The Price of Cotton

According to International Cotton Advisory Committee, the price of cotton has double in the past year, reaching a record high of $1.90 per pound. The last time it was this high was during the Civil War when the price of cotton hit a record $1.89 per pound.

There are several reasons for this price increase. Bad weather in China, Pakistan, Australia and the United States, has destroyed the cotton crops.Restrictions for cotton export from India, which ranks second in the world, is another of the factors affecting cotton price. China, being the first cotton producing country in the world, has shut down many factories due to recession. Global demand for cotton has also driven the price up.

This price increase affects the price of rags also. Some of the products affected are new bar mops and huck towels. Here at RFI Inc. we try to keep the prices at our lowest possible, unfortunately
as you can see in our website, prices for these two items have to be quoted before we ship them.

We will continue to offer the best price and quality of our rags as the market allow us.

Recycling Update: Part 3, Textiles

The subject of textile recycling covers several different topics. Used clothing is collected through various means and after cleaning and sorting, is donated to the less fortunate of us or sold in second-hand venues such as Goodwill in order to raise funds. However, once a garment is no longer a viable garment, it eventually enters the "waste stream." Other textiles that are non-durable, such as sheets and towels, are often converted to rags and wipers. It is interesting to note that the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) does not consider this type of "reuse" as recycling because the rags and wipers eventually do become waste material.

Hotels, motels, resorts, and medical clinics and hospitals are a major source of reused or recycled textiles. These "damaged" or used textiles are often processed by sorting, cutting, and hemming. Other sources are textile manufacturers themselves, that often have unusable or damaged material that is produced in the manufacturing process. Textiles that can't be used for rags have other uses. Cotton is used in high-quality paper making. Other knitted and woolen fabrics are "pulled" into fibrous state and reprocessed into fibers that are used in upholstery, insulation and other building materials.

Two companies that make clothing, Patagonia and Nike, have been in the news regarding their "green" policies. Patagonia, well-known for its "footprint" program, launched its Common Threads Garment Recycling Program to recycle used garments into modern styles. And in the recent World Cup games, no less than nine soccer teams were wearing Nike jerseys that were made from recycled plastic bottles.

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Sources:
http://www.buzzle.com/articles/recycled-cotton-saves-land-water-energy.html

http://www.epa.gov/osw/conserve/materials/textiles.htm

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Textile_recycling#Conversion_to_rags

http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1995859,00.html

Spring Cleaning -- THE KITCHEN

A great deal of activity takes place in most kitchens. We cook, eat, and just generally gather in that one place day in and day out. So, once a year it's not a bad idea to give it a good going over. Traditionally, spring, a time of renewal, is a great time to do it.

(Reprinted from an article on About.com by, Sarah Aquirre)

A day can be completely eaten up by cleaning a kitchen. After breakfast, lunch, and supper, your kitchen can look like a disaster area in need of federal attention. We all know that if we leave our dishes and countertops until the morning, we need an ice pick to scrape off dried on food. After a long day few of us want to spend an hour scrubbing a room that is just going to need it again in 8 hours. Use this method to keep your kitchen running smoothly without making you feel rundown.

1. Begin with a 15 Minute Kitchen Cleanup.

   This will clear out the clutter and dirty dishes, and give you room to do the actual spring clean up. Don't worry about cleaning the floors in the 15 minute clean up. We will do this later.

2. Dust down the ceiling and corners of walls.

   Determine if the walls need washed in dirty spots. Spot wash, remembering air vents, doorknobs, doors, switch plates. Walls will likely need to be washed more often in this room than in others. You may not have noticed that the hand mixer or blender sloshed goop all over the wall. Take your spring cleaning time now to clean the grease, grime, and spilled food from your walls.

3. Dust and clean all art and photographs along the wall.

   Be careful when cleaning framed art and photographs. Never spray cleanser or water onto the frame. The liquid can seep behind the glass and damage the pictures. Instead lightly wet a clean cloth to wipe the frame and glass.

