Paul Hamilton, our technical director, was delighted to be asked to write about laundries and their sustainable choices in the latest edition of Tomorrow’s Cleaning. Here are his thoughts in full.

One big question UK laundries are asking themselves in 2025 is, how can we make better sustainable choices?

Checking your company’s carbon footprint is easier than ever before, for example with the Textile Services Association’s GLARE tool. Knowing exactly where they stand gives owners and managers a powerful benchmark to tackle improvements I earnest.

And they do not have to go it alone. There are a myriad of partners and suppliers willing and able to work with operators to shrink their carbon footprint. Some effort and application now will pay dividends later, in terms of doing the right thing for the planet and securing a clean, green and successful future for businesses and their employees.

EU Hierarchy of Waste principles place not using the earth’s resources in the first place – to manufacture, supply or purchase new items, whatever they may be – as more important for the planet than the most exemplary recycling or waste disposal practice.

This means simply re-using what you have. Being careful with consumables and plant, where this makes sense. Making do and mending sounds old-fashioned but there are ways to be savvy with stock, for one example, that don’t amount to a tired or lacklustre offering.

Sending stained linen to Regenex for revival rather than condemning it is just one way to foster a greener approach to operations.

We are now working with more than 20 UK laundries who really care about getting the most out of every bedsheet, every towel, as one of a portfolio of measures to save the world’s resources.

In our first seven years we have successfully processed and returned to circulation 2,000 tonnes of linen that would have been condemned – the equivalent weight of 13 blue whales! This has saved a huge 6,000 tonnes of carbon and 10bn litres of water associated with the manufacture of replacement stock.

One great example of an eco-conscious customer is Thomsons Laundry in Haverford West – certainly one of the most forward-thinking we’ve collaborated with, for six years and counting.

Owner Andrew Hanson and his team have sent several tonnes of linen to Regenex for successful treatment so far, saving a significant amount of carbon on the manufacture of new stock as well as many thousands of points in unnecessary top-ups.

Holiday lettings brand uSnooz is another small but exemplary operator who methodically save non-conformance linen and send to us, to make sure they get maximum usage from stock. And Saif Linen, another customer of Regenex, was the first laundry in Yorkshire to install an Ozone system for its environmental benefits.

Advances in processes mean that superb results can be achieved – Regenex’s patented muti-bath treatment system, based in textile chemistry, lifts fibres to release discolouration, restoring the filthiest whites to as-new condition. This simply would not have been possible a few years ago.

Other suppliers and partners have other tricks and systems to help laundries perform a 360 degree overhaul of what they do, and how they do it – setting them on the right course for circularity that will make great business sense for decades to come.

So, in all, there is some very positive, achievable practice out there. Environmental gains are there for the taking – re-use and frugality are becoming normalised. Like looking after the pennies, taking care to save carbon, gramme by gramme, can add up to meaningful results.