TSA OFFERS UKHOSPITALITY ADVICE ON TEMPORARY LAUNDRY SUPPLY ISSUES

The situation is getting better; meanwhile Association works with CBI to lobby government

The Textile Services Association (TSA) has wholeheartedly celebrated the bounce back of the hospitality industry, saying that commercial laundries have seen a dramatic increase in demand.  However, it has warned that while the recovery is welcomed, it is bringing supply issues.  Consequently it has partnered with UKHospitality to issue advice for hospitality operators covering some temporary actions they can consider to alleviate the pressure on their laundry provider.

“The problem is that we’ve been asked to jump from dead slow to full speed overnight,” says David Stevens, CEO of the TSA.  “To be fair, we’ve been warning that there could be issues for several months.  The total lack of government support for the laundry industry means some of our members are really struggling with staffing, the shortage of drivers, supply chain issues, capacity issues due to operating covid-secure factories, and so on.”  

Here is the TSA’s advice on temporary actions hospitality operators can take to support their laundry providers:

  • Talk to your laundry provider to consider how to manage the situation and temporarily reduce your linen requirements. For example: 

            Encourage multi-night stays 

            Review bed change policy 

            Reduce linen required for room make up  

  • Sell up to the occupancy levels your laundry supplier can deliver linen at 
  • Send back any unused stock 
  • Keep the laundry informed of upstream occupancy levels 
  • Give plenty of notice for events and F&B requirements, such as weddings 
  • Understand some laundries may have cash flow issues; prompt payment may really help
  • If possible, give the laundry time to adapt to the increase in demand

The TSA says that the laundry supply issues are not being felt throughout the UK – some regions have been able to get up to speed more quickly than others.   

“Where supply issues do exist, we expect the situation to improve rapidly over the coming weeks,” says Stevens.  “With good communication and cooperation, we expect laundries to recover quickly.  We are incredibly grateful for the hospitality industry’s understanding during this difficult time.”

In common with many other sectors, especially the hospitality industry, laundries are struggling with staffing issues – a combination of problems created by both the pandemic and Brexit.  The TSA is working with the CBI to lobby government to get laundry operatives to be added to the Shortage Occupations List.

If you have any queries, please do not hesitate to get in touch with us either via email or phone: 

E tsa@tsa-uk.org

T +44 (0) 20 3151 5600

Hygienically Clean: TSA and UKHospitality Campaign to Help Hospitality Re-Open Safely

Research shows laundering kills Covid-19 – but effective soiled/clean segregation is essential

As the hospitality industry comes to terms with the latest advice on hygiene and Covid-19, the TSA (Textile Service Association) has updated its Hygienically Clean Linen campaign.  The TSA represents commercial laundries serving hospitality and the campaign is being run in association with UKHospitality.  The two associations have established joint guidelines designed to help hotels, restaurants and other sites that use a laundry service, or have an onsite laundry, to understand the latest advice and regulations.

The campaign also includes marketing materials that will help operators allay any concerns that their guests and customers may have concerning the hygiene of textiles such as bed linen and towels.

A key addition to the campaign resources is related to research undertaken by De Montfort University (DMU), and supported by TSA, which looked into Covid-19’s survival rates on textiles and how the laundry process affected them.  It found that Covid-19 can survive on cotton for up to 12 hours and on polyester for up to 72 hours.  The good news is that Covid-19 is killed in all washing processes above 40°C with agitation and detergent.  However, a key consideration has to be cross contamination – it’s essential that dirty and clean linens are segregated effectively, to avoid any possible infection transfer.

“TSA safety guidelines manage cross-contamination, and all commercial laundries will segregate soiled and clean linen,” says David Stevens, CEO of the TSA.  “If you are operating an onsite laundry it is essential to set up segregation and cross-contamination procedures.

“Soiled to clean contamination is the highest risk area – it’s where critical control points are vital.”

Key to the successful reopening of the hospitality sector is making customers feel safe and secure.  That’s why the Hygienically Clean campaign includes the Rest Assured Scheme, which includes marketing material that TSA laundries can give to hospitality operators to display, verifying that their linens and towels have been hygienically processed..  There are different versions of the literature for different sectors, such as hotels, restaurants and leisure facilities.

“We want to help the hospitality industry re-open and understand some guests may have been worried about the hygiene of the bedroom linens and towelling,” says Stevens.  “The Hygienically Clean campaign underlines and explains the research and the procedures we have implemented.  In simple terms, the key message to consumers is, “It’s safe to go and enjoy the hospitality services we have all missed for so long.  You can sleep well!”

