Hotel/Motel/Resort Laundry: Nick Fertig, Walt Disney Swan and Dolphin, Orlando, Fla.
The final result of any items sent for laundering is dependent upon the very first step of the laundering process: sorting. Therefore, it can be argued that sorting is the single-most important aspect of the laundering process.
A well-established sorting plan is the first facet of your own internal quality assurance program.
The separation and classification of textiles will take place before the wash process in the vast majority of all professional laundries. Only extremely contaminated or infected linens, which are processed completely differently to minimize exposure, should be sorted post-wash to ensure the safety of your team members.
Sorting linens before washing ensures that each piece receives the appropriate wash time, water temperature, chemicals and mechanical action as required by the item’s manufacturer. A proper sorting process will help take into consideration the following:
- Fiber Type — Washing loads with the same or similar fiber type will help reduce shrinkage, thermal shock and pilling, and will be the main determinant of your finishing quality.
- Color — Washing similar colors together helps prevent color transfer.
- Soil Level — There are different levels of soil. Some linens will require a heavy-duty wash cycle to ensure stain removal while others require a normal wash cycle. Differentiating between the two will allow you to operate more efficiently and extend the life of your textiles as you process linens based on their individual needs.
- Stain Type — Oils and fats on food-and-beverage items are not treated the same way bed linens are. Separating these different linens will ensure proper stain removal. Failure to process individually not only increases the chance of residual staining, but also creates a potential fire hazard when drying. Not to mention, who would want their bedsheet washed with last night’s dinner?
- Chemicals — Certain chemicals will have an adverse effect on different linen types. For example, Nomex® garments require their own wash process to ensure that the flame-resistant chemicals are not removed during the wash process. A proper sorting plan ensures this will not happen, and your customers can operate their businesses safely.
As you can see, a well-implemented sorting process is pivotal to the success of a laundry. Sorting before the wash cycle ensures that you “get it right the first time.”
Linens will be washed based on their needs, eliminating the need for rewash and ensuring a high-quality finish. Your customers and shareholders will thank you as you provide the best product efficiently with maximum profitability.
Equipment/Supply Distribution: Chuck Rossmiller, Medline Industries, Mundelein, Ill.
Post-sorting of healthcare textiles has a number of issues in comparison to pre-sorting:
- Post-sorting requires that you launder to the highest degree of soil concentration, meaning your light-soil blankets get laundered using the same conditions as your heavy-soil washcloths and incontinent pads. The increased chemistry, water levels and time necessary to remove heavy soils is unnecessarily destructive to the light-soil textiles.
- In the healthcare environment today, where patient satisfaction and patient experience are both critically important, higher-end textiles, added colors and patterns are increasingly used by hospitals. These products, even when manufactured to withstand repeated commercial processings, are more susceptible to variables in water temperature and chemistry, leading to premature fading and product degradation when laundered through a mixed-load process.
- Additionally, the dyes from these multi-colored items can be stripped from the textiles and redeposited on white and lighter textiles. This dye redeposition causes white linens to appear discolored, gray or blue.
- Typically, post-sort laundries incorporate a sorting process after the wash, before the dry-and-finish process. This allows for drying parameters that are product-specific, which is better for the products. Unfortunately, it also increases the number of touches that clean textiles are exposed to—both human contact and conveyors. This happens while the textiles are wet and warm, which are the primary ingredients for bacteria growth.
- Finally, while post-sorting ostensibly provides the employee with a safer work environment by reducing their exposure to potentially dangerous pathogens, the proper use of personal protective equipment (PPE) and following appropriate OSHA and CDC guidelines has proven to be extremely effective in protecting employees against the very small risk associated with handling soiled linen.
In my opinion, there is not enough value in post-sorting to justify the process, given the downside risk of poor product quality and reduced linen life expectancy.
Chemicals Supply: David Barbe, U.N.X. Inc., Greenville, N.C.
Simply stated, yes, it is going to be more damaging to linens due to loss of tensile strength if one has to wash all the goods using the formula for the heaviest-soiled linen in the mix.
When one has to use more chemicals, temperature and wash time on everything being washed, it is going to be more abusive of more delicate and lightly soiled materials.
There may be more damage to linens from foreign objects not being removed prior to washing. Sharps, utensils, etc., can produce lots of pricks and holes in goods. Paper products not removed prior to washing can add lots of loose lint that has to be removed.
The chemical cost will be higher, water usage will be higher, wash times will be longer, and one still has to sort the goods after washing, which can be more difficult wet than dry. Sanitized goods are less hazardous to personnel, but sorting still has to be done, unless one is also going to dry everything at the same time and temperature. At some point, goods have to be separated for ironing, folding, counting and so on.
Note, however, that new chemicals, such as low-temperature products, enzyme detergents and color-safe bleaches, can lower the aggressiveness of some formulas. Consult with your chemical supplier. They can possibly offer suggestions to wash all your classifications more gently.
Some of these options can also save water and energy, offsetting any extra cost and time of those formulas.
Don’t forget that tensile strength loss is always there to some extent. The very act of washing fabric takes a little of its life away.
The entire point of laundering is to get the most use out of the goods possible. It isn’t usable if it’s dirty, stained, dingy or unsanitary. Consider all the economics.
The decision whether to post-sort or pre-sort depends heavily on the goods being washed and the logistics of the particular laundry. For instance, if certain goods are brightly colored, those will still have to be pulled from the whites. Even if using color-safe bleach, dyes leach and fade when washed aggressively. Some materials are totally incompatible with the chemicals and temperatures used to clean other materials.
However, in spite of the possibility of textile damage, post-sorting might still be desirable. One operator tells me that linen loss and physical damage in their hospital accounts can be higher than any loss due to tensile-strength loss. Abuse and theft of linen is a large factor in some cases. Efforts can be made to minimize such loss, but it won’t be eliminated totally.
If your laundry is washing lots of customer-owned goods for different accounts, keeping those goods together and being able to return them to the customer in the same ratio received can be accomplished more easily when post-sorting. Scheduling of the wash deck and finishing area might be simpler when the goods come through as a group from one customer.
Don’t discount the costs of personal protective equipment needed for pre-sorting. Workers will need gloves, masks, gowns, facemasks—much of which are disposable. One might have to pay employees more to perform the more unpleasant and hazardous job of pre-sorting.
Employee turnover may be a real concern. These costs may offset the extra wash-aisle expenses somewhat.
So, to summarize: If the goods are of similar color and material, higher chemical costs and water usage isn’t a big concern, tensile loss is exceeded by textile loss, and scheduling and handling by individual customers is simplified, then post-sorting might offset any tensile-strength loss and be the best choice for your laundry.
Check back tomorrow for the conclusion with thoughts from healthcare, textiles, equipment manufacturing and consulting experts.
Have a question or comment? E-mail our editor Matt Poe at [email protected].