Green is the New Black 

THERE ARE RELATIVELY FEW COMPANIES THAT HAVE NOT MADE AT LEAST A CURSORY EFFORT TO IMPROVE THEIR ENVIRONMENTAL CREDENTIALS, BUT FOR SOME FRANCHISES GREEN IS AT THE VERY HEART OF THEIR DAY TO DAY OPERATIONS. PAUL GOLDEN REPORTS

Concern for the health of the planet is at an all time high and nowhere is that more apparent than in the franchising industry where consumers are increasingly becoming more supportive of businesses that take their environmental responsibilities seriously. This is a trend that looks set to continue and a whole raft of businesses have responded to this by producing ecofriendly products and services to a growing evirnomentally savvy audience. And the franchise industry has been quick to respond. One of the sectors that has embraced the

green concept enthusiastically is the cleaning industry (particularly dry cleaning and carpet and upholstery cleaning) where companies have started employing non-toxic solutions that are not only safer, but have a gentler effect on fabrics. For example, Chem-Dry has developed a solution that employs millions of microscopic cleaning bubbles. The carbonating solutions penetrate deep into the base of the carpet, literally exploding dirt and grime off the fibre's surface, explained John Green of Chem-Dry Ireland. Chem Dry's hot carbonated extraction system (which is approved by the Carpet & Rug Institute) uses about one-tenth of the moisture of traditional ‘steam' cleaners and there are no soaps, detergents or harsh chemicals required. "Because the bubbles do the work for us, we do not need to use gallons of soapy cleaning chemicals that other cleaners or do-it-yourself machines rely on so much. Soapy residues attract dirt like a magnet, causing your carpet to get dirty again faster than ever and the more times they are cleaned the worse they get." Many people assume that the best way to clean is to soak their carpet and suck the water back out, the method commonly known as steam cleaning, he added, warning that this approach may have some serious drawbacks."Unlike our process, steam cleaning frequently uses high pressure that forces water down through the carpet backing straight to the pad. This leads to buckets of water that can be left behind, trapping soapy, dirt-attracting residue deeply imbedded in the carpet, creating the risk of reappearing spots and a potential breeding ground for mould and bacteria." Green added that there are still a limited number of Chem-Dry franchise areas available in Ireland.

The ink cartridge franchising industry is another area where environment consciousness has had a major impact. It is estimated that around the world, dozens of printer cartridges are thrown into landfills every minute and on average a cartridge takes around 450 years to decompose. The potentially devastating impact of such practices has led to the creation of franchise businesses offering to refill and reuse printer ink cartridges. In September 2007 Nik Healy and Niall McConnell founded Cartridge Green Ireland. They now have nine stores (including the most recent addition in Lucan) and hope to open two more over the summer. As Healy explained, while the initial focus was on cartridge refilling, the company has launched two new services aimed at the wider office supplies market. "Cartridge refilling is our core business but we have introduced two new services. The first of these is a professional printing service targeted at small offices/home offices or people in business who want to print professional stationery or promotional material." The company has partnered with a large printing company in Dublin, for which it acts as an agent. Healy expects the service to "add a huge chunk of business to what we are doing." "We have developed a suite of services for home offices and small businesses," he continued. "Cartridge refilling is a very green industry, so once the cartridge can no longer be refilled we recycle it. The response from consumers has been very positive because most of the time being green costs money - the nice thing about what we do is that it produces huge savings." There have been suggestions from some sources that the quality of a refilled cartridge is well below that of a new unit and that the print quality is not sufficiently high. While the co-founder of Cartridge Green accepts that refilled cartridges work at about 99 per cent of the quality and yield of a new cartridge, he says he is upfront with customers about this. "You have to take into account the huge cost savings that come with refilling and offset this against the very small loss in page yield. The technology we use is very important - we create an environment as close to the original equipment manufacturer as possible and are working hard to improve the quality of these cartridges." Healy and McConnell set up the business because they had experience in the industry and felt they could do it better. "Franchising occurred to us early in the process, but we intend to have our own managed stores as well so we can keep in touch with our customers and what their experiences are." They describe the Dublin cartridge refilling market as "very under-served" and plan to open at least another 10 stores in Dublin and expand the nationwide network to 25 outlets over the next two years. "We have seen this business done the wrong way and we are determined that no one will damage our brand, so we work very hard to get the right franchisees on board," explained Healy. "We help them secure premises, work with them in their dealings with the banks and provide them with three weeks training while the stores are being fitted out and branded. I then spend the first week and the third week in the store with them." In addition to its expansion plans in Ireland, Cartridge Green is looking for master franchisees abroad. Having received a number of enquiries the company is already taking to candidates in the UK and while they are unlikely to come on board in 2008, the plan is to have some signed up by this time next year. The company is also keen to further promote its green credentials by seeking like-minded partners to create an association of companies, ranging from home heating systems suppliers to energy auditors to recycling operators. "Our customers are already conscious of the benefits of recycling, so it makes sense to get more green products and services in front of them," concluded Healy.

Other cartridge refilling companies have supported environmentally friendly initiatives. For example, in 2005 Cartridge World (which has more than 40 stores in Ireland) created a campaign called ‘Plant a Tree. Not a Cartridge' to plant 6000 trees at 28 woodland sites across the UK. An in-store loyalty card scheme ran during the campaign with customers receiving a stamp every time they refilled or remanufactured existing inkjet and toner cartridges. Peter Hendron from Cartridge World Belfast reckoned that in the first six months of the campaign more than two million cartridges were diverted from landfill. There are many other ways in which franchises are reflecting the increase of environmental concerns of customers. Working on the principal that where there is muck there is brass, a number of franchises are pushing natural, organic, eco-friendly and/or pesticide-free products. Spearheaded by prominent organic lawn care companies in the US, the ‘green franchising' movement has been extremely successful in earning appreciation from different environmental groups. Whether by creating natural fertilizers or by introducing integrated pest management systems, these franchises are promoting the idea that you can create a beautiful patch of earth without damaging the eco-system that surrounds it. Besides incorporating organic-based fertilisers and other such biodegradable products in their business systems, these franchises are trying relentlessly to make the public aware of the hazards of pesticide usage. Sea kelp, corn gluten and sugar beet are some of the natural ingredients being used to make environmentally friendly fertilisers. For many years generators were the only power source that was available to the mobile coffee industry. Last year, mobile café van franchise Cafe2U developed and introduced a clean, silent, energy efficient inverter power system that is completely independent of the vehicle. The new system creates no emissions and runs completely silent all day long.

A rather more bizarre initiative can be found in the US, where MJKL Enterprises (which operates more than 50 Carl's Jr fast food franchises in Arizona) is re-using its vegetable oil in the company's vehicles. The company has promised to run its entire fleet on a mix of diesel and waste vegetable oil by 2010. MJKL said it has already converted 20 per cent of its vehicles to run on waste vegetable oil, using a mix of diesel and vegetable oil that has undergone filtration and treatment and reckons it could save up to one hundred thousand dollars a year if all its vehicles were converted. Other franchises have formed so-called green advisory committees to address how their environmental stance is reflected in marketing, branding and other areas of operations.

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