel-powered trucks. And more and more, such examples are becoming the norm.
You can get more insight into the “greening of mainstream business,” including news, podcasts, videos and job listings, by visiting
www.greenbiz.com <http://www.greenbiz.com> – the Business Voice of the Green Economy.
The professional dry cleaning industry has also seen a surge in eco-friendly practices and businesses. More progressive dry cleaners, such as Sudsies, employ an “environmental wet cleaning” process that utilizes specially treated and conditioned water, in addition to more traditional solvents. Other environmentally friendly dry cleaner practices include instituting systemic recycling programs, conserving more energy and water, investing in technology or services that exceed regulatory requirements and educating and training staff in environmental regulations and issues.
There’s even a Green Cleaners Council working to promote and reward genuine environmental sustainability efforts and expose “greenwashing.” The council has established a set of benchmarks to rate dry cleaners on their eco-friendly practices, and also provides them with a forum to share their successes and discuss strategies for future growth. The scores achieved on the “blind review” also help customers determine how green their cleaner really is.
You can see how your favorite dry cleaner rates on the Green Scale by visiting the Green Cleaners Council online at www.greencleanerscouncil.org <http://www.greencleanerscouncil.org/>.
