National Clothesline

Where do all the hangers go? According to one source, approximately 3.5 billion wire hangers get tossed into U.S. landfills annually.

Perhaps more disconcerting is the fact that about 80 percent of what Americans throw away is actually recyclable, according to the Environmental Protection Agency.

The Drycleaning and Laundry Institute hopes put a dent in those numbers for the better.

The association has announced its new DLI Cleaners Care Hanger Recycling Program with a goal of making sure that 10 million fewer hangers wind up in American landfills in 2012.

The new national program will ask DLI members to recycle their hangers and track the amount in an effort to prevent waste and save money while generating positive publicity for the industry.

In order to meet the goal of 10 million, DLI would need 1,000 cleaners each recycling 200 hangers a week.

“This program is designed to help the environment, customers and cleaners,” said DLI CEO Mary Scalco. “Two-thousand-and-twelve is our first year with this program and we’re shooting for 10 million fewer hangers in landfills. That’s 300 tons of steel. We want to see that number grow as awareness of the program spreads.”

“We know that many drycleaners already recycle hangers. It just makes good sense to do so,” added Jon Meijer, membership director for DLI.

“Now we’re asking cleaners to track the numbers of hangers they reuse or recycle and report it as part of this program. By working together and tracking our results, we can monitor the program’s contribution to a greener planet,” Meijer said.

Cleaners who sign up for the program will be asked to reuse any hangers whenever possible and to recycle unusable ones with local steel scrapyards. Participants will also be expected to keep an estimated count of the hangers by number and the scrap by weight so those figures can be added to the grand total.

DLI plans to eventually submit those totals to the national media. The association will also help provide local publicity support for participants throughout the year along with in-store promotional materials provided in digital form.

Cleaners will have the option to print the posters at whatever size they prefer and display them in their stores to help raise public awareness of the effort.

Consumers will be encouraged to help by bringing in all of their unneeded hangers to a participating DLI Cleaners Care drycleaners for recycling.

The program is open to DLI members only. However, it doesn’t cost anything to participate. Instead, it will likely help cleaners save money in the long run.

The association estimates that, by using one less box of hangers per week, cleaners will save about $25. That adds up to a total savings of $1,300 throughout the year.

To take part in the program, DLI members can register online in the member’s only section located at DLIonline.org or by calling Fran Johnson at (800) 638-2627.

DLI will have a web site dedicated to the recycling program at www.DLIcleanerscare.org. Information is also available on the DLI web site, www.dlionline.org.