An Australian industrial linen cleaning business – cleaning and preparing about 120,000 tonnes of linen for health-care services annually – has drastically reduced its water use with the help of a new filtration system.
The national laundry business, and member of the Australian Water Association, Spotless, recently set out to establish water-sensitive operations in an effort to minimise water use and reduce its environmental impact.
Harley Oaten, Executive General Manager Laundries said the new filtration system was installed across its largest cleaning sites and is saving more than 290ML of water every year.
“We have implemented the water efficiency technology, Blue Ocean, in our major laundry facilities, amounting to significant water and energy savings, and transforming our laundry business,” he said.
The Blue Ocean filtration unit recycles water and optimises energy usage by harvesting water from specific parts of the wash cycle before filtering it. It then extracts heat during the cycle and applies it to other stages of the wash process.
“A number of water-saving and management initiatives introduced across several of our laundries, such as rainwater harvesting and new water-efficient washers, have additionally contributed to our water-saving results, accounting for a total reduction in overall water use across our business of more than 80%,” he said.
More than 290 million litres of water – equivalent to 116 Olympic swimming pools – is saved every year because of improved water efficiency at Spotless’ five laundries through the Blue Ocean technology.
The company’s Darra facility in Queensland has attained water-saving results that include an 86% reduction in water used per kilogram of linen, 1.5ML of rainwater harvested for use in washing, a 73% reduction in wastewater, and a 50% decrease in the amount of potable water applied to wash cycles.
“With water being a critical component of our laundry operations, water conservation is one of the biggest environmental challenges we face,” he said.
“As industry leaders, we need to be strategic and successful in reducing our environmental impact.”
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