TRSA Clean Green Certification Sets Environmental Standard

Posted February 29, 2012 at 3:54 pm

PRESS RELEASE
Contact: Ken Koepper, 703.519.0029, ext. 109; kkoepper@trsa.org
Dempsey Uniform & Linen First To Earn TRSA Clean Green Certification -2/29/12
 

TRSA has launched its international initiative to lead the textile services industry to new heights in sustainability and environmental protection with the unveiling of the Clean Green certification program. It recognizes companies that meet TRSA requirements for achieving efficiencies in water and energy conservation and adopting best management practices for reusing, reclaiming and recycling resources.

The certification gives the industry’s business-to-business customers third-party verification that the uniforms, tablecloths, bed sheets, floor mats, towels and other reusable textiles they procure from Clean Green certified companies are laundered in an environmentally friendly manner.

“Contracting with a Clean Green laundry is a commitment to sustainability and statement of conscientiousness about natural resources, part of managing a supply chain with maximum environmental protection in mind,” noted Joseph Ricci, TRSA president and CEO. More business owners and operators are modifying their production technologies, processes and work habits to improve efficiency and conserve supplies. “Clean Green prompts them to consider how their choices of outsourced functions such as laundry affect their total environmental impact,” he observed.

Businesses that opt for work uniform rental service and linen supply from textile services companies – as opposed to assigning staff to wash work clothes at home or using smaller on-premises or commercial laundries for linens – have chosen the superior route for minimizing natural resources depletion.

TRSA’s new certification helps organizations find the best choices in this respect. Textile services operations with the highest-speed, largest-capacity equipment are most likely to exceed Clean Green standards due to such machinery’s energy and water efficiencies. Just as important, because these industrial-scale laundries have hundreds or even thousands of customers, these facilities are large enough to economically deploy the latest technologies for removing pollutants, recovering heat, reusing rinse water and other resource-saving functions.

Dempsey Uniform & Linen Supply Inc., based in Jessup, Pa., near Scranton, is the first launderer in the world to be certified Clean Green. In addition to its home state, the company serves New York, New Jersey, Maryland, Delaware, Washington, DC, West Virginia and Virginia, providing uniform rentals, restaurant linen services, restroom services and medical linen services.

About TRSA and the Textile Services Industry

Based in Alexandria, VA, TRSA represents the $16-billion textile services industry that employs nearly 200,000 people at more than 2,000 facilities nationwide. These companies provide laundered textiles and other products and services that help businesses project a clean and attractive public image. The industry reaches every major business and industrial region, congressional district and city in the country. Most Americans benefit at least once a week from the cleanliness and safety provided by the industry – through its laundering and delivery of reusable linens, uniforms, towels, mats and other products for the healthcare, hospitality and industrial/manufacturing sectors. TRSA member companies’ services minimize environmental impacts on air, water and solid waste disposal while reducing costs for millions of customers.

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