BEST CLEANERS & LAUNDRY Cares About Recycling
Cleaners Join National Hanger Recycling Effort
More than 30 million fewer hangers will make their way to landfills this year, thanks to the help of BEST CLEANERS and other participants of the Drycleaning & Laundry Institute’s “DLI Cleaners Care – Hanger Recycling” program. The program began as a U.S. project but has extended to nations abroad. The initial goal of 25 million was reached in 2012 and the Institute increased the goal to 30 million more hangers in 2013.
BEST Cleaners formerly recycled 20,000 hangers each year on its own, but by joining with associated cleaning businesses across the nation the company was able to contribute to a greater goal.
“We’re proud to be part of a program that keeps hangers out of landfills and helps reduce our industry’s carbon footprint,” said Mike Cowart, owner of BEST Cleaners. “We want our customers to know that we care about the environment and the future as much as we care about cleaning their garments.”
BEST Cleaners is working with many other drycleaners on the Drycleaning & Laundry Institute’s DLI Cleaners Care Hanger Recycling program. The national effort aims to send 30 million fewer hangers to landfills in 2013, and hopes to see the number grow beyond that. “This program is designed to help the environment, customers, and cleaners,” said DLI CEO Mary Scalco. “2012 was our first year with this program and we’re very pleased with the amount of participation we’ve seen. This year we’re going to top that with help from as many cleaners as we can get to join the program.”
Participating drycleaners pledge to reuse hangers whenever possible and recycle unusable hangers with local steel scrapyards. Participants will be asked to track the hangers by estimated count and the scrap by weight. Cleaners will report recycling numbers to the Institute for inclusion in the DLI Cleaners Care Hanger Recycling Program’s grand total.
For more information on the program consumers and drycleaners may contact the Drycleaning & Laundry Institute at 800-638-2627.
Learn more about the DLI Cleaners Care program at www.dlionline.org/Hanger-Recycling-Program. Learn more about the Dry Cleaning & Laundry Institute at www.DLIonline.org