Category: News

Presentations will cover topics as diverse as the environment, including a keynote address from award-winning environmentalist and author Natalie Fee, laundry fire safety, the energy market, and wellbeing. The ‘people matter’ section includes a talk by Matt Bowes of Vision Linens, who shares his story of leaving prison and being given a second chance, and a discussion on menopause awareness, its effect on the workforce and how best to approach it.

Christoph Geppert of Grain Sustainability is joined by Carmen Cardenal Pac of Ecolab to look at where we are as an industry on the TSA’s Sustainability Roadmap as well as, more specifically, the issues around microplastics and PFASs. 

In the arresting titled ‘1+1=3’ presentation, Joe Ricci, president and CEO of the TRSA, will join conference to show how the UK and USA textile associations are working together and what they are achieving and hope to build in the future.

The roundtable, which took place at the Crown Plaza NEC in Birmingham on 31^st January 2023, included representatives from some of the UK’s largest laundry companies and hotel groups, as well as the TSA and UKHospitality (UKH). They discussed the importance of reducing the reliance on single use plastics as part of UKH’s push towards removing it completely by 2030, and how each sector needs to work with the other in order to achieve this.

The discussion resulted in the hospitality industry agreeing to support the laundry industry’s work to remove single use plastic from the processing of bed linen.

This will require investment from laundries to bring in appropriate cages and washable cage liners that will replace the single-use plastic wrapping, in order to maintain the high standards of hygiene demanded. This process will undoubtedly take time to complete, which is why it is important that this initiative is driven by both industries as a whole.

As well as filling a gap in the provision offered by the project, it helps to reduce the amount of textile waste generated by hotels by giving them a second life.

During his address to congress, Gordon Brown was extremely enthusiastic about the potential not just to help those in need but also help to tackle pollution by reducing waste as well as boosting the economy, and thanked the laundries that have become involved with the project. Nearly 50,000 families have been helped since the project launched, with over 320,000 items distributed. Mr Brown will be helping the project as it expands to other areas of Scotland and across the UK.

Pauline Buchan, Strategic Director for the Cottage Family Centre and CEO of the National Family Centre Bank, told congress more about the work and gave details on how businesses can get involved.

Attendees were able to meet prisoners currently working in the prison laundry. “It was a very inspiring visit, and helped everyone to break down some of the stigmas about prisoners,” says David Stevens, CEO of the TSA. “Hearing about the skills they’ve learned you can tell they would be a real asset to the industry. They may have made mistakes in the past but you can see the effort they have made to change. It underlines the importance of finding companies that are willing to give them a second chance.”

Attendees were also given an overview of the work of the NFN, how it partners with companies to establish a pipeline for recruitment of ex-offenders, ensuring they have the right skills. “The event was a fantastic opportunity for TSA members to see the tremendous work that goes on behind the walls of a prison, and meet the untapped talent gaining experience of the sector,” says George Welborn, Senior National Employment Manager for the NFN.

This will be followed up with another chance to take the Mental Health First Aider course. This is aimed at providing information and building confidence to help with identifying mental health issues and helping anyone experiencing them to get the help they need, as well as ways to reduce the stigma surrounding mental health. “The TSA feels it is vitally important that it supports its members to help ensure their employees mental health is looked after,” says David Stevens, CEO of the TSA. “It’s brilliant that we now have more qualified mental health first aiders in the industry, and we hope more companies will be inspired to join this initiative.”

The first of the MHFA courses was also fully booked, and any TSA member interested in attending the next one is advised to register their interest now to ensure they are informed when bookings open.

The morning’s keynote address will be given by polling expert and political scientist Sir John Curtice, who the BBC describes as ‘the man who gets elections right.’  He is particularly interested in electoral behaviour and researching political and social attitudes.  He will take an authoritative and perceptive look at how the current political scene is affecting our industry, focusing on ‘Brexit: Where Do We Stand Now?’, with special reference to the labour market. 

Diversity consultant Rob Adediran will talk about building an inclusive organisation.  Rob is an advocate for inclusive leadership in education and in business. He currently works at the Royal Academy of Engineering overseeing, amongst other things, the development of a diversity and inclusion mechanism for the UK engineering sector.