Bicycle Laundry Service Fits With Team Clean's Green Mission

Gabriel Mandujano, owner of Philadelphia’s Wash Cycle Laundry, got a call earlier this year from Team Clean inquiring about laundry servicing of microfiber mop heads and towels used at the Barnes Foundation museum.

“They said they needed some help getting some of their reusable janitorial products clean, and we were super excited to help them out,” Mandujano says.

The two-year-old company services a large area of Philadelphia with same-day and next-day pickup and delivery of up to 400 pounds of laundry in trailers with containers, hitched to the back of bikes. Many of its customers include restaurants and food service, but also include clients such as Team Clean. Staff on bikes pick up dirty microfiber at the Barnes daily, returning it clean the next day.

In some areas of the bustling city, it’s faster and easier to deliver by bicycle, Mandujano says — and a lot cheaper since it eliminates a lot of overhead costs and liabilities associated with operating a fleet of vehicles.

“We pride ourselves on our reliability, and our cost effectiveness,” he says. “The cool thing about bikes is they’re really green but they’re also cheaper to use than trucks in an urban area.”

At the laundry company’s headquarters, energy-star rated machines are used, as are green chemicals that are made locally.

To Donna Allie, this is just one more thing Team Clean can do to contribute to the sustainable partnership with the Barnes museum.

The partnership is also a great fit, as both companies have similar values, she says. Wash Cycle is socially responsible, green, local, minority-owned, and like Team Clean, it partners with nonprofits in a welfare-to-work program to hire people who could use a second chance. It now employs 15 people.

“They have very good service, they’re attentive, they think out of the box — they’re a good fit for us, and a good fit for our customers,” Allie says. “It’s all about forward thinking, and keeping up with the times.”

Check out the CleanTips video podcast featuring Mandujano at CleanLink.com/cleantips.