Playing it smart

Which is best? Task-specific industrial wipers or rental towels? When you examine all of the facts, there is a clear-cut winner.

by Bernard D. Brill

MRO product buyers have their hands full with major decisions.  At first glance, task-specific industrial wipers may seem hardly worth a second look. But when buyers take that second look, they find that task-specific wipers offer significant use, cost, safety and environmental benefits not found in shop or rental towels.

Task-specific vs. rental
Task-specific wipers are textile and non-woven industrial wipers, which are available in different sizes and textures. A textile wiper is made by weaving or knitting fibers together, while a non-woven fabric is made by mechanically gluing or heat-welding fibers into a fabric pattern. Both offer the advantage of customized absorbency and size to fit a specific cleanup task. 

By contrast, rental towels come in one size (12 inches by 12 inches), don’t offer choices in texture and can’t be customized to fit specific cleaning tasks. Rental towels are laundered for several applications before disposal, while task-specific wipers are disposed of or recycled at the end of their cleanup function.

Although rental towels offer the convenience of pickup and delivery, they aren’t without problems. Customers report getting rental towels with residue, such as metal shavings from lathing operations or residual oils and chemicals that didn’t come out in laundering. They also can get worn towels that allow chemicals to come in contact with employees’ hands.

In selecting the right wiper for a designated task, there are several other characteristics that should direct choices:
1) surface/strength;
2) absorbency; and,
3) size.

Surface/strength
The rougher the surface to be cleaned, the more tightly woven the wiper fabric needs to be. Conversely, smooth surfaces like glass or Plexiglas are cleaned best with a looser weave, such as cotton or a micro fiber, as these fabrics will glide smoothly without scratching. For hot surfaces, like welding operations, thick, strong weaves such as ribbed corduroy or denim-type fabrics provide not only strength but also extra protection for hands.

Absorbency
Although all wipers provide a certain amount of absorbency, task-specific wipers can be tailored to fit a specific job. Polyester/cellulose blend hydro-entangled wipers, for example, are good for absorbency in non-abrasive applications. However, this same combination can’t handle strong solvents or heat applications (the polyester melts). A traditional fabric, such as T-shirt cotton, is more suitable because it opens up (wicks) to absorb moisture. 

For oily fluids and grease, scrim-reinforced paper works well. Scrim is a netting that is bonded between toweling stock for strength, which produces an efficient, all-purpose wiper.  Scrim also is useful for glass and smooth-surface cleaning. 

In addition, for gas, oil or kerosene, blended materials such as polyester, rayon and acrylic are suitable because these materials are hydrocarbon-based. Hydrocarbons have an affinity for other hydrocarbons; however, if the goal is to not only absorb but also retain the liquid in the cloth, then blended cotton fabric may be a better choice.

Size
Picking the right size for the task can save time and money; for example, using an appropriately small wiper for micro-machinery, rather than the standard rental towel size, enables employees to clean more efficiently and comfortably and reduces the need to purchase more wiper than needed. The same applies to bigger jobs. Floors and large equipment need large-sized wipers (20 inches by 20 inches, or larger).

Cost and value
Cost is obviously a major factor in any MRO decision. When comparing the purchase of task-specific wipers and rental shop  towels, consider four factors:
1) base cost of the wiper or towel;
2) disposal/environmental fees;
3) lost/replacement fees; and,
4) fuel/energy surcharges for deliveries of rentals.

The base cost of a rental towel is about 12 to 15 cents, depending on the laundry. The average cost per task-specific wiper is 5 cents to 10 cents, but they can range from 2 cents to 20 cents, depending on size and strength. Disposal costs for task-specific wipers are calculated as part of a company’s overall waste disposal contract fees. Rental towels include the following fees to cover expenses:

Disposal/environmental fees
Rental companies add environmental charges to cover mandatory landfilling of laundry sludge and, in some cases, to cover surcharges from local wastewater treatment plants for treating laundry contaminants before they enter the public sewer systems.

According to the Environmental Protection Agency, more than 
87 percent of the industrial laundries in the United States do not have proper equipment to pre-treat shop towels. This has put a burden on local wastewater treatment plants and taxpayers to buy equipment to treat these laundry contaminants or to clean up discharges. Local wastewater treatment facilities are beginning to pass charges on to industrial laundries.

Lost/replacement fees
Most rental towel contracts charge for a specified inventory level, not actual usage, so it is important to know if an actual usage count takes place or if the supplier is estimating. This may sound like a minor point, but the difference between actual counts and estimated usage can result in a substantial annual cost.

Fuel/energy surcharges
Some rental companies now charge a fee to cover transportation fuel charges.

Environmental roulette
Environmental compliance is among the most complex and potentially expensive issues facing many MRO managers. 

One of the most common misperceptions is, if a company uses rental towels, then the industrial laundry, not the company, is responsible for any liability resulting from toxic substances, such as oil or solvent residue, and discharges into the local sewer system or surface drinking water. This is not true. 

According to the EPA, the user of the rental towel or wiper (called the “waste generator”) is ultimately responsible. Waste generators have “cradle-to-grave” liability under the Comprehensive Environmental Response and Liability Act (CERLA, also known as the Superfund Act) and the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA).

Regulatory change
Although the EPA’s Office of Solid Waste regulates task-specific wipers, this office doesn’t regulate rental shop towels. Instead, rentals have been regulated under a variety of confusing and conflicting state and regional provisions. For companies with multiple facilities and decentralized plant operations, dealing with this patchwork quilt of regulations is a nightmare.

In an effort to create a level playing field, the EPA is set to issue a proposed rule that will put rental shop towels under EPA guidelines. For companies that use rental towels, these new guidelines will impact how towels are prepared for laundering, and require laundries or dry cleaners to report to regulators when they clean solvent-wet towels (5 grams or more).

For companies that currently use task-specific wipers, these new procedures will enable wipers (with less than 5 grams of solvents) to be properly prepared for burning in municipal waste incinerators (as long as they do not contain 2-Nitropropane or Pyridine) or sent to municipal landfills (as long as they do not contain any of the list of EPA’s 13 pollutants of concern). The proposed rule is expected to be issued within the next few months.

The greening of wipers
Task-specific wipers made of textile blends may be recycled, which saves water and energy. These wipers get a second life in MRO work after undergoing a quality control process for sorting, cleaning, grading and packaging. In addition, according to a recent EPA study, task-specific wipers use less landfill space by volume than rental towels, when laundry sludge and discarded towels are counted.

MRO buyers are faced with the challenge to integrate their efforts into the environmental business strategies and best practices of their companies. Task-specific wipers offer an excellent opportunity to meet both MRO and corporate environmental goals.

Bernard D. Brill is executive vice president for SMART (Secondary Materials and Recycled Textiles), an international association based in Bethesda, Md. For more information about the association or the EPA proposed rule, contact SMART by phone (301-656-1077), e-mail (smartasn@erols.com) or the Internet (www.smartasn.org).

This article appeared in the October/November 2002 issue of MRO Today magazine. Copyright 2002.

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