Cleaning Green at Johnsons

Protecting the environment has always been a top priority for Johnsons Cleaners. From GreenEarth® to our carbon footprint, here’s how we’re building a better, more sustainable future.

Our environmental responsibilities

Environment

With over 140 shops, we have a responsibility to understand the impact our business and shops have on the environment. 

Sustainability

We’re committed to using our influence to build a more sustainable future on the high street and every other aspect of our business.

Carbon Neutral

We have joined the British Retail Consortium’s commitment to be a Net Zero Carbon business by 2040. 


Our sustainability report

To help us find the best opportunities for positive change, Small World Consulting produced a detailed report on the Timpson Group’s greenhouse gas footprint.

The report includes an assessment of the emissions produced by Johnsons Cleaners from 1st January to 31st December 2019: the last full year our business operated as usual before COVID-19. 

Our sustainability report

The report found that a significant portion of Johnsons' carbon footprint came through the use of gas and electricity, due to the amount of large machinery our shops use on a daily basis. 

The Timpson Group's entire GHG footprint was calculated at 60,470 tonnes tcO2e. Johnsons was responsible for approximately 94% of all gas consumption and 45% of all electricity consumption, due to the large amounts of energy used by our machinery. 


Our “cleaning green” mission

Although the dry cleaning process will always involve large machinery, it’s our mission to find new ways to improve and implement fresh energy-saving strategies. This is what we’re doing to tackle our carbon footprint and ensure our business is less of a burden on the environment.


Reducing our gas and electricity consumption

  • Since 2019, 18 of our dry cleaning shops have stopped using gas, while those remaining are being audited for newer, more energy-efficient boilers.
  • We’re keen to reduce the day-to-day energy in our shops, so we’re encouraging colleagues to only switch machinery on when it’s in use, reducing lighting levels in warehouses and welcoming energy-saving ideas from our colleagues.

Sustainable dry cleaning with GreenEarth® 

  • We co-founded a new environmentally-friendly dry cleaning solution called GreenEarth®, which we use exclusively in all of our dry cleaning shops.
  • GreenEarth® offers a much kinder clean - it doesn’t chemically react with clothes, so this gentler cleaning also prolongs the life of fabrics and saves them from the landfill.
  • GreenEarth® is environmentally non-toxic, making it safe for the water, soil and air it comes into contact with.  

Reducing waste with our dry cleaning & clothing repair services

  • The very nature of our business allows us to increase the lifespan of clothing, furnishings and other fabrics, ultimately reducing household waste and saving the exhaustive resources needed for replacements.
  • As well as using up to 40% recycled plastic in our hangers and polyrobe, we have also made the polyrobe 25% thinner to use less plastic overall in our dry cleaning shops.
  • To reduce our use of plastic bags, all our shops offer reusable garment carriers to customers (carriers are free for Priority Club members).