The Hygienically Clean guidance and documents are available to download from the Covid Resources section.  For marketing materials, hospitality operators should talk to their laundry service supplier. If you have any queries, please do not hesitate to get in touch with us either via email or phone: 

E tsa@tsa-uk.org

T +44 (0) 20 3151 5600

Women in the Industry – Launch New Initiative

Success Stories

 

Our working group Women in the Industry is leading the way for our Diversity and Inclusion topic, we had a brilliant working group meeting at the end of April where we discussed how the TSA can improve to ensure we are more inclusive and also how we can help increase female attendance at our events and training courses. It was brilliant to receive constructive feedback and great to see the passion for change. 

One of TSA’s first action points and as part of Women in the Industry’s initiative we would like to share and highlight success stories of our laundry employees. The working group has been brilliant and have already shared some entries with us. Therefore, please see our first two fantastic entries below:

Stella Yates
Group Product Manager, Cleanroom Textiles
Micronclean Ltd

Stella joined the business in 2013 as a Support Business Development Manager, being new to field sales following a career in the travel industry. She was part of a newly formed Cleanroom Solutions Team in January 2014, where following on from the purchase of Guardline, Micronclean segregated the sales team into two categories; Cleanroom and Technical. She soon became one of the top Sales BDM’s in the business and was promoted to UK Cleanroom Sales Manager after a secondment period in January 2018. Stella managed the team through a high period of growth in the textile and consumable sales of the UK and was then appointed her new role in January 2021. This exciting new role to the business will see Stella in a more strategic role, using her knowledge of the cleanroom textile industry to promote new products and help deliver the company’s strategy. This is a tremendous acceleration of a career from entry level field sales to senior management in less than eight years. Micronclean have also sponsored Stella to complete her MBA with Lincoln University which she will do in 2023.

Stella

Mandy Smith
Contract Manager/Project Manager
SynergyLMS

Mandy joined the business in 1987 working in the laundry in the calendar section – from there she volunteered to cover part time in the office as holiday cover to gain experience so that when the opportunity arose for a full time position, she would have the skills for the job. Her commitment and desire to learn impressed laundry management and Mandy soon was given the opportunity for a full-time role as Office Admin. Mandy’s desire to learn and move upward in the organisation was apparent to many.  Mandy was promoted into a Senior Contract Manager looking after all aspects of operation and customer service for a number of large accounts. Mandy was the first female Contract Manager for Synergy. Mandy continues to learn and develop her skills even after 30 years in the company – Mandy although a skilled Project Manager in her own right is now formalizing this by completing a Prince2 Project Management Course, sponsored by the company. Please note Mandy had 3 children, husband and home to run as well during the 30 years working at Synergy. Mandy is both respected by her customers and her colleagues – a professional lady that has a passion to succeed.

Mandy

How to send your entries

With help of the group we have created a template in order for you all to send us your entries. It may be recognising a ‘Rising Star’, a long service award, a significant retirement or a member of the team who has contributed outside work with a local charity, whatever the story we want to hear from you and tell the industry about some of the amazing people we have in it. 

Please note all genders can of course be entered but as this is part of the Women in the Industry initiative we do encourage you to enter your successful female colleagues in particular. 

TSA_Spotlight_Template
SPOTLIGHT ENTRY TEMPLATE

If you have any queries or would like any further information, please do not hesitate to get in touch with us.

T: +44 (0)20 3151 5600
E: tsa@tsa-uk.org

Government hangs hospitality laundries out to dry. Again.

“Everyone agrees that we should get support, but we still get nothing,” pleads TSA

The restart grants are great news for hospitality and other businesses – but not for commercial laundries.  Yet again the laundries that hospitality relies on have been ignored by government.  Now the TSA (Textile Services Association), which represents commercial laundries in the UK, has written to BEIS (the department of Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy) to demand an explanation.

“We didn’t get lockdown grants, we didn’t get business rates relief, we didn’t get the VAT reduction,” says David Stevens, CEO of the TSA.  “Now we’re not getting the restart grants, either.  It’s like Groundhog Day, only much worse.

“We’re suffering, we need support, and we’re not getting it, while other business are.  It’s so unfair.”

Stevens points out that the commercial laundries that supply the hospitality industry have seen their business drop by 90% or more.  “We just need to know why we’re being ignored,” he says.

Here is the text of the TSA’s letter to Kwasi Kwarteng MP, Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:

Dear Mr Kwarteng,

I draw your attention to a statement that our members are receiving every time they apply to their Council for any form of rate relief or grant support.

“I understand your position and frustration. However, in the guidance that was issued by the Department of Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy, your business does not fall into a qualifying category”

This time it’s the re-start grants.  Before that it was the lockdown grants.  And the VAT reduction.  And the business rates relief.  Every time, we get ignored, and we get nothing.

All the Councils agree hospitality laundries have been forced to close.  They all agree we should get the grant.  They all agree it’s unfair that we don’t get any support.  But then they’ve agreed we should have been included in every piece of financial support that other businesses have been offered.  But sympathy is all we get. There has been no money forthcoming, the hospitality laundries are always left out.