4. Dust and clean the ceiling fan.

   You may need to use a gentle cleanser like Murphy's Oil Soap. Take down any light fixtures and gently wash and dry them before replacing.

5. Take down draperies, curtains, and blinds to wash or have cleaned according to the manufacturer's directions.

   Vacuum and clean windowsills and corners. Wash the insides and outsides of the windows. Take down and rinse off screens, before replacing.

6. Apply oven cleaner to the oven and clean the refrigerator.

   Leave the windows in the kitchen open to avoid the overpowering smell. Don't forget to vacuum the coils of your UNPLUGGED refrigerator. This is a great time to sweep and mop underneath it too if you can find some help to move it. Be careful of scratching your floor.

7. While the oven cleaner works, begin sorting through the freezer and refrigerator.

   Throw out any expired food, mostly empty containers, and items that you bought and never used. Put the stuff to keep on the counter. Take out the refrigerator shelves and drawers. Wash them down, being careful with glass shelves. Wipe down the entire inside of the refrigerator and freezer before replacing shelves and food. Wipe down and clean out the oven according to the directions on the oven cleaner.

8. Take the knobs, burners, burner covers, and spill catchers off of the stove.

   Follow your stove/oven owner’s manual for information on proper cleaning methods for your model. (The one you carefully filed, when you bought the stove, just for an occasion like this.) Some stovetops lift up to allow easy access to spills and crumbs. Wipe down the entire stove.

9. Wipe down and clean the toaster, blender, and other small appliances.

   Wipe down and clean the microwave. If the spills in the microwave are fossilized, try bring a water-filled glass cup to boiling in the microwave. The steam should help loosen the gunk. If the microwave smells, boil lemon juice. Unplug all appliances first. Don't forget the turntable.

10. Clean out kitchen cabinets.

    Reline if needed. Remove mismatched lids and bowls. Take out anything that isn't being used on a regular basis. Reorganize and wash down the insides and outsides of cabinets.

11. Run the dishwasher empty.

    Try adding vinegar or baking soda to the empty dishwasher before running it. If your dishwasher has a food trap in the bottom, clean it out. Wash down the outside of the dishwasher.

12. Wash down the countertops in your kitchen.

    Don't forget backsplashes.

13. Wipe down and clean out any drawers.

    Organize your flatware. This is a great time to install drawer dividers to better organize your kitchen drawers.

14. Wash down the sink. If you have a garbage disposal now is the time to pour baking soda with warm water and/or a lemon peel down the disposal to freshen the drain. Put ice cubes through the disposal to sharpen the blades.
15. Sweep and mop the floors.

    Don't forget baseboards. One of the best ways to get a floor REALLY clean is to use a rag or towel while on your hands and knees. If this is not an option try going barefoot and scooting a large towel around the floor with your feet. It provides more contact and pressure with the floor. Press gently, and be careful and slow. Even though this is the last step, the floor is not the best place to rest.

Recycling Update: Part 2, Plastic

Probably the most significant fact about the process of plastic recycling is that one plastic product may end up being recycled into something completely different. One process is commonly referred to as "downcycling". This is when a material is recycled into something of lesser quality and/or reduced functionality.

Plastic bottles, the trade term is PET (polyethylene terephthalate), are crushed, chopped into flakes, and pressed into bales for resale. One very common and popular use for PET is the fabric industry. PET is spun into yarn and thread and woven into new polyester cloth. Uses are normally durable, strong products such as jackets, coat, shoes, bags, hats, and accessories. It is not usually used with anything that touches the skin because of irritation. But many new processes and innovations are pushing this growing industry. More and more companies are taking advantage of the growing demand for "green products", and are trying to incorporate these new fabrics into their product.

High-density polyethylene (HDPE) is used for telecom ducts, thicker bottles such as for laundry detergent, plastic lumber, chairs, and many other durable products. PVC has been more difficult to recycle, but recent technologies have been developed in the last decade that involve something called "up-cycling". This is when a product is recycled into something of more value than the original.

