TSA AUTUMN CONFERENCE UK “Things aren‘t great – but they aren’t catastrophic”
The Textile Services Association Conference had a record attendance of 176 delegates, meeting at St Georges Park Hilton, Burton on Trent, over 21-22 October. According to TSA chair Charlie Betteridge in his welcome speech this new record attendance is proof that the new format, introduced last year, works. However, his summing up of the current economic situation was its is “not as bad as it could be”.
“So, where are we one year on from the last conference?” asked Betteridge. “In many ways we are in a similar place. Then the Employment Rights Bill had just been revealed, scrapping zero hours contracts. Not good for us, but a bigger problem for hospitality. The Budget was just around the corner and then, as now, we question whether Chancellor Rachel Reeves really knows what she is going to do. The hike in NI employer contributions was a big problem for us and our customers. National Living Wage increases now mean the UK has the fourth highest minimum wage in the world (12% higher than Germany).
“Hotels are actually doing well interms of occupancy (London 86.3% in September), up since last year and RevPAR also significantly up, so earning a lot more money (but try getting 5p more for a bedpack). Volumes, however, are down as hotels are encouraging guests not to have daily housekeeping.”
Betteridge reported that healthcare is, surprisingly, also experiencing lower volumes within existing customers. He also said that workwear is stagnant as it reflects the economic situation – and a lot of caution.
He continued: “UK GDP growth looks not too bad but GDP per capita (taking into account of immigration) is the lowest in G7. We are though, the highest in the G7 for inflation (3.8%). Wage inflation is running at 4.6%, so Prime Minister Keir Starmer may claim the man and woman in the street are better off. They don’t feel it, though, and thinking twice about a weekend away or a meal out. More to the point, it all results in higher costs for business.
“Debt interest last year was £105 billion. This is not sustainable and Reeves must break the Labour manifesto and increase personal tax as kicking business in the teeth again will only lead to further
problems. Low productivity is a problem but to encourage investment (and attract foreign companies), business needs support, not higher costs,” said Betteridge. “Getting away from the doom and gloom loop, and in summary, things aren‘t great but they are not catastrophic and perhaps the new normal.”
Summing up, Betteridgesaid: “The positive side is that the TSA continues to do a fantastic job with a huge array of webinars and courses on all sorts of subjects (technical, HR, legal and general topics).”
Upcoming EPR battle means it is time for intense lobbying
Arthur Linssen of the Dutch TSA presented a paper on Extended Producer Responisibilty (EPR) that had the shock factor for delegates who may have let this piece of EU legislation pass them by. Until now. “This new legislation will come to UK.,” warned Linssen who has a key role in working work closely with other national TSAs in Europe on the legislation. “For a producer putting textiles on the market for the first time, their responsibility is to ensure 50% has to be made suitable for reuse and or recycling. You have to provide a collection system – not usually an issue for laundries. However, if you do not comply you will be fined for an economic offence. And it will be high enough to hurt. It will be painful. “Of course, laundries resent this, saying: “We already recycle. We are already there – we meet targets, we invest, so why us? They tried to make the case: “We don’t sell textiles we only make them available.” But there is no exception to the rule. Where this new legislation is such a trial for professional textile
care businesses, is because, as Linssen pointed out, 96% of textiles in circulation are fashion items which do need to be taken out of the domestic bin and recycled. However, things are different for laundries which are doing their bit and really current ERP rules don’t and should not apply to them. Linssen suggested working with a Producer Resonsibility
Organisation (PRO) that helps companies comply with Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) regulations. You can transfer responsibility to or sign a contract with a PRO which will aggregate all members, fulfil demand and charge a small fee of, say, €0.20/kilo. However, warned Linsen: “PRO, we found, was totally fashion-
oriented and we were confronted with consumer related issues. The structure had no place for other chain partners. Laundries were out
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of place and ignored. Laundries are being left out because they are asking difficult questions. You have little time! Lobby! Now!” he urged
Consequences and lessons In short, targets focus on product reuse (25%) and material reuse (50%) but product reuse is hardly possible in laundries Large purchasing volumes in one year make it difficult to meet targets in the next year. And because It is all new, you do not have enough to meet the targets. Laundries and how they work are completely ignored. The other downside and it is a serious one is that the PRO piece fee is 6 cents. “Six cents on a face flannel which only cost 10 or 12 cents makes no sense. For designer jeans, yes. So we fought,” said Linssen. The rules are so obviously slanted towards retail. “You have to offer a collection system. So, bins are placed in the street where people bring items back. However, a laundry is not allowed to put a bin on a street or dump its linen at its local H&M store. It is an expensive campaign to get people[consumers] to change their ways. However, we [the industry] are getting charged for something we are already doing,” said Linssen.
“There are no discounts or rules to stimulate the use of post-consumer recycled content – ergo – the recycling market gets clogged. You need PRO for offloading responsibility. If you do have a recycler look out in case they go bust because there is too much stuff around,” said Linssen.
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