Goal Met in Time for Earth Day 2014
Many people have a pile of steel hangers in their homes from drycleaning. All too often, these hangers end up in the trash. For Earth Day 2014, 386 professional drycleaners, all members of the Drycleaning & Laundry Institute (DLI), pledged to reduce wire hanger waste by 35 million hangers, or 1,050 tons of steel.
Gary Maloney of Nu-Yale Glacier Cleaners in Jeffersonville, Indiana, pledged the hangers that took the program to its 35 million hanger goal. “Nu-Yale Glacier Cleaners is excited to be part of a national recycling program,” Maloney said. “Nu-Yale Glacier Cleaners’ entire culture has been about being environmentally friendly. The recycling program has been helpful to our clients for many years by making their lives simple and environmentally friendly.” Founded in 1956, Nu-Yale operates 12 locations in Jeffersonville, New Albany, Floyd’s Knob, and Madison, Indiana, and Louisville and Prospect, Kentucky.
Raising the Bar
The program began in 2012, when drycleaners helped reduce steel hanger waste by 25 million hangers or 750 tons of steel. In 2013 the number grew to 30 million hangers or 900 tons of steel. The grand total for the program is 90 million hangers and 2,700 tons of steel.
“This program is designed to help the environment, customers, and cleaners,” said DLI CEO Mary Scalco. “Our first year with this program was remarkably successful and we’ve enjoyed the enthusiasm from participants. We’d like to see that number continue to grow as awareness of the program spreads.”
“We know that many drycleaners already recycle hangers. It just makes good sense to do so,” said Jon Meijer, DLI Membership Director. “Now we’re asking cleaners to track the number of hangers they reuse or recycle and report it as part of this program. By working together and tracking our results we can monitor the program’s contribution to a greener planet.”
Participating cleaners pledge to reuse hangers whenever possible and recycle unusable hangers with local steel scrapyards. The Institute provides in-store materials cleaners can use to raise awareness of the program, which often results in more hangers coming into their stores. Participants track the hangers by estimated count and report their recycling numbers to the Institute for inclusion in the program’s grand total.
Get Involved
The program is open to DLI member cleaners only. DLI member cleaners can sign up in the Members Only section of DLIonline.org or by contacting Fran Johnson at DLI for more information, 800-638-2627.
