ETSA News

ETSA Announces TSA as winner of the National Association of the Year Award

With great pleasure, ETSA announces that the United Kingdom's Textile Services Association (TSA) has won the esteemed National Association of the Year Award for this year. This award honors TSA's noteworthy efforts in the textile services sector, particularly their project that tackles the substantial linen loss in the hospitality business.

An industry assessment conducted at the beginning of the campaign revealed that 61% of hospitality linen purchased by textile renters is lost annually, which presents a significant impact on costs but more importantly the environment . In a pre-emptive move, the TSA formed a UK Hospitality roundtable, which currently comprises 85% of hotel rooms and over 90% of the country's laundry capacity. The success of the project depends on obtaining end-user engagement, which was made possible by this action.

After the roundtable, the TSA carried out more surveys, which revealed that housekeepers and general managers were significantly underinformed and underestimated the amount of linen which is lost. This finding prompted the development of a more comprehensive engagement strategy, which included the "Valuing Linen Manual" and other training materials that prioritized sustainability over monetary loss.

"Pasha the Pillowcase," a funny mascot who contributed to the sustainability message's memorability, was one of these inventive tools. Pasha has been a crucial component of linen management training at big hospitality companies including Hilton Hotels and Bourne Leisure since its premiere at TSA's Autumn Conference 2023, greatly increasing linen retention rates.

Additionally, following a  case study for the Government Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs (DEFRA) as well as the UKRI National Interdisciplinary Circular Economy Research Hub at the University of Exeter, the TSA's efforts have also been acknowledged as a model for successful industry representation.

The project's excellent cross-industry collaboration was commended by EURATEX Director General Dirk Vantyghem, who said it was in line with EURATEX's mission to build a competitive and sustainable European textile sector through partnership and cooperation.

The Textile Services Association is commended by ETSA for their great accomplishment and for their commitment to promoting sustainability and cutting waste in the textile services industry.