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Saving cash and carbon


Advancing technology is making it easier than ever to make commercial linen last longer, conserving the world’s resources and saving money. David Midgley, Managing Director at Regenex, explains.


Making a conscious effort to get the most out of commercial linen is an easier prospect than it might appear. This is simply because there’s still so much room for improvement in most laundry, hospitality, and healthcare organisations.


Historically, these sectors have condemned tonne after tonne of perfectly good bedding, towels, tableware and staff uniforms, just because of stains or discolouring. However, things are changing, and many are now catching up with the reality that – thanks to advances in specialist processing – such items can be salvaged and returned to the system for many more washes to come.


Before 2020, the key driver for forging thriftier habits with linen in hospitality and healthcare was environmental. Companies were keen to reduce their carbon impact, and associated cost savings were simply an added benefit.


Eco credentials are still important, but the effects on industry of COVID-19 and Brexit have provided further reasons for reassessment. These include the rising costs associated with importing new linen, coupled with depleted budgets for topping up stock. So, more laundry and facilities managers than ever are looking to move away from wasteful habits.


Disposal is not the answer


The problems of fast fashion are riding high in public consciousness, with people finally thinking twice before they buy another pair of jeans, mindful of the impact on the environment. Such scrutiny has been slower to hit the commercial linen sector, but it’s only a matter of time before this happens – and savvier players have been starting to get ahead of this curve.


When we throw something away, discarded textiles end up as rags or in landfill – and certainly more of the latter in the


56 | COMMERCIAL LAUNDRY (https://ec.europa.eu/environment/waste/pdf/WASTE%20BROCHURE.pdf)


last year, with COVID-related disruptions to recycling still being resolved. Reuse is definitely a preferable option.


The EU’s hierarchy of waste advocates trying to minimise the manufacture of new resources – in this case, fresh textiles – as the best possible course of action for the environment.


Reusing linen of course cuts down on unnecessary production: every tablecloth or towel still in the system is one fewer to be reordered. This is particularly significant when you consider that every kilogram of new linen creates 8kg of carbon in its manufacture, amounting to 70% of that fabric’s lifelong carbon footprint. Only 30% is accounted for in subsequent washings, ironing, and transportation.


However, if linen is torn or ripped, options for bringing it back to a commercially useable standard are much more limited, and ragging can be its best-case destination.


Most stains can be removed


When items are simply blemished or discoloured, but otherwise strong and serviceable, in 2021 there is absolutely no need to discard them. Recently-developed technology, focused on opening fibres to remove marks, mean that the majority of stains – be they fake tan, food, rust, oil, mould or anything else – can be lifted from any given item. Linen that’s simply greying can be revived to hotel-quality white.


Where items cannot be successfully treated, dyeing or re- dyeing is an option.


An under-utilised solution


White towels typically start to lose their snowy perfection, or succumb to stains, long before they begin to wear out. Tough, polyester tableware supplied in a variety of hues will


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