Work Clothing & Other Textiles Work Hard: Fire Your Disposables

To avoid waste, replace! When it comes to green material, laundered textiles have it all over

plastic and paper. When you substitute textiles for paper and plastic, it helps to save natural

resources—Here’s why:

Paper: 34 Million Tons A Year in U.S. Landfills

It’s common to think of paper as being continuously recycled—we toss it into the recycling bin

(often made from non-biodegradable plastic), confident that we’ll see it again in some newer,

greener form. But of the 34 million tons of paper that end up in U.S. landfills every year, 20

percent is unrecoverable.

Plastic: 92 Percent of Plastics Is Never Reused

Recent news features highlight the recycling of plastics into sports uniforms—only there’s really

no such thing as recycled plastics. Plastic can only be downcycled, or repurposed, because it

never biodegrades. Light breaks it down into ever smaller particles in a process that takes

centuries, while polluting land and water. So even if plastic is a soda bottle today and work

apparel tomorrow, it ends up in the landfill eventually. The U.S. produces 300 million tons of

plastic a year. Simply repurposing it will not reduce its environmental impact.

Laundered Textiles: Post-Consumer Waste Less Than 6 Percent

Fortunately, there’s a third way—the replacement of plastics and single-use paper with reusable

textiles and using “green” uniform services. More than 95% of textiles can be recycled. Uniform

rental services and industrial laundries are the standard bearers for reducing environmental

impact and better use of natural resources. For example, TRSA certified green work uniform

companies use less water and energy compared to home laundering and disposables.

Wasteful Paper, Drastic Plastic

Versatile Textiles

Paper products account for 28% of all

landfill trash. Every year, nearly 7 million tons

of paper in landfills cannot be recovered.

Textiles account for less than 8% of

materials in U.S landfills. More than 92% of

textiles can be recycled.

Many waste management and plastics

industries find it almost impossible to

recycle plastic, because the mix of chemical

compositions cross-contaminates unsorted

plastics. Collection, transportation, sorting,

degreasing, and washing are labor-intensive

and costly.

The best industrial laundries and textile

industries use the latest technologies for

eliminating pollutants and conserving

resources like heat and rinse water to make it

cost-effective to re-wash, re-use, and re-

cycle work uniforms, towels, napkins, and

other textiles.

Disposable patient gowns are used just

once. Their next destination: The landfill.

Cloth patient gowns laundered and rented

from a uniform supply can, on average, be

reused 50 times or more. The result: 4 times

LESS solid waste than paper gowns.

Every year, the manufacture of disposable

napkins and towels consumes 17 million

trees and causes 2 billion pounds of landfill

waste. Every year, Americans throw away

enough paper and plastic cups, forks, and

spoons to circle the equator 300 times.

The average laundered cloth napkin or

towel can be reused more than 100 times.

The result: 80 percent LESS solid waste

compared with paper napkins.

Reusable textiles use 12 times less land

It takes 12 million barrels of oil to produce

the estimated 100 billion plastic bags

Americans use each year.

space and 40 percent less water to create

and maintain.

U.S. consumers use 102 billion plastic

bags per year. California alone spends over

$25 million annually putting plastic bags in

landfills.

Over an average lifetime, using cloth

bags saves the equivalent of 22,000 plastic

bags. Multiply that by 313 million U.S.

consumers.

For more information visit us at http://www.prudentialuniforms.com