Help Wanted at Local “Green” Laundromat

Sunday, July 5, 2009
Topics: Economy, Environment
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One of America’s dirtiest jobs is getting “greener.” It’s the cleaning of laundry from hospitals and nursing homes. Now, the industrial strength washers and dryers used to rid sheets and gowns of germs, blood and other soiling that can spread infection… are more energy efficient and use a lot less water. And in Cleveland these next generation machines are at the center of a budding opportunity for at least a few new jobs. ideastream® intern Ida Lieszkovszky has this report.

Workers are putting the finishing touches on some pretty huge washers and driers at Evergreen Cooperative Laundry in Glenville. Each one is the size of a small closet, and combined they’re about 10 times the size of a normal washer and dryer in a home. 

When the laundromat opens in a little over a month, Jim Anderson will be the CEO and general manager. He’s always excited to show off the massive machines. 

…and over here this is the conveyer belt that’s going to move the soiled laundry into the press…

Anderson says Evergreen will be competing primarily with in-house laundry services at hospitals and nursing homes.

Anderson: There are very good competitors out there and we have to be better than them.

And the Cooperative does have an edge.  Unlike older industrial laundries it will be more energy efficient and have a smaller carbon footprint than any competitor in the city, and possibly the state. 

Anderson: Where they use 3 to 3.5 gallons of water today to do 1 pound of laundry, we’re going to use .8 gallons.

So far, the laundromat has three clients on board - all nursing homes and is in conversation with some hospitals.

There’s another aspect to the Evergreen Cooperative Laundry that gives it an advantage and makes it different.  It got 5.8 million dollar start-up money in loans and grants from
the city of Cleveland, several banks and businesses, and the Cleveland Foundation.

Lillian Kuri, a program director at the Cleveland Foundation, says the laundromat is the first of several renewable energy projects it’s helping to fund that center on 6 neighborhoods in the city with a total of 40,000 residents. Investing in the renewable energy sector is not only good for the environment Kuri says it’s…

Kuri: the only way to revitalize the neighborhoods and the region.

She’s referring to Ohio’s devastated economy and Cleveland’s especially high rate of unemployment.

The expectation is that people from the neighborhoods will be hired for many of these jobs. They could certainly use it - the medium income is only $18 thousand a year in that area.  In fact, since the renewable energy businesses will be co-ops, they will all eventually be owned in part by the employees. Here’s how it would work.

Kuri: Each employee starts as a temp in year 1. In 8 – 9 years they’ll have about $ 65,000 worth of equity.

She’s says that’s a life changing amount of money for many of these employees. Evergreen Cooperative Laundry will employ 6 people to start. But as business picks up, they hope to hire as many as 50 workers. Keith Parkham has been hired to be maintenance supervisor. He had a full time job before, but he figured the laundromat was a new opportunity. Plus, he’s inspired by the green emphasis of the project.

Parkham: I want to leave something for our kids.

He’ll start off making $15 an hour. If the first 6 months go well, he’ll be invited by Anderson and the operations manager to join the co-op and start to build some equity in the company, albeit a pretty small stake.  For 3 years, 15 cents will be taken out of his hourly paycheck to help pay for his employee share.

Parkham says the first six months are a sort of test to see how dedicated workers are. If they chose not to buy into the company…

Parkham: There’s the door. I know that’s a crude way of saying it but…

That’s right, if they chose not to join the co-op, employees will be let go.

Parkham: if you own something you want it to be the best.

Parkham says this is the reason he’s confident the co-op laundromat will succeed, despite the difficult economic times.

More In This Series...

This feature is part of the series Help Wanted.