Union GreenEarth machines are starting to make an appearance on UK high streets.
Johnson Cleaners has been a pioneer in the use of the Green Earth solvent and has been running a machine at its Rugby plant for over a year. Technical director Martin Gregson told LCN the company’s trials had been completed and the machine was now in regular use. He said that a second machine has been ordered but its location has not been decided.
At Parrisianne, Union’s UK distributor, Ian Parris said that there were currently four GreenEarth machines running in the UK, three in the independent sector. He believed that these were the only machines running GreenEarth in Europe, although there are several installations in operation in America.
Independent Mackenzies of Southgate, north London, is one independent who has decided to go green with GreenEarth.
The Union machine was installed earlier this year, and when he spoke to LCN owner Costas Kyriakou said he had been working with the machine for around 10 weeks. Mr Kyriakou, who also has a perc machine, said that he uses GreenEarth for delicates, bridal gowns, beaded work and silks.
Research He had researched both hydrocarbon and GreenEarth and via the internet had looked into the use of GreenEarth in the USA. He decided that GreenEarth would be a better choice, because he believed it was safer and it was also environmentally friendly.
He reports that his experience with the new solvent has been positive. There is more work in pre-cleaning but less in finishing, indeed he believes has cut the time spent finishing by about 50%. He also finds the solvent economic.
The installation has attracted a lot of interest from local cleaners.
The use of GreenEarth does involve an affiliation fee, currently around £1000. There is a website for affiliated members at www.greenearthcleaning.com
