“There are resulting more than 2.5 billion tonnes of waste every year in the European Union”. It is just the opening topic of what was recently stated in the plenary session of the European Parliament that explains how crucial, or more correctly said, how much important it is, to urgently face the issue of the circular economy, which will have major consequences for the future of the planet.
This means to move away from the traditional economical pattern demand-supply, based on the production-use-disposal cycle without reuse. This extends the life cycle of the products, helping to minimise the waste. Once the product has completed its functionality, the materials from its composition are in fact reintroduced, where there is the possibility, into the economic cycle.
Emphasising that the service provided by an industrial laundry, it is fully fitting into the recycling and reuse framework, reducing the waste, a process that can be enhanced by the support of a partner like Christeyns, has a high impact in the supply chain.
In fact, the solutions adopted for having less impact on the generated waste and for adding value to the useful life of the product are manifold and come in different fields of application:
• the production of more eco-friendly chemicals that are easier to be disposed;
• reduced water consumption;
• reduced energy consumption.
Regarding the chemicals development, the core of the provided service, with less environmental impact on the global disposal system, we are making reference to the possibilities offered by the lists of components banned by the various ISO 14024 labels.
Christeyns has been offering a wide range of products and systems certified according to these labels (Puresan EU Ecolabel, Nordic Swan Ecolabelled products, etc.) for at least a decade, placing itself at the forefront in this context. On the same line with the products, there is the logistics, with a considerable polluting impact, as well.
In fact, in accordance with the green expectations of the future, Christeyns is offering:
• the possibility of delivery in tanks, that reduce the amount of packaging to be disposed;
• the possibility of reusing the empty packaging.
Are products conceived with more concentrated formulas, reducing the delivery loads, as the washing requires lower dosages; while being more eco-sustainable, and using less water in the washing process (more rinseable and mixable) being more efficient and reducing like this the steps of the traditional process. Of course, to ensure an effective real-time control of the systems, Christeyns offers fully digitalised dosing plants with remote control and instant check of the operating conditions.
These facilities are meeting the 4.0 requirements.
Reduced water consumption
The second power step of the reduction system designed by Christeyns, consists in the reduction of the water consumption. These products, combined with the most advanced application knowledge, contributed to the development of washing and processing systems, like Puresan or Compact, with significant water savings, up to 2 l/kg of fresh water used in the continuous batch washer or less than 10 l/kg in the high spin washing machine (without recovery tank).
The innovative Hydro system equipped with a MBR biological purification module plus a RO filtration module, is completing the ones mentioned above, allowing the waste water to be purified and recovered by up to 80% for the next washing, significantly reducing the water inlet.
Reduced energy consumption
First of all, the systems and the products mentioned above are already effectively working from 40°C, significantly revolutionising a traditional washing system. Considering that for every m3 of water, only 1°C saved for the heating, means 1000 kcal of reduced energy, 1,7 kg less steam in the boiler, and 0,12 Nm3 less methane consumption, with all that this entails in terms of waste and costs.
Less is more, this is the philosophy that stands behind the most advanced energy recovery systems: solutions like Heat-X Energo heat exchangers, suitable for optimally managing the heat exchange from the laundry water and/or Steam-X re-evaporators suitable for reducing the flash of the steam outlet, recovering a big amount of the heat contained, upgrading the production facilities with cutting-edge equipment for driving the company towards a successful management. •
Detergo Magazine, Number 7/8, July/August 2022
