Importance of Removing Grease From Towels

　　Sanitation is one of the main reasons you’ll want to keep your towels free of grease and oil. Grease is easily transferable, so it can quickly contaminate other fabrics and surfaces in your business if you improperly dispose of or launder a greasy or oily towel. The accumulated grease and oil can also lead to a bad smell, which can turn patrons off your business.

　　Knowing how to properly wash the grease off towels is vital because improperly laundering them will leave bits of grease behind, which can then turn to stains. If you go to a spa, a towel with a giant stain on it is the last thing you want to see. The towel may be clean, but if you put it in the dryer without ensuring there was no grease on it, you’ve permanently marked your towel with an ugly stain. If you provide these stained towels to your patrons, you risk your reputation as a responsible and hygienic business.

　　Greasy towels aren’t just a nuisance because of the oil, stench and dirt. Greasy towels and rags are a common cause of fires in homes and businesses thanks to spontaneous combustion, which is the culprit behind 14,070 fires in the United States every year.

　　Spontaneous combustion is when something catches fire without the need for a flame. Instead, oxidation creates heat, which can lead to a spark. For example, if you use towels to wipe up oil from a deep fryer and then wash the towels without pretreating them or ensuring that all the grease was out, putting them in the dryer can cause a fire. Even little bits of oily residue on the towels are dangerous, since the high heat of a dryer will cause rapid oxidation, which will result in spontaneous combustion.

　　Grease and oils become trapped in the fibers of towels and create a fire hazard. That’s why it’s not a best practice to chuck greasy rags into a pile. Instead, store them separately. A stack of greasy rags will eventually generate enough heat to combust. If you go through a ton of greasy towels at your business, storing them in diluted vinegar is better than dumping them into a hamper. Not all types of grease and oil are necessarily prone to combustion. It’s the flammable oils you should worry about, such as gasoline, some paints and kerosene.

　　Ideally, hang oily towels to dry outdoors, separate from each other. You can hang them indoors as well, but you must make sure to do so far from heat sources.