Wash Cycle Laundry

Abstract

Introduction

Wash Cycle Laundry is a for-profit, triple bottom line, wash and fold delivery service in Philadelphia.This socially and environmentally responsible innovation, which opened in October of 2010, was founded by Maryland native Gabriel Mandujano. Mandujano has held leadership positions in several nonprofit organizations, and he has studied at several elite universities. His extensive background in the nonprofit sector helped him to identify what he believes is missing from the current workforce development systems in the United States. Although he believes these public agencies and nonprofit organizations do good and important work, he thinks the current way of doing things has substantial shortfalls that can only be made up in the private sector.Within the private sector, Mandujano sees the greatest opportunity for social impact in the low-end service economy.

The philosophy behind Wash Cycle Laundry (“WCL”) has been influenced by many different companies and organizations. Most notably, Mandujano has focused on the progressive management techniques of high-end companies like Google and Toyota. He uses similar methods at WCL to help his employees define their goals and begin the steps to achieving them. In this way Mandujano is preparing his employees for positions of greater responsibility, knowing that many of them will find those positions elsewhere.

Another passion of Mandujano’s is environmental conservation. One of his goals in starting Wash Cycle was to “green every step of doing laundry.”In order to accomplish this goal WCL uses highly water- and energy-efficient machines, and eco-friendly detergents produced locally in King of Prussia, PA. The most visible step Wash Cycle is taking for the environment is using an all-bicycle delivery fleet.Using bicycles allows WCL to avoid driving delivery trucks through Center City and West Philadelphia, which means no carbon dioxide emissions, no additional congestion (causing othervehicles to increase their carbon dioxide emissions), faster deliver times, and less overhead expense.

Despite taking so many steps to be socially and environmentally responsible, or maybe because of them, Wash Cycle is a highly competitive company. Their pricing structure is on par with other wash and fold delivery companies, and their quality of service is winning them accolades: they were recently featured in Philadelphia Magazine’s Best of Philly 2012 issue. As an employer, WCL is still quite small, but is doing big things for itsemployees. Of the five welfare-to-work participants hired by WCL, one left to pursue a Bachelor’s degree, one moved on to another job, and the remaining three are all taking on more and more responsibilities on their path from “job” to “career.”

As it is still very much a growing company, Wash Cycle Laundry’s social and environmental impacts are growing right along with it. The 5-10 year plan includes expanding to several big cities, hiring a few hundred employees, and generating millions of dollars in revenue. Mandujano recognizes that one company, even a very large company, can only do so much. The true measure of WCL’s impact will be its ability to affect change within the low-end service economy and beyond. By proving social and environmental innovations can be profitable, Mandujano hopes tochange the way the service economy manages its people and conducts its operations.