DFD Innovating in Upcycling

In late January, ETSA, represented by its Communications Coordinator, Nikolas Schulze-Makuch toured DFD's laundry for restaurants and its "Upcy", Upcycling facility on the outskirts of Copenhagen in Denmark. The visit began with a tour by the manager of the DFD laundry for restaurants, Martin Hansen. Mr Hansen explained the laundry's commitment to quality and esteemed reputation within Copenhagen's dining culture. He also spoke extensively on employee retention at the laundry and how, by providing training, understanding and integration (through, for example, Danish language courses),  the laundry is able to boast a highdegree of staff retention and employee satisfaction. 

Following the tour of the laundry, ETSA saw the "Upcy" facility (which is a 5 minute walk up the road from the laundry) and were greeted by the CEO of DFD, Anders Thorgaard. He explained the business model of Upcy, which revolves around the concept of "Zero Waste." When a textile item (be it an apron, chef's uniform, table cloth, etc.) is no longer deemed to be of satisfactory quality for the customers, it is brought to Upcy and then upcycled into a new item. These new items can be anything from dishclothes, to laptop cases to jackets and more! These new items are then resold and reused. If fibers from these clothes are not fit for being worn anymore, they are even upcycled and become high quality tables and furniture!

Every day, 1 ton of textile items are sent to Upcy from all the DFD laundries for upcycling. In the past three years, Upcy has upcycled over 3,6 million textile items. They have also prevented over 1,7 million kilograms of Co2 from being released and saved over 880 million liters of water. The facility has also prevented countless tons of cotton and other material from being extracted. The Upcy facility is yet one more example of the inherent circularity and commitment to sustainability within our industry. ETSA would like to extend a hearty thank you to the whole DFD team! If you'd like to know more about the Upcy facility, click here.