Miranda Peterson/Daily News

Greg Hopkins is up to his eyeballs in about 50,000 pounds of laundry each week about 2.5 million pounds a year. He doesnt mind. Its part of his job as director of laundry and linen services of Central Laundry, which takes care of the laundry needs of The Medical Centers facilities in Bowling Green, Scottsville and Franklin, their doctors and ambulance services. We do everything white goods, surgery green goods. Ive got a good crew, he said of his 19 employees. Im pleased with them. They make my numbers look good. Central Laundry doesnt look like your average Laundromat. Trucks bring the laundry to an area where its weighed and sorted. The clothes then go conveyor belt-style into huge, computer-operated washing machines. We use a detergent that we make by combining chemicals, Hopkins said. Its four times stronger than what is used at home. Next, the clothes go to the big dryers. Many of the sheets go through a sheet iron, which works fast to get the job done, Hopkins said. Every 3 to 3 1/2 seconds, a sheet comes out dry on this other end, he said. The machine presses, dries and folds them. A small group of employees also does some folding, and they are fast, too, Hopkins said. They can fold about 700 towels or 1,500 washclothes in an hour, he said. Some items are packed by hand into surgery packs, which contain washables surgeons need, including cotton, towels, washclothes and other items. We clean them here and they are sterilized at The Medical Center, Hopkins said. The clean items are weighed again and sent back out to the medical facilities in trucks. The carts that are used to move dirty clothes are cleaned thoroughly before being used again, Hopkins said. We try to keep the dirty away from the clean as much as possible, he said. Hopkins said he enjoys the atmosphere of the laundry even though temperatures can reach a sweltering 115 degrees in the summer. Its an open atmosphere for the employees. Some people feel more comfortable because its not in the public, he said. I like working with people in the laundry behind the scenes. I like working with people here. When Hopkins says work, he really means it. Its not uncommon to see him working side-by-side with his employees as well as dealing with the annual budget and doing my own secretarying. I work in the plant. Im a hands-on director, he said. Im behind the iron or whatever it takes to get the job done. Hopkins has been director of Central Laundry since 1991. Before that, he managed two dry cleaning stores in Paducah. Before that, he worked in nearly all the Big B Cleaners in Bowling Green. Once I was in dry cleaning, so I was already a little familiar with this when I got here, he said. Hopkins said he couldnt imagine doing another type of job. Ill probably stay with it, he said.