Indorama Ventures Aims To Recycle 50 Billion PET Beverage Bottles Per Year By 2025

BANGKOK, Thailand — March 23, 2020 — Indorama Ventures Public Co. Ltd. (IVL), a global company listed in Thailand has recycled 50 billion PET bottles since 2011, which is the equivalent of more than 200,000 elephants in weight. This major global recycling milestone saved three million barrels of crude oil and eliminated 1.65 million tons of carbon. The company has committed $1.5 billion to deliver more recycling infrastructure globally.

Yashovardhan Lohia, chief recycling officer at Indorama Ventures said: “Today we recycled our 50 billionth PET bottle, since we started in 2011. As a Thai company, we are very proud to achieve this major global recycling milestone. We want to go further because we know PET is fully recyclable and uses less energy and water to produce than alternative beverage packaging. In five years’ time we aim to recycle 50 billion bottles a year.

“To achieve this, we have committed up to $1.5 billion to expand our recycling business. Our work will support household brand names who are using more and more recycled PET in their bottles.”

“No recyclable PET bottle should leak into our environment. We are building the recycling infrastructure the world needs. Our facilities close the loop and deliver a circular economy for PET bottles,” Lohia said.

Richard Jones, senior vice president for corporate communications and sustainability, said: “This is an amazing target to have hit and we are pushing further rapidly. On 9th March we were pleased to sign a new joint venture with Coca-Cola that will build an advanced recycling plant in the Philippines. This facility will produce food grade recycled PET for new bottles.

“We now are able to supply the major brands with safe and hygienic bottles made from recycled PET in Europe, the Americas and for the first time in Southeast Asia, in the Philippines. The plant is expected to be completed by the end of 2021,” Jones said.

Posted March 23, 2020

Source: Indorama Ventures

Gildan Activewear Provides Update Related To COVID-19

MONTREAL — March 23, 2020 — Gildan Activewear Inc. today provided an update in response to the impact of the coronavirus pandemic (COVID-19) on its business and operations.

The spread of COVID-19 continues to heighten and is having a significant impact on global economic activity. As it relates to areas of Gildan’s business, our first priority is the health and welfare of our employees, customers, suppliers and other partners which we have been working to address. We have also started to see a meaningful deceleration in demand in the imprintables channel given measures that governments, companies and individuals are taking to limit the spread of COVID-19, including the limitation of social gatherings, travel restrictions and the cancellation of various sporting, entertainment, promotional, and cultural events, amongst others. Additionally, although we have not yet seen as significant a deceleration of demand for our products in all the retail channels that we serve, we expect the multitude of recently announced temporary store closures and social distancing measures being recommended by governments and health protection agencies will also continue to slow retail demand.

Effective March 17, the government of Honduras mandated a 7-day closure of all private enterprises operating in the country which has now been extended to March 29. Governments of some of the other countries in which we operate are also issuing similar directives to combat the spread of COVID-19. Accordingly, given the impact of all these factors, the company announced today that it is temporarily suspending production at all of its manufacturing facilities until mid-April. This will allow us to respect government recommendations and align production and inventory levels with current demand requirements. All other areas of our business, including our distribution centers which service the various regions where we sell our products will remain open for the time being with good inventory availability levels to service our customers, operating with appropriate measures in place to protect our employees, including remote working arrangements for many of our office staff.

Given the unprecedented nature of the COVID-19 situation which is changing rapidly, the company will continue to monitor and adjust its plans for its business as the situation evolves. At the end of the fourth quarter of 2019 Gildan had a net debt to adjusted EBITDA leverage ratio of 1.6 times. As a precautionary measure on March 17, we elected to draw down on the remaining available portion of our revolving long-term bank credit facility, positioning us with close to $600 million of liquidity. Accordingly, we have a high degree of financial flexibility as we move forward to deal with COVID-19 challenges given our fixed cost structure and focus on expense, capex and working capital management, as well as our balance sheet and access to liquidity.

The company issued its first quarter and full year 2020 guidance on February 20, 2020, which did not include the impact of COVID-19 disruptions. Due to the heightened uncertainty relating to the impacts of COVID-19, the company is withdrawing its first quarter and full year 2020 financial guidance. The company expects to provide a further update when it releases its first quarter 2020 earnings results.

