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Specialist linen cleaner Regenex has successfully cleaned a whopping 2,000 tonnes of hospitality and healthcare linen that would have been condemned to landfill or rag.
The seven-year-old business reached the milestone this month – which has saved a huge 6,000 tonnes of carbon and 10 billion litres of water associated with the manufacture of replacement stock* as well as minimising textile waste.
The weight in bedding, towels, tableware and workwear treated is the equivalent of 13 blue whales, six Boeing 747 jets or two cargo ships.
This huge volume of successfully restored white linens represents 75 to 80% of the heavily marked and filthy items arriving at the Regenex factory since it first opened its doors.
News comes as the UK hospitality industry gathers pace for a bumper spring and summer as eight in 10 Brits plan at least one staycation in 2025 with Millennials and couples leading the charge.
Now used regularly by more than 20 UK laundries, the patented Regenex multi-bath process saves operators many thousands of pounds on top-up stock while improving their low carbon credentials.
Regenex has also completed over 30 tonnes of over-dyeing, a smaller part of its operations which sees tired white towels and other items re-coloured in rich shades for new uses, such as in spas and hospitals. Several companies are now sending faded polycotton workwear to Regenex for topping-up.
Paul Hamilton, Technical Director at Regenex said: “The rise of Regenex has been slow and sure – but now word has caught on, and we have expanded to meet our customers’ demands.
“We continue to work individually with contract laundry groups to find bespoke solutions to their cleaning and revival needs and we are delighted to have started a new financial year on such a high.”
Regenex’s business journey so far has included sparking a debate on ITV’s Good Morning Britain about the possibility of a fake tan tax for UK holidaymakers, providing sumptuous bedding for festival glampers and dyeing many thousands of scrub suits for the NHS during the pandemic.
*Calculations are based on 5,000 litres of water and 3kg carbon saved per kg processed, on the resources needed to manufacture an equivalent weight of new cotton, assuming that the life cycle of the revived linen is doubled.
