All down the line

Linen is the backbone of two very important industries and is usually either pure cotton, cotton rich or polyester/cotton. Cotton itself is not particularly cheap to produce, and last year to the horror of linen suppliers worldwide the price peaked to the highest ever. There is an eco cost too as the energy expended in the manufacture of polyester is estimated to be twice that of cotton per kg. Not good news for producers and suppliers hit by the pandemic as hotels and hospitals for different reasons cut back on purchases.

However, despite all the downsides it seems the pandemic has shown that integrating sustainable practices and ethics into the cotton production process was a good move business-wise, at least for suppliers to the hospitality industry as it gets back on track. And sustainability is now a big factor in health care procurement too.

Takeaways from last October’s Society of Hospital Linen Services and Laundry Managers (SHLMSM) conference, in its 70th year, included the unsurprising news that that CSR – and in particular carbon neutrality – is going to score more points in the NHS tendering process going forward. Laundries and suppliers pitching for NHS business were warned that just because they had been suppliers for years that did not protect them from the new points allocations.

Jon Hampton, presenting a paper on ‘Both sides of tendering’, said: “Tenders are a dark art,” as he set out to look at them from both sides of the fence.

He explained: “Technical evaluation is normally 60-70%. Now more attention is going to be put on carbon reduction planning and social values. From April 2022 all NHS tenders must include a minimum of 10% on these areas. If you know the process will change, do factor it in.”

“Sustainability is going to account for more points. If you don’t score well in that area you will be out.” He also advised that although these changes are scheduled for 2023 they are on the forms now so suppliers beware.”

Hampton also urged tenders to be based on TSA’s Textile Service Cost Index.

“You could do your own DIY compliant procedure but you would need an awful lot of time and resources to do this,” adding, “you can get a consultant…but at a huge cost.”

SHLSM national chair Dave Grimshaw, following the conference, told LCN: “The response to the paper on tendering has been massive with a surprising amount of contact after the event which is still ongoing, and Jon has been very busy and has offered his time freely to advise people on their need during the tendering process and it has highlighted a potential training opportunity for future events.”

Grimshaw says: “The general specs of the linen are set by the customers in their tenders but have become quite standard over the years.”

Linen life

In Material Solutions, ‘Linen life – beating the elusive 200 cycle challenge’, LCNi November 2020, Dr Richard Neale of LTC Worldwide wrote in his introduction: “A rental textile item which costs, say, £2.50 and which last for 50 wash-and-use cycles will contribute £2.50 ÷ 50 = 5 p to the cost of every rental for that classification. If the life could be extended to 200 wash-and-use cycles, then the cost per rental reduces from 5 p to £1.25 per rental. This might not look much, but it is equivalent to saving three-quarters of the annual bill for replacement textiles. In practice, most efficient rental operators probably achieve 70 to 120 cycles depending on the classification, but if they could average 200 cycles this would halve their textile expenditure and it is now readily achievable.” (Currency was originally $ but we have changed to £ for this UK edition.)

Grimshaw says for the NHS: “As far as 200 washes go, some products will get to this number through a normal wash and return procedure. The problem lies with misuse. Wearables are the biggest losers, and we can lose up to 80% of the initial purchase numbers by the end of the 200 wash cycle, so they are a constant drain on resources and this has to be accounted for in the tender pricing.

“Blankets also walk out of the door with patients and we can lose up to 40% of those and the likes of sheets and towels which do not walk out but are open to misuse, due to being thrown in the bin as staff do not fully understand that our wash processes can clean almost anything that the linen picks up and we can still lose up to about 30% of these items, too.

“These specs are passed on to the suppliers in this country who then pass the specs on to the production mills and must then monitor the quality for any articles received before they send them on to us.

“Things like sustainability, recycling and other buzz phrases are becoming more and more prevalent, and we need to take notice of that.

“But for the NHS the bottom line is cost as this is a very small margin, albeit massive volume business, but the price we pay is the ultimate measure so that at tender time we do not price ourselves out of the market when being compared to companies that produce millions of items per week.”

VISION LINENS SHINES WITH SILVER ECOVADIS AWARD

EcoVadis is the world’s most trusted provider of business sustainability ratings, intelligence and collaborative performance improvement tools for global supply chains. Vision has been a member of EcoVadis for three years and has excelled in a number of disciplines in order to retain its silver rating, which it has held for the duration of its membership.

Industry leaders such as Johnson & Johnson, Verizon, L’Oréal, Subway, Nestlé, Salesforce, Michelin and BASF are among the more than 55,000 businesses on the EcoVadis network, working to assess, collaborate and improve sustainability performance in order to protect their brands, foster transparency and innovation, and accelerate growth.

Vision Linen’s sustainability scorecard offers detailed insights to its environmental, labour and human rights, ethics and sustainable procurement risks. The company’s overall performance has been ranked in the 76th percentile of companies scored by EcoVadis. Sustainable procurement was one of four standout areas for Vision, rewarded with an advanced score, for the following strengths:

¦ Endorsement of external initiative on sustainable procurement issues [Better Cotton Initiative (BCI), Business Social Compliance Initiative (BSCI)]

¦ Comprehensive sustainable procurement policies on both social and environmental factors

¦ On-site audits of suppliers on environmental or social issues

¦ Regular supplier assessment (e.g. questionnaire) on environmental, social practices, quality and their Health and Safety Practices

¦ CSR risk analysis (i.e. prior to supplier assessments or audits)

A hugely beneficial aspect of the EcoVadis platform is that Vision’s customers have access to the scorecard and can see, in detail, how the textile company performs against particular areas, providing a centralised hub for various certifications. Where customers are not able to access this they can ask for summary reports compiled by EcoVadis

Vision Group assurance and compliance manager, Dianne Hill, said: “The system is based on third-party checks that demonstrate our commitment to continuous improvement whilst also providing our customers the peace of mind that we deliver on our promises.”