Gildan is working diligently across all areas of our business to safeguard our people and the continuity of our business, while maintaining support to all our customers. We have been able to successfully navigate through difficult times over the years and adapt to changing environments, which gives us confidence that our strong business model, financial position and resilience will continue to position us well for long-term success as we emerge from the COVID-19 crisis.

Posted March 23, 2020

Source: Gildan Activewear Inc.

trinamiX Launches Mobile Near Infrared Spectroscopy Solution

LUDWIGSHAFEN, Germany — March 23, 2020 — trinamiX GmbH, a wholly-owned subsidiary of BASF SE, today announced the launch of a mobile near infrared (NIR) spectroscopy solution. Spectroscopy is a well-proven analysis method that trinamiX now makes affordable and accessible beyond factory and laboratory applications. trinamiX offers all the needed competences in a single, handheld device: mobile and robust hardware, precise data and material analytics and excellent molecular and chemical expertise.

Informed and healthy life decisions are ones that everyone tries to make, but sometimes the visible information presented to the eyes is just not enough. trinamiX helps to improve on-the-spot decision-making through its new mobile NIR spectroscopy solutions. NIR spectroscopy will now be affordable and accessible beyond factory and laboratory applications.

trinamiX has developed a powerful and proprietary measurement device, including an in-house produced infrared semiconductor, to quickly and accurately analyze the molecular structure of different materials in a wavelength range up to 2,5 µm. trinamiX IR semiconductors are very small and have a high detectivity, and as such enable the creation of a powerful, miniaturized NIR spectrometer: a ‘lab in your pocket’.

Powerful combination of sensor, data analytics and molecular expertise

trinamiX offers all the needed competences in a single, handheld device: mobile and robust hardware, precise data and material analytics and excellent molecular and chemical expertise –thanks to being a subsidiary of BASF.

Applications range from agriculture to food and beverage testing as well as chemical and industrial processes. Inbound control, quality checks, on-the-field analytics, material sorting and identification are amongst the use cases that trinamiX can support. The trinamiX production capabilities are designed for high-volume production runs all the way up to consumer electronics-level supply demands.

Meet trinamiX at the Virtual Lab Show from March 31 to April 3, 2020

Posted March 23, 2020

Source: trinamiX GmbH

Beverly Knits Statement On Partnering With Apparel/Textile Coalition To Make Medical Face Masks

WASHINGTON — March 23, 2020 — Beverly Knits Inc. is proud to be involved in the effort led by Hanes and Parkdale to help support the fight against COVID-19. Working with a coalition of textile companies, we are ramping up production in the USA to provide face masks for health care workers on the frontlines. With the combined efforts of many small and medium size companies, we are retooling our production lines to begin manufacturing immediately.

Beverly Knits is coordinating the production of up to 1.5 million masks produced domestically per week. Ron Sytz, CEO of Beverly Knits, said “It is an honor to be working with great American companies, united to supply critical resources to healthcare workers and first responders”.

Companies on the Beverly Knits team:

  • Clover Knits;
  • Contempora Knits;
  • Carolina Cotton Works;
  • Southfork Finishing;
  • National Safety Apparel;
  • A Lava & Sons;
  • Wells Hosiery;
  • Jomel Industries;
  • LA Corp; and
  • Greenwood Mills.

Additional companies will be updated daily.

Posted March 23, 2020

Source: National Council of Textile Organizations (NCTO)

Coalition Of Iconic American Apparel Brands & Textile Companies Heeds Call Of Nation To Produce Medical Face Masks

WASHINGTON — March 21, 2020 — A coalition of iconic American apparel brands and textile companies, responding to the urgent call of the White House for medical supplies, have come together to build a supply chain virtually overnight and fast-track the manufacturing of medical face masks to help hospitals, health care workers and citizens battling the spread of the COVID-19 disease.

Parkdale Inc. — the largest yarn spinner in the United States headquartered in Gastonia, N.C. — helped lead the effort to build the coalition with Hanesbrands, Fruit of the Loom and six other companies, to set up a manufacturing supply chain and begin ramping up production of the masks.

The coalition consists of iconic American brands such as Hanesbrands and Fruit of the Loom, often competitors in the marketplace, who are banding together for the greater good of a nation facing one if its most monumental challenges.

American Giant, Los Angeles Apparel, AST Sportswear, Sanmar, America Knits, Beverly Knits and Riegel Linen are also part of the coalition working tirelessly to respond to a national emergency in the nation’s time of need.

