Sustainability in Laundry: Lightening the Load

Renegade sales rep Stacy Bauman freely admits her competition is hot. That’s

because, in her industry, and especially in California where she lives, “hot” is not a good thing. In her world, hot doesn’t mean attractive or successful. It refers to a laundry process that’s inefficient, dangerous, and damaging to the environment. In short, it means everything the Renegade Pro Clean line isn’t.

“People have been taught the only way to clean is hot, but we’re here to say that’s just not true,” said Bauman from San Francisco, where water and energy conservation are mandatory. “You can get the results you need without endangering the planet.” Wherever Bauman goes, her number-one talking point is safety. To the laundry technician. To the end user. To the rivers, streams, and oceans where all water eventually leads.

She points again and again to Renegade Pro Clean’s neutrality, to the fact that it’s neither acidic nor basic. It’s safe to the touch, effective without additional chemicals, clear rinsing, and fully biodegradable. It’s safe, in other words, because it’s sustainable.

With Renegade Pro Clean, Bauman said, “There’s nothing caustic, nothing corrosive. I’m not burning my customers.” With “hot” products, on the other hand, “If you leave them on your skin or in your clothing, you will end up with a rash, and it takes a lot of extra time to wash that stuff out.”

Bauman brings up time with good reason: because it matters. Because it’s more efficient, Renegade Pro Clean saves money even as it’s saving the Earth.

Wash cycles using Pro Clean and programmed by Renegade agents are 20 percent shorter and 50 percent more effective the first time. That translates to 30 to 40 percent less water usage and significant reductions in energy consumption and labor costs.

“If you think about all the times you’re filling and draining that tub, that’s a lot of water,” Bauman said. “Meanwhile, the fewer times you’re rinsing, the less electricity you’re using. Factory settings get you nowhere and take forever.”

Forever, of course, is way too long, especially in California, where reservoirs are dropping and water is growing scarcer by the minute.

Then again, it isn’t just westerners who need to be mindful. When it comes to conserving water and easing up on the environment, no can afford to keep doing laundry the same old way. That is to say, “hot.”

“People think they don’t play a big part,” Bauman said. “They think they don’t have any control. But with this product, you do. Once you get it going, you really see a difference.”

Written by Zachary Lewis