Superior Linen and Apparel Services Inc. has joined the ranks of just 10 textile services companies in North America to receive both of TRSA’s corporate certifications: Clean Green and Hygienically Clean, which verify such business-to-business launderers’ commitment to green business practices and product cleanliness.
Superior serves Greater Cincinnati, Columbus and Dayton; northern and central Kentucky including Lexington and Louisville; and parts of southeastern Indiana. Superior handles their healthcare linen separately, and serves their healthcare customers under the trade name MedPure, which has separate routes, trucks and service representatives that are entirely dedicated to serving only the healthcare industry.
TRSA, the leading textile services industry association, certifies companies Clean Green for their exemplary efforts to conserve water and energy and adhere to the industry’s best practices for reusing, reclaiming and recycling resources. The Hygienically Clean certification process subjects laundered textile products to third-party, quantified biological testing and inspection to ensure they achieve TRSA’s hygiene standard.
“Congratulations to Superior Linen on their attainment of this industry milestone,” said Joseph Ricci, TRSA president and CEO. “Clean Green builds their customers’ confidence that Superior is sustainable, capable of perpetually offering high value. Hygienically Clean documents that Superior has taken the steps necessary to prevent human illness in laundered linen, garments, towels and other products.”
Ricci observed that today’s definition of a “green” business goes beyond “environmentally friendly.” Demonstration of conservation practices and increasing efficiencies is needed to assure buyers that sellers can uphold long-term commitments. “As textile services seek long-term contracts and renewal of service agreements with customers, Clean Green testifies with unmatched authority to laundry operations’ resilience,” he said.
By emphasizing biological testing results, Hygienically Clean maximizes objectivity in verifying that textiles cleaned in a laundry meet hygiene standards appropriate for medical facilities. In addition, inspections evaluate launderers’ techniques for compliance with federal and healthcare industry standards. These include laundry processes and other practices acknowledged by the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, American National Standards Institute and others.
Superior, headquartered in Cincinnati, was founded in 1927. Today, Jerry Ruwe, who has been a TRSA member for over 50 years, is president and CEO, and his grandsons, Leland and Chris Zerbe, represent the fifth generation of the family to work in the business.