Until someone in BEIS is brave enough to accept they have got it wrong, the commercial laundry industry will not get the support it deserves and so desperately needs.

We’ve been turned down time and time again.  We’ve been hung out to dry.

So, now we need an audience with a decision maker in BEIS so that, at the very least, they can explain why we’ve been singled out for no help from government.  Then I can inform the industry as to why we have been excluded.

Without the hundreds of commercial laundries serving hospitality, and the 24,000 laundry operatives they employ, UK hospitality will not be able to operate on 17th May.  Hotels, restaurants, sports facilities and many other businesses rely on commercial laundries.

How can you expect laundries to survive without any support when other sectors have received £billions in grants, VAT reductions and rate relief.

Give us support.  Please.  If not, then at least give us an explanation.

The letter is signed by David Stevens.

If you have any queries, please do not hesitate to get in touch with us either via email or phone: 

E tsa@tsa-uk.org

T +44 (0) 20 3151 5600

TSA launches scheme for recycling textiles used in the hospitality industry

30 million textile pieces wasted each year: “The time is right for innovative solutions,” says TSA CEO.

The Textile Services Association (TSA) is calling for the hospitality, catering and healthcare industries to work with them in order to improve the recycling of textiles. Every year over 30 million textile items, including sheets, duvet covers, pillow cases and towels, are thrown away. This equates to over 2000 tonnes. The majority of these will end up in landfill or incinerated.  Meanwhile the cloth that actually does get reused often only gets one additional use cycle, as rags in sites such as garages, before also being disposed of.

Textile waste from the hospitality industry is ideal for recycling, as it is predominantly made of natural fibres, and white. The TSA has set up a project to research potential recycling solutions for the industry. It has teamed up with Swedish company Södra, which has pioneered a method that takes textile and re-engineers it into a pulp that can be used to spin cotton fibre yarns. A test shipment was recently sent to them to determine how suitable it will be for use in the UK.

Members of the TSA are well positioned to facilitate the recycling of textiles. Over 90% of hotels in the UK are serviced by TSA members, which will enable them to easily handle the logistics of the proposed recycling scheme. “We want to be part of the solution,” says David Stevens, CEO of the TSA. “So far our members have been very enthusiastic about the potential for them to help industries reducing waste and improving sustainability.”

The TSA is also in talks with UK Hospitality about the possibility of including staff uniforms in the scheme, which account for an additional four million items annually. Recycling uniforms is more complex as they often use a mix of different materials and accessories that require separation first. Going forward, designing uniforms for recycling is one of the solutions being discussed.

“We are delighted to be working with the TSA on their recycling project and it compliments perfectly our current campaign of Net Zero Carbon by 2030,” says Kate Nicholls OBE, Chief Executive of UK Hospitality.

Stevens adds, “It’s a win-win for the environment as landfill use and incineration is reduced alongside less need for new cotton. It’s estimated that 20,000 litres of water are required for every kilo of cotton grown, not forgetting the risks of fertiliser run-off.  Anything that reduces the impact this crop has must be good.”

With more companies and business sectors looking for innovative ways to reduce their environmental impact David Stevens feels the time is right to consider bold and innovative solutions to the larger issues they face. “We welcome all the feedback we’re getting and call on more stakeholders to come forward to discuss the individual needs of their businesses in order to make this scheme a success,” he says. 

If you wish to discuss the above or if you would like any further information, please do not hesitate to contact us on 020 3151 5600 or at tsa@tsa-uk.org.

Why Textiles Win in the Long Run

Sustainability performance of table linen as compared to disposables

 

This new report was developed by the Swedish Textile Service Association in partnership with the TSA and other NA’s including the European Textile Services Association (ETSA), the Belgian Association for Textile Care (FBT), and TRSA USA. The report examines published literature on hygienic and sustainability performance of reusable textile-based table linens and the single-use disposable table covering used in the service industry (largely hotels and restaurants). 

 

 

Summary from Report

The report examines the performance of two alternative types of table linen used in hotels and restaurants: textiles (product-as-service through professional textile services) and disposable paper products.

The investigation focuses on hygienic standards in cleaned and ironed linen, as well as the environmental performance and economic contribution to the society/creation of jobs, as these represent a social, ecologic and economic dimension which are the three pillars of sustainability. The report has an emphasis on four countries: UK, Belgium, Sweden and the US.

The present study shows that:

  • The hygiene performance of textile table linen is equal to disposable table linen. Consumers do not see textiles as a relevant path for contamination from COVID-19.
  • Using updated methods in the use of energy and water in washing of laundry decreases the climate impact from the use of textiles to only half of the impact generated by disposables.
  • Different from the linear business model of disposables, the circular business model is applied when textile table linen passes through a large number of washing cycles, jobs are created on a local scale. Each job created in textile service industry creates another 0.25 indirect and induced jobs.