Dr. Peter Navarro, assistant to the president and director of the White House Office of  Trade and Manufacturing Policy, worked with the coalition and helped expedite the production of these masks. The first face masks have been approved by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

The companies expect to begin production on Monday and will make the first deliveries by mid-week.

They are dedicating their assets, resources and manufacturing capacities to create a high output of face masks. Once fully ramped up in four to five weeks, the companies expect to produce up to 10 million face masks per week in the United States and in Central America.

If companies are interested in dedicating resources to help the cause, please reach out to the National Council of Textile Organizations at kellis@ncto.org.

NCTO is a Washington-based trade association that represents domestic textile manufacturers, including man-made filament and fiber producers.

  • U.S. employment in the textile supply chain was 594,147 in 2018.
  • The value of shipments for U.S. textiles and apparel was $76.8 billion in 2018.
  • U.S. exports of fiber, textiles and apparel were $30.1 billion in 2018.
  • Capital expenditures for textile and apparel production totaled $2.0 billion in 2017, the last year for which data is available.

Posted March 21, 2020

Source: National Council of Textile Organizations (NCTO)

AmeriPride Recertifies U.S. Two Laundries For Hygienically Clean Healthcare

ALEXANDRIA, Va. — March 20, 2020 — AmeriPride Services’ Watkinsville, Ga., Springfield, Mo., and Minneapolis, Minn., locations again have earned Hygienically Clean Healthcare certification. Hygienically Clean is the quantified, validated standard and measure for hygienically clean textiles in North America since 2011, and this re-certification reflects this laundry’s ongoing commitment to best management practices (BMPs) in laundering as verified by on-site inspection and its capability to produce hygienically clean textiles as quantified by ongoing microbial testing.

Recertification confirms the organization’s continuing dedication to infection prevention, compliance with recognized industry standards and processing healthcare textiles using BMPs as described in its quality assurance documentation, a focal point for Hygienically Clean inspectors’ evaluation. The independent, third-party inspection must also confirm essential evidence that:

  • Employees are properly trained and protected;
  • Managers understand regulatory requirements;
  • OSHA-compliant; and
  • Physical plant operates effectively.

To achieve certification initially, laundries pass three rounds of outcome-based microbial testing, indicating that their processes are producing Hygienically Clean Healthcare textiles and diminished presence of yeast, mold and harmful bacteria. They also must pass a facility inspection. To maintain their certification, they must pass quarterly testing to ensure that as laundry conditions change, such as water quality, textile fabric composition and wash chemistry, laundered product quality is consistently maintained. Re-inspection occurs every two to three years.

This process eliminates subjectivity by focusing on outcomes and results that verify textiles cleaned in these facilities meet appropriate hygienically clean standards and BMPs for hospitals, surgery centers, medical offices, nursing homes and other medical facilities.

Hygienically Clean Healthcare certification acknowledges laundries’ effectiveness in protecting healthcare operations by verifying quality control procedures in linen, uniform and facility services operations related to the handling of textiles containing blood and other potentially infectious materials.

Certified laundries use processes, chemicals and BMPs acknowledged by the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, Association for the Advancement of Medical Instrumentation, American National Standards Institute and others. Introduced in 2012, Hygienically Clean Healthcare brought to North America the international cleanliness standards for healthcare linens and garments used worldwide by the Certification Association for Professional Textile Services and the European Committee for Standardization.

Objective experts in epidemiology, infection control, nursing and other healthcare professions work with Hygienically Clean launderers to ensure the certification continues to enforce the highest standards for producing clean healthcare textiles.

“Congratulations to these AmeriPride plants on their recertifications,” said Joseph Ricci, TRSA president and CEO. “Their achievement proves their ongoing commitment to infection prevention and that their laundry takes every step possible to prevent human illness.”

AmeriPride now has 13 Hygienically Clean Healthcare certified facilities throughout the United States: Little Rock, Ark.; Phoenix; Watkinsville, Ga.; Twin Falls, Idaho; Topeka, Kan.; Bemidji and Minneapolis, Minn.; Springfield, Mo.; Omaha, Neb.; Roswell, N.M.; Memphis, Tenn.; and Lubbock, Texas and in Canada, Lethbridge Alberta.  Eight AmeriPride laundries hold the Hygienically Clean Food Safety certification: Tuscumbia, Ala.; Bakersfield, Calif.; Fresno, Calif.; St. Cloud and Minneapolis, Minn.; and Durant, Miss.; and in Canada, Lethbridge Alberta and Winnipeg Manitoba.

