Vaskemidler og Kemikalier på offentlige og private vaskerier
Miljø- og sundhedsvurdering

English Summary

The present report is a natural follow-up on the previous project "Environmental survey and environmental planning for the laundry industry" prepared for the Danish Environmental Protection Agency. The report concludes that the following issues should have first priority in the future work:

In the present project, a more thorough review is made on the following three issues

as well as a superior surveying on the water consumption. The energy consumption has been separately studied in the project "Trade energy analysis of laundries, financed by the Danish Energy Agency /2/.

The implementation of the project

The project has been carried out in four phases by DTI Environmental Management & LCA and DTI Clothing and Textiles in co-operation with the chemical suppliers DiverseyLever, Novadan, and Henkel-Ecolab.

Phase 1: Survey of the chemical consumption

In phase 1, the consumption of detergents and auxiliary chemicals of the Danish industrial laundry industry in 1996 has been surveyed. The survey took place

The information on the consumption of detergents given by the laundries agrees perfectly with the information from the chemical suppliers.

The distribution of the chemical consumption has been divided into the four main types of laundries:

The first three groups are characterised by the fact that at least 60% of the production is the characteristic laundry type.

A calculation of the mean consumption of chemicals has been made for each of the four laundry types of tensides, alkalis, phosphates, bleaching agents, acids, and softening agents.

Phase 2: Assessment of the potential environmental impact of detergents

Early in the process it was decided that the assessment of the potential environmental impact of the detergents and auxiliary chemicals was to be carried out by using a scoring tool based on a spreadsheet using existing systems for evaluation of the environmental impact of detergents.

Optimisation of the products

The scoring tool has been developed so that it is possible for the participating chemical suppliers to evaluate the potential environmental impact of the washing chemicals and when using the results to estimate which ingredients are the most critical and in what amount. The result may provide the basis for consideration of substituting certain chemicals in compounded products.

Optimisation of processes

Furthermore, the scoring tool can be utilised by industrial laundries in co-operation with the chemical supplier to evaluate the potential environmental impact (score) of the washing recipe. When using the results, it can be estimated whether a change of the recipe will worsen (worse score result) or improve (better score result) the potential environmental impact.

Phase 3: Survey of selected laundries

In order to decide whether the industrial laundries use detergents according to the recommendations of the chemical suppliers as far as use and amount of dosage, 9 laundries were chosen and asked to participate in an additional survey.

The chosen laundries widely represented the four mentioned laundry types and the chemical suppliers participating in the present project supplied three of the laundries each. When visiting each laundry the chemical consumption was thoroughly surveyed and the washing recipes were evaluated in accordance with the recommendations of the chemical supplier. Furthermore, the occupational health environment when handling the chemicals was looked into.

The result of the survey

The survey showed that to a certain extent the laundries used the detergents in accordance with the recommendations, however, several laundries used washing recipes with a larger chemical dosage than recommended. It is therefore possible to make an attempt to optimise the recipes with the purpose of reducing the environmental impact. Problems in the occupational health environment when handling the chemicals did not seem to be significant.

Phase 4: Attempt of optimisation

As a result of the first three phases of the project, phase 4 was carried out partly as an attempt to optimise one products and partly as an attempt to optimise one washing recipe. The attempts were partly to be used for testing the score system in practice and partly to be used as an example to show that it is possible to reduce the potential environmental impact as far as optimisation of products and recipes concerns.

Optimisation of products

Optimisation of products was made by changing a tenside, an ingredient in a detergent for working clothes, with a high environmental impact with an alternative with a less environmental impact. Subsequently, the change of the washing recipe was evaluated to establish whether the changes had any effect on quality of the product as far as the washing ability concerns.

Optimisation of recipes was carried out by optimising a strong/powerful washing process for white table cloths towards the less strong/powerful standard recipe of the chemical supplier. The change of the washing recipe was evaluated to establish whether the changes had any effect on quality of the product as far as the washing ability concerns.

The results of tests showed that it is possible to reduce the environmental impact by optimisation of products as well as optimisation of recipes.

Conclusion of the project

The completed project has thoroughly surveyed the consumption and the consumer pattern of tensides, chlorine bleaching agents and other auxiliary chemicals used in the Danish industrial laundries in 1996. To evaluate these detergents’ potential environmental impact on the waste water, a new scoring model the "DTI model" has been developed based on the existing environmental label systems and environmental score systems. The model takes the varying level of soiled clothes treated at industrial laundries into consideration which separates it from the known models.

The evaluation is divided into three categories: lightly soiled, medium soiled and very soiled clothes. The model is usable for evaluating products as well as washing recipes. Tests on optimisation carried out on one specific detergent for work clothes and on one specific washing recipe for white table cloths clearly show that the "DTI model" is usable as a tool for reduction and for attempt to reduce of the potential environmental impact on the waste water from industrial laundries. However, it must be emphasised that the laundries can only use the score system in co-operation with their chemical suppliers.