Cinet, the European textile care association, will announce the full results of the findings at the 2011 Clean Show 6 – 9 June.

The benchmark studies on sustainability were commissioned by the Dutch trade organisations FTN, which represents the textile rental and laundry industries, and Netex, which represents the drycleaning sector.

The Netex study examined professional garment cleaning using perc, hydrocarbon, Polysiloxane D5 and wetcleaning and found these processes to be twice as environmentally friendly as domestic cleaning. It also predicted that professional processes would become even more sustainable as the use wetcleaning and biodegradable solvents grows and as recycling operations improve.

The two studies from FTN revealed that industrial laundering is up to three times more environmental friendly than domestic processes when cleaning workwear. On premise laundries had a score that was up to 2.4 times better, depending on the professionalism of the individual operation.

Cinet’s secretary general Peter Wennekes said all three studies demonstrated that professional textile care companies working to modern standards could be proud of their performance and offer their markets the best sustainable solutions.