Posted March 20, 2020

Source: TRSA

ANDRITZ To Supply A Turnkey Spunlace Line To BCNonwovens, Spain

GRAZ, Austria — March 20, 2020 — International technology Group ANDRITZ has received an order from BCNonwovens, Spain, to supply a neXline spunlace line as a turnkey project to meet growing needs from customers globally. The line is scheduled for start-up early in 2021.

This new state-of-the-art line will help BCNonwovens to better serve its customers and position the company for current and changing requirements in the marketplace.

“The choice of spunlace line supplier was based on a thorough evaluation of the technologies available on the market. The combination of Andritz process engineers’ expertise and our in-depth market knowledge has enabled us to define the appropriate line configuration for current and future market needs. The fully equipped Andritz spunlace pilot line and expertise have played a key role in the order being awarded to Andritz,” said Marko Rajamaa, general manager of BCNonwovens.

The line features the best-in-class technologies available on the market and will be installed in a dedicated new building, meeting the highest hygiene and environmental standards. Due to its versatility, it will enable BCNonwovens to widen its product portfolio and process a broad range of raw materials, including sustainable fibers.

This line will also be equipped with Andritz’s self-developed Metris UX platform, enabling predictive maintenance based on Andritz’s new Vibe sensors and the risk-based maintenance app. It will improve the line’s efficiency by reducing downtime and thus help BCNonwovens to achieve its strategic objectives in terms of quality and sustainability. “With its wide range of applications, Metris will assist us in our operating activities, and we can already envisage a wide range of new possible developments with this extremely powerful Andritz tool,” said Rafael Dufour, strategy and business development director of BCNonwovens.

Over the past few years, the Andritz service team has supported BCNonwovens’ continuous improvement initiatives to push performance to new levels.

Miguel Vinas Pich, CEO of BCNonwovens, said: “Andritz has been a major partner for almost two decades. This new line will be an essential investment to help our customers achieve growth and serve demanding markets.”

Posted March 20, 2020

Source: ANDRITZ GROUP

Monforts Head Of Technical Textiles Jürgen Hanel Outlines The Development Of The Textile Coating Industry

MÖNCHENGLADBACH, Germany — March 20, 2020 — Humans are the only primates without fur to protect themselves from the elements and first used animal skins and furs to shield themselves from either the cold or from UV radiation, depending on where they were in the world.

Over 5,000 years ago, fabrics woven from plant fibers and wool were then developed, bringing many advantages such as their warmth, softness and breathability, as well as UV-shielding, and the development of dyeing gradually gave rise to the concept of fashion.

There remained, however, a problem — protection against rain for those in wet climates, and later, for seafarers. Furs and leather were still widely used for this purpose until very recently.

Waterproofing

It took until the 19th century for a workable solution to finally be developed by the Scottish textile manufacturer and inventor Charles Macintosh, although waterproofing garments with rubber was not a new idea, having been practiced by the Aztecs in pre-Columbian times.

Later, French scientists made balloons gas-tight and impermeable by impregnating fabric with rubber dissolved in turpentine, but this solvent was not satisfactory for making apparel.

Macintosh too, first impregnated a thick woollen fabric with a solution of natural rubber. The result was waterproof but stank of petroleum and was sticky due to the wool grease.

Only when a method was developed for coating the fabric on one side and heating the rubber in a dryer with the addition of sulfur — the process of vulcanization — was the Macintosh coat fabric ready for commercialization.

How the fabric was coated and in which drying oven it was vulcanized is unfortunately not known, but this development formed the basis for textile coating as we know it today.

Air knife coating

There are two fundamentally different basic coating processes — air knife coating and roller knife coating.

In air knife coating, a squeegee blade brushes over the surface of the textile, pressing the highly viscous coating paste into the spaces between the material.

It is impossible to coat low-viscosity chemicals with this method or the paste will drip through the meshes/weave interstices.

Air knife coating, however, is used firstly wherever sealing of the fabric is required, for example on umbrellas to prevent spray mist getting through to the inside. Other examples include shower curtains, rainwear, bag and rucksack fabrics, tents etc.