To read and download the full report, please click on the following button: 

Full Report

If you have any queries or would like any further information, please do not hesitate to get in touch with us.

T: +44 (0)20 3151 5600
E: tsa@tsa-uk.org

Laundry Cost Index: 2020/2021 FYQ4

Laundry Cost Index

Please see our latest published Laundry Cost Index for 2020/2021 FYQ4 below. FYQ4 constitutes data for January, February and March 2021 months as per the latest release of quarterly energy prices by BEIS (Department of Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy).

Additionally, please note the same as for the last cost index (2020/2021 FYQ3), previously used indexes for Textiles and Other Transport have been discontinued and replaced with new indexes due to recent methodology changes by the Office for National Statistics.

Latest Laundry Cost Index

Please see the Previous Annual Increases below for comparison:

The Full Report
Annual Increase
Laundry Cost Index 2020/2021 FYQ3
2.00%
Laundry Cost Index 2020/2021 FYQ2
1.64%
Laundry Cost Index 2020/2021 FYQ1
2.02%
Laundry Cost Index 2019/2020 FYQ4
2.73%
Laundry Cost Index 2019/2020 FYQ3
1.75%
Laundry Cost Index 2019/2020 FYQ2
2.95%
Laundry Cost Index 2019/2020 FYQ1
4.00%
Previous Laundry Cost Indices

If you have any queries or would like any further information, please do not hesitate to get in touch with us.

T: +44 (0)20 3151 5600
E: tsa@tsa-uk.org

TSA joins BCC in move to benefit and strengthen both associations

Textile Services Association is warmly welcomed to BCC membership

The voice of the cleaning and hygiene industry will be heard more loudly

The Textile Services Association (TSA) has joined the British Cleaning Council (BCC) as an associate member.

The TSA represents commercial laundries in several sectors and textile rental businesses serving the hotel and hospitality, healthcare and workwear markets.  The textile care services industry contributes over £1.3 billion in GVA and supports some 28,000 jobs in the UK economy.  It has become the 22nd member of the BCC, in a move which benefits and strengthens both organisations.

BCC chair Paul Thrupp said, “I am delighted that the TSA has joined the BCC and I very warmly welcome them.  Working together with the TSA makes the BCC and the whole cleaning and hygiene sector that much stronger.  It is important that the cleaning and hygiene sector pulls together to present a unified front if we are to make our collective voice heard as loudly as possible.

“Textile services is a significant sector of the economy. There are also considerable synergies with the cleaning and hygiene sector as represented by our members, particularly in the health and hospitality sectors.  The TSA’s work lobbying the Government to move towards multi-use gowns for healthcare is something that dovetails well with the work of our members on the environmental agenda and their work on skills also supports our drive to create an accredited training and apprenticeship.

“We have many issues of mutual interest and I look forward to collaborating in the future. “

The TSA represents commercial laundries in several sectors and textile rental businesses serving the hotel and hospitality, healthcare and workwear markets.

TSA CEO David Stevens said, “We are delighted to join the BCC and work collectively with so many like-minded organisations.  We have so many harmonised agenda points I think the collective power of the BCC can really help drive these topics to some of the key decision makers in Government.  I see real benefits for our membership and improved momentum on some of our key project areas such as training, linen recycling and energy efficiency incentives, including the climate change agreement.

“An individual trade association can find it difficult to get space on the lobbying platform.  Working with the BCC will be a great way of sharing and supporting a single message, benefitting all members.”

If you wish to discuss the above or if you would like any further information, please do not hesitate to contact us on 020 3151 5600 or at tsa@tsa-uk.org.

TSA Knowledge Network Open Day

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The TSA responds to the budget: commercial laundries are left in jeopardy

David Stevens, CEO of the TSA comments on the budget:

Commercial Laundries are Left in Jeopardy

 

Of course it’s good that the furlough scheme has been extended to September.  We’re happy that the Chancellor has also announced a new recovery loan scheme, the investment incentives are a definite plus so there are some positives.

Having said that, we’re very disappointed that the Chancellor didn’t see fit to expand the recovery net.  Commercial laundries are still in this enormous black hole outside of the government’s support bubble.  We aren’t eligible for business rates relief or for recovery grants, VAT reductions and so the list goes on.  We will see minimum wages increase at a time when we will be struggling to pay any wages!

Yet again the service support sector has been totally overlooked despite being part of and dependent on the hospitality industry who have been receiving support throughout the pandemic – it’s simply not fair.  This is not a good budget for our industry.

With support we could survive. Without it, commercial laundries, and the 24,000 people they employ, remain in real jeopardy. 

 

 

 

If you wish to discuss the above or if you would like any further information, please do not hesitate to contact us on 020 3151 5600 or at tsa@tsa-uk.org.