Sunshine Linen Services has always explored ways to save water. As the business grew, washer extractors were used more, prompting owner Robert Herz to investigate water efficient technologies. One innovative solution was using ozone as a cleaning agent in washer extractors.

Sunshine carried out a four week ozone technology trial focusing on a 90 kg washer extractor. A sub-meter monitored the water flow into the washer extractor for two weeks before introducing ozone and using it for two weeks. This showed a remarkable 42% reduction in water used for each kilogram of linen.

In addition to water savings, the trial achieved promising results for energy savings, chemical use and commercial business factors.

‘Our aim was to see if we could copy the cleaning performance of a traditional hot wash formula, and take advantage of the water, energy and production economies promised by ozone. We determined that this was possible,’

‘These results suggest that using ozone technology on all 11 washer extractors could save about eight million litres of water a year,’ Robert said.

The trial helped Sunshine Linen and the EDC Business Program understand the potential for ozone technology use in the laundry sector. Both are keen to explore further trials together to continue to save water.