Air knife coating is also used for mattress tickings and upholstery fabrics. In this case a back coating is applied which has a double function — the material is made liquid-tight and in addition it is fixed. In the case of upholstery fabrics, this fixes the pile, but can also be used to achieve technical effects such as flame protection.

In fashion and decorative articles, air knife coatings are also used for one-sided colouring, while textile materials for shoes are coated to make them waterproof.

Technical textiles

The areas of application with the air knife coating of technical textiles are extremely diverse, ranging from filter fabrics to textile seals and to carbon fiber impregnation.

In addition to coating with a thickened paste, there is also air knife coating with foam. In this case, physical foam is produced in a special foam machine (similar to whipped cream) and placed in front of the coating knife. The foam is pressed into the fabric by the knife and the foam is destroyed.

This so-called unstable foam coating is used, for example, for over-dyeing jeans. In a colored/colorless version, nonwoven fabrics are also fixed and overdyed in this way.

The term “unstable” does not mean this is bad foam. Unstable foams remain stable below room temperature for at least five minutes and do not decompose, but the air bubbles then burst under the knife, or at the latest when the foam is subsequently heated in the dryer.

Foam coating with the air knife has many advantages — by diluting the coating chemical with air, less drying power is required, and the penetration depth is lower, while the breathability of the textile is maintained.

Roller knife coating

In roller knife coating — also called roller nip coating — the application with the knife is practically flying, without touching the upper side of the textile.

This has various effects on the final product. The application in the nip, for example, covers the surface of the textile with the coating compound to give this side of the fabric a plastic-like surface, which is determined by the chemistry used.

Well-known examples of roller knife coated fabrics are tarpaulins, life jackets, carpet backing, upholstery fabrics, trunk covers, sealing materials and many others.

Roller knife coating places very high demands on the precision of the machine, in contrast to air knife coating. Nevertheless, combinations of these two coating types are mainly offered today.

For this purpose, the coating knife bar is designed to be horizontally adjustable and the precision achieved depends on the supplier of the coating machine.

The roller knife can be used in the same way as the air knife with paste, for example in the coating of PVC tarpaulins, emergency slides, inflatable boats and sealing mats.

Both unstable and stable foams are used in roll knife coating. If a layer of unstable foam is applied, it decomposes in the first zones of the dryer.

The roller knife coating of unstable foams (also referred to as “metastable foams”) is used in the production of jeans to dye over the denim material on one side, for example. By applying the coloured foam on the surface, a good over-dyeing is achieved, which can be washed out easily in industrial laundering to achieve the desired “stonewash” effects.

Stable foams survive the drying process in the dryer (under very mild drying conditions) and leave the dryer as a foam layer.

Black-out fabrics

A good example of an application for roller knife coating with stable foams is in the production of black-out fabrics for blinds or curtains. These products require special treatment in order to retain the softness of the fabrics and to ensure that it is still possible to wind blinds up and down.

A special coating called Black-Out has been established to achieve this, involving a three-stage series of stable foam coatings with the roller knife.

The first coating is usually white, followed by a black layer and then a white layer again. These three layers are dried and are with a crush calendar after each layer is applied. A fourth dryer passage then cure all three layers together with the possible addition of a last topcoat to improve the grip.

This process is complex and expensive, and mistakes can result in the entire production run being rejected, so experienced and trained personnel are required.

A similar process is used in the production of advertising banners, which is called ‘block-out’. This is a multi-layer foam coating to prevent the image/text of the banner from showing through on the back side of the material.

Rubber coating

Let’s return here to the Macintosh and coating with rubber, as a rather amazing application for roller knife coating.

The applied rubber layer is so waterproof and airproof that such materials can also be used for lightweight boats, life rafts, life jackets and emergency slides in aircraft.

However, such basic waterproof fabrics have a problem in apparel, in not allowing the moisture generated by the wearer to escape.

Consequently, the textile industry was challenged to develop a material that would repel rain, but at the same time be breathable for the wearer.

Probably the first product to meet this challenge was (and still is) marketed as Gore-Tex® for outdoor clothing. Gore-Tex®, however, is not a coated fabric, but a waterproof, breathable membrane that has been laminated.

The availability of water vapor permeable polyurethane dispersions also allowed direct coating on the inside of the fabric. This is where roller knife coatings are applied. Depending on the required stress, stable foam coatings and also paste coatings are used.

