Superior (Cincinnati) Earns Two Certifications

Superior Linen and Apparel Service, Cincinnati, recently joined the ranks of only 10 textile services companies that have received both of TRSA’s corporate certifications: Clean Green and Hygienically Clean. These initiatives verify the commitment of laundries to green business practices and product cleanliness.

Superior serves customers and metro Cincinnati, Dayton and Columbus; northern and central Kentucky, including Lexington and Louisville; as well as parts of southeast 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 certifies companies as 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, qualified biological testing and inspection to ensure that 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 added that today’s definition of a “green” business goes beyond “environmentally friendly.” Demonstration of conservation practices and increasing efficiencies are needed to assure buyers that sellers can uphold long-term agreements. “As textile services companies 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, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, the American National Standards Institute and others.

Superior was founded in 1927. Today, Jerry Ruwe, who has been a TRSA member for over 50 years, serves as president and CEO. His grandsons, Leland and Chris Zerbe, represent the fifth generation of the family members to work in the business.