Tireless Advocate – From Morgue Duty to Pushing Reusables

In a recent interview, TRSA President and CEO Joseph Ricci highlighted a career of service to association members—from aiding in medical research to leading a post-COVID “reopening tour” of U.S. laundries and promoting fair treatment from governments on a host of issues.

Ricci spoke during an Aug. 8 edition of the Laundry Talks podcast hosted by Eric Smith of Alliant.

The roughly 50-minute session (click here to listen) was part biographical, touching on Ricci’s ties to his alma mater, Viginia Tech, in Blacksburg, VA and to his early days running an independent marketing communications firm, as well as his service since March 2010 as TRSA’s top executive.

As an entrepreneur Ricci learned how to deal with customers and staff, while paying expenses. He would later empathize with business leaders working in the commercial laundry market. “I learned about what they have to do to make payroll,” he said. “The sleepless nights and doing accounting at 4 in the morning and all the things that go into running a business. I think that’s helped me here at TRSA. When I go to visit members, I identify with them. On running their family-owned/operated business or even the large international companies, what it takes to get the job done with policies and customers and technology.”

On the tech front, Smith asked Ricci about trends he’s seeing. Ricci recalled how the process has evolved since 2010 when chemical companies were leading the way on production tracking. More recently, radio frequency identification (RFID) systems have gained favor by improving efficiency and preventing textile losses. Ricci noted the big leap that operators have made in understanding and acting on the data that these systems generate. “I’d say the big change I’ve seen is that we have a lot more technology, but our members now know how to better use technology,” he said. Speaking of RFID, Ricci cited a recent visit with an operator that has an RFID tag image in their logo. The idea behind the graphic is that the laundry is using technology to give customers greater transparency in terms of where their textiles are at any given time. That, in turn, enhances accountability and helps prevent losses.

In a comment on the linen losses, Ricci recalled how Murray Simpson, the late leader of the United Kingdom’s Textile Services Association (TSA), used to say ‘“We’re the only industry that sends out millions of dollars’ worth of textiles every day and hope that most of it comes back.’”

“And, you know,” Ricci said, “having RFID, helps improve the opportunity for it to come back.”

Ensuring a reliable supply of textiles – such as hospital isolation gowns – is a key issue driving advocacy efforts in states such as New York, where TRSA is working to set a minimum 50% threshold of reusable gowns, rather than disposables. The latter garments quickly ran out during the COVID-19 pandemic. “It really hearkens back to the pandemic,” Ricci said of the state and federal campaigns for reusable personal protective equipment (PPE), “A lot of people saw nurses, doctors in plastic bags and dishwashing gloves,” he said. Moving beyond “throwaway” PPE offers healthcare providers a more sustainable solution, he said.

As the “original recycler” that began 150-plus years ago collecting soiled rags and returning them to shops and factories, the linen, uniform and facility services industry is well-placed to promote reusables in a “proactive” fashion, Ricci said.

Smith’s podcast wasn’t about just policy and advocacy. There are touching anecdotes, such as the story of a homeless woman who advanced to laundry production supervisor, and an ex-offender who earned a leadership post.

Ricci also shares a tale from his time as an executive for the Association of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgeons. These doctors specialize in facial reconstruction and advanced orthodontics. At a conference in New Orleans, Ricci was tasked with going to a morgue to find cadaver heads that the doctors could use for practice surgeries. “They led me into the LSU (Louisiana State University) medical facility to a freezer,” Ricci said. “They said, ‘We need 19 cadaver heads to do surgery tomorrow. You have to pick out the heads, and they have to have enough teeth where we can do the maxillofacial surgeries.’”

Ricci complied, and emerged with a unique perspective. “It was a learning curve from that kind of experience,” he said. “The next day, we were working in the cadaver labs. I never thought I’d have to do that, but it was certainly interesting.” No big deal for a tireless association advocate like Ricci. Tune in to the podcast for details.