August 01, 2011

Instead of finding their clean clothes wrapped in brown kraft paper, students will receive their laundered clothes in a canvas bag.

by Cathryn Westra

Since 1920 Davidson students have received laundry service as part of their tuition and fees. It was originally implemented for "hygienic and other reasons" when the school was all male. The system has operated effectively ever since, with occasional changes to accommodate changing times, such as enrollment of female students and installation of self-service machines in the main laundry building and residence halls.

Davidson's growing interest in environmental sustainability is now prompting another change in laundry service. Sophomore Blake Candler '13 and former laundry manager John Barnhart brought to the college's attention that the laundry's long-standing practice of using brown parcel paper to wrap clean clothes just doesn't cut it - so the laundry has cut it!

Beginning with the fall semester, students will drop off their laundry in re-useable canvas bags that will be provided to them. First-year students will receive their bags at orientation. Upperclass students will receive their bags when they pick up their first clean load of clothes during the fall semester. If students lose or destroy their bags, they can purchase replacements. Each bag holds 20 pounds of laundry, which is about the amount students generally submit.

Barnhart noted that 55 percent of students, including 75 percent of first-year students, send their clothes to the laundry rather than using self-service machines. To wrap that amount of clean clothes required 175 paper rolls per year, or about ten miles worth.

In addition to saving paper, Barnhart hopes the switch will allow for more efficiency. He expects laundry employees will be able to load the bags more quickly than wrapping it. He said, "We do 9,000 pounds of student laundry per week. If we can save 30 seconds per parcel...that time adds up."

Barnhart acknowledged that the bags will be more costly, but said the college is willing to incur the extra cost in support of the environment.

Davidson is a highly selective independent liberal arts college for 1,900 students located 20 minutes north of Charlotte in Davidson, N.C. Since its establishment in 1837 by Presbyterians, the college has graduated 23 Rhodes Scholars and is consistently regarded as one of the top liberal arts colleges in the country. Through The Davidson Trust, the college became the first liberal arts institution in the nation to replace loans with grants in all financial aid packages, giving all students the opportunity to graduate debt-free. Davidson competes in NCAA athletics at the Division I level, and a longstanding Honor Code is central to student life at the college.

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