What makes plastic recycling difficult is that recycled material has to be sorted according to the plastic identification code, or PIC. Once that is done, there are other obstacles such as the dyes, fillers and additives that are used in plastics.

Sources:

Wikipedia: Plastic Recycling

Recycling Point.com

Recycling Update: Part 1, Paper

Because we are in the business of supplying recycled products, we thought it might be interesting to take a look at the current state of paper recycling in the U.S.

In 1690, the Rittenhouse family established the first paper mill in the colonies to use recycled linen. This isn't all that big of a development because paper really has always been made of some type of recycled material. But in 1896, in NYC, the first major recycling center was started by the Benedetto family. They collected rags, newspaper and trash for paper making.

In the 1970s and 80s, it was very in vogue to use "recycled" paper and many corporations and businesses who specified "recycled" paper for their company literature, such as annual reports, wanted everyone to know about it. But there has been some confusion about exactly what "recycled" means. Virtually 100% of all paper is recycled. What matters most is how much "post-consumer waste" is in the content. In that period of the 70s and 80s paper mills even purposely came out with paper that even had little chips in it to demonstrate that it was recycled.

Recycled paper material comes in three types. The first is "mill broke". This is waste material recovered inside the paper mill during the paper making process. The second is "pre-consumer waste". This refers to paper that already made and may or may not have printing on it. It consists of printer's make-ready sheets, cut-offs, and rejected stocks. The last is actual "post-consumer waste". A large portion of this category are old newspapers, office and home waste, and used packaging.

In our current culture of climate change awareness and conservation in general, businesses around the world are "going green" and demanding some level of compliance to environmental concerns. 1993 marked the first year that more paper was recycled than was put in landfills. This was a historic milestone.

Some people do not want to work

(This posting was published as a letter to the editor, in the St. Petersburg Times on 3/28/2010)

I am the office manager of a very successful recycling textiles company. We recently placed an ad on Craigslist for an inside and outside salesperson, with no results for the first three days. After revising the ad, we offered up to $45,000 a year. Two people answered. One turned it down because he wanted a car and $60,000, but he wanted to keep the door open for other opportunities. The other wanted to be inside sales only.

We eventually placed a different ad for a sales manager assistant. No money was mentioned, but we got many resumes. Eight were picked and scheduled for interviews. But to our surprise, only one person showed up and he was not sure about taking the job. He said he had to check with his wife. What is wrong with this picture?

Now I know why unemployment is so high. Someone I know who has been recently unemployed said: "I can retire for a year or two, receiving benefits, best thing that could have ever happened to me."

Maybe one of the reasons unemployment is so high is because it is too easy to be unemployed. Some people really do not want to work.

Marta Roman, RFI Inc., Clearwater

Industry Trends: Auto Repair Update

As new cars sales continue to slump in the recession, some dealer service departments and auto repair shops are seeing an increase in business in 2010. Bobby Irby, general manager of Memphis Auto Repair Service says, "A lot of people now are fixing (older cars) up rather than buying new vehicles."

Conventional wisdom has always said that the auto repair business is "recession-proof". Independent mechanics surveyed by the Automotive Service Association reported business up in 2009 over 2008. 76% expect more work in the recession. When someone is faced with a $1000 auto repair, they previously may have decided to trade the car. But now with budgets getting tighter and tighter, they just bite the bullet and do the repair. On the downside, there are also people who, when faced with that kind of bill, just turn to public transportation. There are a lot of people out there with cars just sitting in the driveway.

"People are hanging on to them right now, and they've got to keep them running," says Tim Smith of Bob Smith BMW/Mini in Calabasas, Calif. The median age for cars in 2008 was 9.4 years. Another problem is that may people are "upside-down" or "underwater" as the expression goes.

At RFI, Inc., we supply rags for the auto repair, auto body, and auto detailing industries. While the recession affects all of us, the recycled textile business remains steady and strong. We look forward to a great 2010.

Sources:
Commercial Appeal
The Early Show