Setting A Green Standard
The switch away from Solvent K4 and other hazardous chemicals at Fishman’s has been a game changer.
I sincerely feel that there was a need to distance our company from other drycleaning companies in Calgary. In this ever changing social and economic market that we live in, Fishman’s could no longer afford to sit still. My father Benny was very respected amongst his peers in this industry. He elevated the level of class and service in this business. Fishman’s has always been a leader in the drycleaning business and it was time to relead the industry to change for the better. There is a stigma attached to drycleaning as a dirty industry. The environmental push in society has made some positive impact on our business. Some drycleaners have moved away from perc (a known carcinogen), to more “environmentally friendly” solvents. Most in Calgary use something called Solvent K4 as an alternative to perc. Yet, it is still a solvent, still creates industrial waste, still is reused hundreds of times (can and does build up bacteria), and still leaves chemical residue in your clothes. Yet we call this “Green” only because there is no standard in our industry to what “green” means. Fishman’s made the switch away from all solvents and I feel that clothes are much cleaner, softer, brighter and actually clean, with no chemical residue on your clothes or near your skin. Our entire staff is ecstatic with the changes.
These advances have lead me to think of “what’s next”? Since there is no meaning to the term “Green” in our industry, why not help create a standard? I am lucky to have a power engineer that works along side of me daily. His name is Kevin Tailleur. If you speak to anyone in Alberta about Kevin Tailleur, he is recognized as the best in the business. I am fortunate to have him with Fishman’s exclusively for the past 5 years. This Solvent Free change has pushed us to examine our operations further. Whatever we do has to benefit the customer, the staff, the environment and hopefully not adversely affect the bottom line. Our next task at hand (which is currently in the process), is to filter and recycle as much water as we can. Our goal is to cut our water usage by 60% and to use natural filtration to clean the water back to a reusable state. Our hold tanks are now in place and we are close to completing our engineering of how the system will work and keep up to needs. The recycled water will also then be preheated for the next usage, thus cutting down the amount of boiler pressure required to heat our water. These win-win situations are exactly what Fishman’s needs to differentiate itself from the others. We are working hard to innovate and search for solutions – we are determined to be the best. The public deserves to know that there are companies trying to make a real difference, not just claim it. Fishman’s is one of those companies.
