Return on investment

Since the Solvent Emissions Directive (SED) first became law in the UK, the pressure has been on drycleaners to ensure that they comply with the directive. For those who had upgraded their equipment within the last couple of years it meant little, if any, change.

However, for businesses that had not upgraded their equipment for 15 or 20 years, there was no choice – they must upgrade their equipment to meet the regulations or face the threat of being refused a licence to operate.

It seems a simple choice – but, according to Jimmy Holt from Parrisianne UK, suppliers are only really begin to see the orders for new equipment start to increase now. The cost of purchasing new drycleaning equipment can be quite steep, especially for small operators, so some may be waiting until their local council requires them to change. Some councils have taken a while to come to terms with the directive and the responsibilities they have in ensuring compliance.

In addition, the present economic climate has prompted some drycleaners to close because they cannot see a sufficient return on investment.

However, the SED may be leading to a greater professionalisation of the industry, ensuring that those who are left in the business are those who will do the job properly, including complying with environmental regulations.

Yet even for drycleaners who have chosen to upgrade, such as Smart Press in Blackpool, it imposes a real financial burden. “There has been no assistance from the government to help drycleaners meet the legislation,” says Finbar Fox from Smart Press.

“A lot of drycleaners have had to pack in the business as it is too big an investment for them.”

In addition, he adds, they receive no scrap value for their old machines. “They are just taken away.”

Nevertheless, Fox praises the new 10kg perc machine he got from Firbimatic last autumn and says he has already made some savings because of the efficiency of the machine. The improved distillation speed allows him to process more loads in a day.

“There are now two days of the week when I don’t put the machine on,” he says and this saves energy, water and solvent costs.

It is those efficiency savings that suppliers are trying to impress on customers who are reluctant to move to new machines – or who are thinking of cheap alternatives.

Jonathan Gray from Firbimatic says it can be a false economy going for a cheap or second-hand machine because it may not achieve a good quality clean and dry. “That’s not good for business, whether the SED is in place or not,” he adds, although a good quality second-hand machine will often suit some smaller businesses, provided that it complies with the directive.

Jason Alexander from Renzacci, and chairman of the drycleaning section of the Society of Laundry Engineers and Allied Trades (SLEAT), emphasises that a drycleaning machine should be seen as a 12 – ­15 year investment.

“Drycleaners shouldn’t be looking for the cheapest machine – saving £500 on such equipment is nonsensical,” he says, “and it means they may not be getting the best machine for them.”

SED-compliant machines, he adds, are cheaper to run, as well as being more environmentally friendly.

Renzacci sells only fully specified machines. Its Progress range, which has been out for just over a year, comes complete with sludge pump and solvent cooling. It also features the Videotron microprocessor control, which comes with a full-colour screen and allows the drycleaner to monitor and control everything the machine does.

Parrisianne offers the Arctic solvent cooling system as an optional extra that can be added when the drycleaning machine is ordered. Chilling a solvent such as perc reduces its aggressiveness so that it can be used for cleaning more delicate garments, Holt says.

Another option the company offers is the Recuper unit which has been designed to recover the solvent and bring parts per million (PPM) levels down to almost zero at the cage opening.

Because this is not yet a requirement in the UK, the unit is not standard but It can be added either at the manufacturing stage or later on, for drycleaners who want to further reduce their waste emissions.

It is reduction of waste emissions and energy and water use that has been the focus of the developments in drycleaning machines over the past few years. Realstar machines, sold in the UK by Dane Realstar, now offer as standard an inverter drive on the motor that reduces electricity consumption, as well as heat recovery on distillation which uses both less electricity and less water. The turbo drying system on its M and KT ranges of equipment also has an air flow system that shortens the drying cycle, thereby saving on energy costs.

Realstar’s Vision range, says Paul Higgs, has very low electrical consumption because it uses the refrigeration system for the drying circuit, which makes this range very eco-friendly.

Firbimatic’s waterless Saver machines have been designed to save on utility bills because they do not require cooling water. Gray says the machines also reduce energy costs because of the electricity used in the distillation process. The Saver machines offer a choice of GreenEarth, a cyclosiloxane solvent, or hydrocarbon.

Although perc machines are still the biggest seller for Firbimatic – comprising around 75 – 80% of its sales – Gray is an advocate for GreenEarth which he says is kinder on the environment and can bring similar results to other solvents, if the drycleaner has been properly trained in how to use it.

Those who have bought GreenEarth drycleaning machines from Firbimatic and have had training in its use, he says, find that it gives them “fantastic” results. GreenEarth is still classified as a volatile organic compound (VOC) and so falls under the regulation of the SED.

However, Gray is convinced that if it were declassified – and he believes it should be – more people would turn to it as an alternative to perc. However, perc still remains the biggest seller in drycleaning equipment.

Paul Higgs from Dane Realstar agrees that GreenEarth has certain advantages – it is kinder to the environment, odourless and less aggressive to operate – but he thinks that perc is a better cleaner and its aggressiveness can be managed with the use of refrigerated cooling systems. Around 95% of the drycleaning machines sold by Dane are perc machines.

Jason Alexander also says perc is a better cleaner, suitable for most drycleaners who do a range of day-to-day garments. But for high-end drycleaners who specialise in delicate garments, hydrocarbon and/or cyclosiloxane solvents may be more suitable as they provide a gentler clean. Hydrocarbon, Alexander says, is a “brilliant cleaner” but its running costs are higher. However, as with cyclosiloxane, there are those who think it is not as good a cleaner as perc, although all agree that it is gentler and therefore suitable for fabrics that need a gentle clean.

Multisolvent machines that offer both the use of both GreenEarth and hydrocarbon are available from most suppliers.

Multifunction machines, which offer both wet and drycleaning in one machine, have also been promoted at international drycleaning shows.

However, they have not yet caught on in the UK as they have in countries such as the USA, and none of the suppliers in this country are really promoting the machines to customers.

They say they cannot see a market in the UK for machines that offer wet and drycleaning in the same machine.

Gray says the market here is very different to the USA. With the growing integration of laundry into the services offered by UK drycleaners, washing machines need to be free to run all day long. Having both the wetcleaning and drycleaning functions in one machine would not work in the UK. The Firbimatic Trio is a multifunctional multisolvent machine which offers wetcleaning and drycleaning in one machine, with a choice of GreenEarth or hydrocarbon solvents, and uses filtration rather than distillation.

Jimmy Holt of Parrisianne thinks the complexity of multifunction machines can act as a barrier, as people are not confident about operating a machine that offers two such distinctly different functions.

If, for example, the operator has not adjusted the machine correctly for the solvent to be used in a drycleaning cycle and the machine has previously been used for a wetclean, garments could be ruined. “You have to be on the ball with them,” he says.

Union, which is distributed by Parrisianne in the UK, has developed the Ideal I-40 multifunction with both wet- and drycleaning circuits and a choice of hydrocarbon or silicone solvents.

Realstar produces the Multiwash machine, which offers wetcleaning as well as drycleaning with GreenEarth and hydrocarbon solvents. However, it has not yet been imported into the UK.

Renzacci has produced the Puraclean multifunction machine, although at this stage it is not being actively promoted in the UK.

All of the above demonstrates that there is a wide choice for drycleaners when looking to upgrade equipment in order to meet the new emission regulations. There is no doubt that upgrading to new machinery is expensive but, because of the developments made by manufacturers to make the machines more time and energy efficient, it can result in real long-term savings.