Cintas works hard to protect the environment and conserve natural resources at our facilities across North America. Through our commitment to strict compliance and innovative technologies, we seek to ensure that Cintas meets or exceeds regulatory standards set for the laundry facilities.

Water Quality and Conservation
“Cintas wash water complies with local environmental standards 99 percent of the time.”

“We are confident that Cintas' “99 percent” compliance standard is the best environmental record in the industry.”

“This record is based on data from the Sierra Club.”

Background:
Cintas conducts 15,373 wastewater tests every year as part of our requirements under various local discharge permits. This is calculated by totaling the number of facilities that discharge wastewater, times the number of parameters for which we test, times the frequency with which tests are conducted throughout the year.

Over the course of the last six years, Cintas has conducted 92,238 wastewater tests.

The Sierra Club has presented information that Cintas waste water has violated local standards 1,003 times in testing over the past six years.

Even with 1,003 violations over the past six years, that means that our wastewater was in compliance 91,235 times – or 99 percent of the time.

Although we have no information from the Sierra Club about our competitors' compliance practices, we believe our “99 percent” environmental compliance record is the best in the industry.

The Sierra Club also has data showing approximately 1,000 occasions in which Cintas wash water exceeded surcharge thresholds – which are not permit violations. This only means that Cintas must pay a surcharge for exceeding certain permit criteria, such as water volume/quantity guidelines.

We currently recycle up to 70 percent of the wash water at many of our laundry operations, helping preserve natural resources and diminishing our need for intake water.

We have invested more than $4 million on research in the pursuit of a “zero-discharge” water-recycling technology, and continue our work as an industry leader in this area.

We spent $5 million on capital expenditures in 2002 on wastewater treatment technologies that further remove soil and other materials from our customers’ uniforms before water is discharged to municipal treatment facilities, according to permits. We are also a leader in the development of new environmentally friendly wash formulas to further improve wastewater quality for local municipalities.

We have been a leader in working with federal, state and local agencies in wastewater issues, and continue to work closely with local municipal public works systems on water-quality standards that are individually set to reflect local conditions and needs.

Energy Conservation
Through new innovations like heated-air recycling, we have cut in half the electricity once required to complete the laundry process.

Reuse and Recycling
We incorporate extensive recycling programs throughout our facilities, and utilize the latest technologies in product movement and shipment to reduce the need for packaging and waste.

We donate clean used clothing to charities that help people in developing countries, and donate used equipment for training and jobs-skills programs.

Environmental Compliance
Through our internal Environmental Auditing Program, each Cintas rental location is audited each year to ensure compliance with applicable regulations. Cintas is also a Charter Member of the Laundry Environmental Stewardship Program, a voluntary program initiated to improve the environmental performance in the laundry industry.

Corrective Action
In and around our facilities, particularly older facilities acquired in recent transactions, Cintas continues to take a leadership position with government agencies and municipalities to develop remediation and redevelopment plans that improve local conditions and protect local communities and our partners. We continue to work closely with regulatory agencies on these projects.

Because of the nature of our business, our wastewater quality is directly related to the constituents that soil our customers’ clothing – like greases, oils, dirt, etc. – and wastewater standards vary greatly between individual communities. We have a stringent compliance and investigation process to address problems as they are detected, and to correct mishaps as they occur. We work closely with our customers and local municipalities to develop solutions for compliance with local standards.

As our culture of accountability and responsibility dictates: Whenever we learn of a problem, we fix it.