GreenEarth Cleaning

11/6/2008

Cleaners going greener - LIVERPOOL DAILY POST
Tony McDonough

BRITAIN’S biggest dry cleaning chain, Merseyside-based Johnson Service Group, is to spend £6m transforming up to 150 of its branches into environmentally friendly outlets.

The Prescot firm, whose Johnson Cleaners division operates more than 500 dry cleaners across the UK, is rolling out its GreenEarth concept, a US-patented cleaning technology. It aims to have the 150 outlets upgraded by 2012.

The GreenEarth system uses gentle liquid silicone cleaning solvents derived from naturally occurring sand. It has no harmful waste products and is proven to be kinder to clothes and skin than traditional cleaning methods. Although the concept has already been introduced to 230 Johnson Cleaners stores, this weekend sees the launch of the first 10 stores to be entirely refurbished and fronted with official GreenEarth branding, with an initial investment of around £400,000 this quarter.

Each of the 10 branches has undergone a facelift and branch staff have received additional training on the benefits of using greener cleaning technologies and working practices.

A specialist environmental brand manager has been appointed to oversee the transformation process.

Paul Ogle, managing director at Johnson Cleaners, said: “We are proud of our official partnership with GreenEarth Cleaning, which is the world’s largest solution provider for environmentally-friendly dry cleaning.

“As a company, we have a strong commitment to leading the way in introducing more environmentally friendly dry cleaning technologies.

“Our customers are demanding more environmentally-friendly products and services and, as a leading public company, we take our responsibilities seriously – to our staff, customers and the environment in which we live and work.”

Last month, Johnson revealed that it had reversed an earlier decision to put the dry cleaning business up for sale.

In 2007, previous management had said it was looking to sell the division but the company’s new executive chairman, John Talbot, said he had reversed all previous disposal plans.

Mr Talbot became chief executive in December, replacing Charles Skinner, but only took on his new role as executive chairman last month after the previous non-executive chairman, Simon Sherrard, stepped down.

Go Back