Crown Uniform & Linen Service

Sustainable Business Practices Are Important To Everyone

Crown Uniform and Linen Service understands the importance of incorporating environmentally friendly business practices into our uniform services, medical scrubs services, and linen services. We are committed to the development of sustainable processes that allow us to provide outstanding uniform and linen services in ways that lessen environmental impact.

Plato Spilios, VP of Crown, says "Over the past year, our efforts have included issuing individualized coffee mugs to all of our employees, installing LED lighting, replacing our delivery fleet with "clean" diesel vehicles, and investing in a ceramic water filtration system that is saving our Boston Plant five million gallons of water a year. And although we have made great strides, we recognize there are other opportunities to continuously improve our sustainability practices."

Water Filteration

Crown utilizes the Norchem Ceramic Filtration System which lowers water, chemical, and energy usage while laundering to the highest OSHA and HLAC standards. This wastewater treatment and water recycling system is fully automated, chemical free, and specifically engineered for laundry wastewater treatment and energy recovery. As one of only a few commercial laundries that's made an investment in a Norchem Ceramic Filtration System, Crown calculates its annual water consumption will be reduced by more than 4,680,000 gallons.

Water Conservation

In addition to improving Crown laundering processes, we have also installed low-flow faucet aerators and low-flow toilets throughout our facilities to further conserve water.

Crown Hanger Recycling Program

Crown's service representatives gather wire hangers on their routes and return them to our cleaning facilities where they are cleaned and reused, keeping unnecessary waste out of our communities landfills, eliminating unnecessary new hanger production and reusing perfectly good materials.

Recycling Decommissioned Uniforms and Linens

Crown is committed to providing only the best quality uniforms and linens, so when they no longer pass our quality control standards, or when a particular style is discontinued, we decommission the product.

Crown linens and work uniforms find new life in community programs or as cleaning rags while medical uniforms and lab coats are donated to non-profit groups like the Red Cross and Doctors Without Borders.

Paper, Plastics, Metal Recycling

With help from the Sustainable Business Leader Program Crown Uniform and Linen switched to single-stream recycling. Single stream recycling allows you to collect all recyclables- plastics, glass, paper, cardboard, and metals all in the same bin. Combined with staff training on the new system, everything that can be recycled at Crown is now being recycled.

Reusables in the Workplace

One of the best ways to reduce waste in the workplace is to reduce waste from the point of generation. As a result, Crown decided to move away from single use disposable cups and mugs to reusable ones for all staff. Learning from others best practices, we established cool "Mug Walls" in our staff break areas where each staff person could hang their individual mug for easy reuse.

Polybag Reuse and Recycling

As a linen and uniform company it is difficult to get away from the now expected plastic poly-bag that helps to ensure hygenic delivery, so we had to think creatively to come up with solutions.

1) Crown offers a discount to customers who share our environmental commitment and opt-out of poly-bags.
2) Crown has switched to recycled content poly-bags to reduce the environmental impact of the poly-bags that are used.

Polybag Reuse and Recycling

Throughout the company's operations, Crown has committed to purchasing the greenest products available whenever possible. This includes our recycled poly-bags, biodegradable laundry detergents, green hand soap and cleaning products, recycled paper products, and soy-inks for professionally printed materials. In addition, Crown is exploring sustainable fabric uniforms as an alternative for clients looking to green their own operations.

Upgraded Lighting

Energy efficiency upgrades are a win-win for the bottom line and the environment. Over the years Crown has worked to reduce the company's energy use across all aspects of our operations including: installing super efficient T-5 and LED lighting throughout the plant, installing motion light sensors in hallways, conference rooms and other low-use areas, placing all office electronics on automated timers, and setting end-of-day policies regarding office shut-down.

Crown's Greener Fleet

With our service fleets traveling all around Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Southern Connecticut, transportation was an important focus area for Crown's sustainability work. To achieve our goals we replaced our delivery fleet with "clean" diesel vehicles, instituted a route management system that optimizes vehicle routes and tracks idling time, and set anti-idling policies for drivers. In addition, Crown is pursuing EPA Smartway Certification. (Also has MBTA pass subsidy or similar been started?)

Sustainability Partnerships

Last but not least, with support from the Sustainable Business Leader Program, Crown worked to integrate sustainability into all aspects of life at Crown Uniform and Linen. More than just one-time lighting upgrades and recycling programs, sustainability is a mind set and company culture and we wanted to be sure that everyone at Crown understood the changes made and the role of each individual in upholding Crown's sustainability mission. This integration included creating and sharing sustainability policies, establishing staff sustainability training for new and existing employees, communicating our sustainability efforts to the broader public and seeking ways for Crown to support the broader community in making sustainable change.