Lamination

Lamination is generally understood to be the joining together of two or more layers of textile, film, membrane or fleece and to keep the layers together an adhesive is needed, which can be applied by either coating or screen printing.

A distinction can be made here between dry or wet lamination.

In wet lamination, the adhesive is initially applied to the first layer and the second layer is then placed in the wet application before the two materials are dried and fixed together.

The disadvantage of this process is the hardness/rigidity of the laminated end product.

In dry lamination, the adhesive is applied to the first material and dried and the second layer is then applied to it via high pressures, usually by a calender.

A special case is that of stable foam lamination.

In this process, a layer of foam is applied by a roller doctor blade and carefully dried. The second layer is then placed into the dry foam by a crush calender. Afterwards, however, this laminate must still be thermally fixed. Foam lamination has the softest touch and in the case of polyurethane foam the laminate is also thermally resistant, as the adhesive is not thermoplastic after fixing.

Conclusion

In this article I have tried to provide an overview of the technology of textile coating and would like to conclude by listing just some of the coated materials that are to be encountered in daily routines.

We can start with the mattress cover, slippers, the shower curtain and the bathmat and move through to the dining table with its coated tablecloth, then out to the hallway for a rain jacket and umbrella. In the car, countless more coated fabrics are to be found, from the seat cover to the trunk, and just as many coated materials will be encountered by commuters using trains or buses.

Textile coating is still a technology of the future with which money can still be made. With the increase of lightweight construction, just as one example, fibre reinforced materials are becoming increasingly important. Here, textiles or fibre scrims are only used to reinforce the plastic matrix, but the technology of production is similar and therefore represents another growth area for textile coating.

Posted March 20, 2020

Source: A. Monforts Textilmaschinen GmbH & Co. KG.

Bed Bath & Beyond’s Response To COVID-19

UNION, N.J. — March 19, 2020 — Bed Bath & Beyond Inc. today announced that it would temporarily close more than 50 percent of its stores across all its banners, within the United States and Canada, to help reduce the spread of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19).  This includes the majority of its core, Bed Bath & Beyond retail stores. Subject to state and local regulations, the Company will continue to operate stores which sell health care, personal care, infant care, cleaning supplies, or food and beverages, to provide customers with the essential products they need.

Mark Tritton, president and CEO, said, “In this time of great uncertainty, our first priority is the welfare of our customers and associates.  We are therefore taking this decisive action to help keep our communities safe, while continuing to serve our loyal customers with the essential cleaning, health and personal care products that they and their families need at this time. We will continue to adapt and be responsive as our customer needs change, and in line with public health guidance and regulations.”

As of the morning of Friday, March 20, 2020, the company will take the following actions:

  • Closing around 800 Bed Bath & Beyond store locations until April 3, 2020, that do not have a health and personal care department.
    • Associates will be provided with pay and applicable benefits during this period.
  • Operating approximately 700 essential stores, including the Company’s buybuy BABY, Harmon and other concepts, as well as any Bed Bath & Beyond stores that do have a health and personal care department.
    • To the extent state and local regulations permit, these stores will operate under limited hours to provide essential products, such as supplies for infants and babies, health and personal care, cleaning products, food and beverages.
  • Continuing our commitment to implement a number of policies to help associates and customers remain safe and healthy.
    • This includes enhanced cleaning routines across stores, frequent cleaning of high-touch surfaces, practicing social distancing while in-store, and ensuring adherence to public health guidelines.
  • Enhancing e-commerce and distribution capabilities to serve more customers in their homes across all concept brands.
    • This includes increasing local fulfillment capabilities by utilizing some stores being temporarily closed to the public across the US and Canada, to serve customers in their homes across brands.

“Our mission is to make it easy for our customers to feel at home and we remain committed to delivering for them, however we can, during this difficult time,” Tritton said. “We have a remarkable team and robust contingency plans, supported by a strong balance sheet, to navigate this unprecedented challenge.”

As this situation continues to evolve, the company is monitoring guidance provided by multiple local, state, federal, and global public health entities and stands ready to implement immediate changes, as needed.

Posted March 20, 2020

Source: Bed Bath & Beyond Inc.

Linen And Uniform Services Recognized As Essential Services In Battle With COVID-19

ALEXANDRIA, Va. — March 19, 2020 — Health authorities and state and local governments are recognizing the linen, uniform and facility services industry as an essential service. Consisting mostly of small, independent family-owned and operated businesses, the industry supplies, launders and maintains essential, environmentally friendly reusable textiles for industries that need these most, including restaurants, hotels, healthcare facilities, manufacturing, infrastructure, other businesses and government agencies. In addition to linens and uniforms, personal protective equipment (PPE) as well as hygiene, first aid and other facility services, are provided.

During quarantine/isolation mandates, the “essential services” designation allows laundries to stay open to serve other businesses designated as “essential” including those mentioned above plus grocery stores, food processing, home-based and long-term care, public utilities (water and energy), first-responders, laboratories, pharmaceutical manufacturers and other fundamental supply chain businesses.

Members of TRSA, the association that represents the $40-billion linen, uniform and facility services industry, are on the front line of providing clean, safe environments for their customers’ employees, customers and the general public, noted TRSA President and CEO Joseph Ricci.

“Despite this designation and critical role of the textile services sector,” said Joseph Ricci, president and CEO of TRSA, “we are seeing very different results from the impact of COVID-19. Companies serving healthcare facilities are nearly at capacity, but those serving restaurants and hotels are laying off workers. We anticipate sales to decline by $10 billion during the next three months, prompting the loss of between 80,000 to 100,000 jobs. Without aggressive and immediate action from the federal government, many laundries will close their doors, permanently eliminating providers of these essential services and leaving the country ill-prepared to rebound.”

In San Francisco and Contra Costa County, Calif., health officers’ orders directing individuals to shelter in place indicates they may leave their residences to “engage in certain essential activities and work for essential businesses,” with laundromats, drycleaners, and laundry service providers classified as such businesses.

A TRSA member in Wisconsin reported the applicability of a broader classification of “processing and distribution facilities” encompassing linen and uniform service, reflecting these large-scale laundries’ importance to public health and their greater resemblance to manufacturing plants and warehouses than retail establishments open to the public.

Other governments around the world are also recognizing the essential services provided by linen, uniform and facility services. In the United Kingdom, research conducted by the Textile Services Association (TSA) demonstrated that essential activities such as health and social care services cannot safely function without bed linen, scrubs and patient wear washed to very high specifications. If this service isn’t received by a hospital for two days, new patients cannot be admitted and only urgent care can be provided.

The majority of infrastructure and manufacturing businesses require protective garments from uniform services. Production lines would come to a standstill after three days of not receiving any new workwear, TSA observes.

Reusable equivalents are critical to mitigating COVID-19 impacts as shortages of disposable surgical gowns and drapes are possible given the likelihood of interrupted international supply chains and the preponderance of smaller medical facilities with limited storage capacity of these items. In contrast, reusable surgical textiles deployed and maintained according to their controlled life cycles and properly sterilized are less dependent on supply replenishment, DTV, the industry’s association in Germany, points out.

Other linen and uniform service users highly susceptible to contamination include food manufacturers, laboratories, pharmaceutical manufacturers and first responders. These businesses also take advantage of the industry’s provision of other hygiene-related products, including personal protective equipment (PPE) for their employees and facility services products such as cleaning chemicals.

“Because our industry serves virtually every type of private- and public-sector organization across the economy, most Americans benefit at least once per week from the hygiene and safety of products we provide to our customers. This highlights the imperative that laundries be considered essential to a sound public health policy,” Ricci said.

The industry consists of nearly 1,000 companies operating about 2,500 business locations. More than half of these companies have less than 20 employees. Wages are estimated at $19 billion and impact on gross domestic product (GDP) at $176 billion. The industry processes 15 billion pounds of laundry annually, including 90% of the linens, scrubs, gowns, barrier curtains and other reusable textiles used by healthcare facilities across the United States.

Addressing COVID-19, TRSA is guiding members in continuing operations and disseminating accurate, relevant information to their respective customers, employees and the general public regarding the hygienically clean handling and processing of reusable textiles. Representing the industry in numerous regulatory matters at the state and federal levels, advocacy has accelerated to ensure the role of its operator members is considered essential by all policymakers.

“Anyone hearing of local and state guidelines adverse to the essential role of professional laundries is urged to contact TRSA immediately so we can bring the industry’s strength to their attention to solidify our industry’s role in a sound public health program,” Ricci added.

Posted March 19, 2020

Source: TRSA

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