Friday, October 17, 1997

Growers and ginners can reduce cotton contamination

By J.T. Smith / Abilene Reporter-News

Nobody wants to buy a cotton shirt or other garment and find a piece of plastic or other contaminant in it.

American consumers want and deserve top quality textile and apparel items. There's no place for inferior items on store shelves.

The National Cotton Council is sending that message to cotton producers, ginners and other industry segments. And with cotton harvest rolling into high gear, it is a timely one.

Keeping cotton free of contamination during harvesting, ginning and other processing is crucial.

Sadly, lint contamination has been on the rise during the past few years -- at time when the industry is looking for reduction in production and processing costs.

Contamination cost millions

"Increases in contamination cause a loss of quality and marketability," said NCC President William Lovelady.

Unfortunately, the Council estimates that lint contamination cost the U.S. textile industry more than $5 million in flawed goods in 1996," Lovelady said.

"This does not include the costs associated with mill down-time because of contamination," Lovelady said.

Woven polypropylene from bale wrapping, nylon and rubber (from module straps) are common contaminants that show up at the textile mill or in cotton products.

Plastics contaminated so much cotton in 1996 that one U.S. textile manufacturer had several hundred thousand finished shirts rejected by a leading U.S. retailer.

That's not just a textile business or a retailer problem. If you make a living growing cotton, it's your problem too.

Working with cotton gins

The Council is distributing more than 2,000 mini-displays that show the problem. They are being sent to all 1,230 U.S. cotton gins as well as to U.S. textile manufacturers, producer and ginner organizations, along with Extension Service offices and others involved in cotton production education.

Chuck Earnest, president of the National Cotton Ginners Association said the problem needs to be nipped locally before it ever gets to the textile level.

"The mills' customers deserve to have contamination-free shirts and the textile mills deserve to get raw cotton that is contamination-free," Earnest said. "Even the slightest shred of foreign material in a shirt can reduce that shirt's value by more than half the original cost."

The baling twine was put in the display because it was proven to be the No. 1 contaminant in cotton harvested in 1996. Plastic twine is used to tie up module covers during the harvest season.

Simpson said that while plastic is responsible for 55 percent of all contamination, producers also need to keep in mind items like irrigation ditch plastic liners, road trash and picker heads.

Use non-contaminating markers to identify cotton modules. And remove all module covers and tie-down materials from modules and trailers before feeding seed cotton into the gin.

Simpson strongly recommends using 100 percent cotton strapping for module cover tie-downs and bale head ties.

Ginners and their employees should keep clothing, hats, gloves, tools and plastic trash away from seed cotton and gin machinery.

"We don't use poly or nylon," said David Wyatt, a ginner at Woodsboro. "We also furnish our customers with non-contaminating module marking spray. And we try to make sure our bale press area is well maintained to prevent contamination from grease and oil."

For more, contact Simpson at the NCC at P.O. Box 820285, Memphis, Tenn. 38182, or call (901) 274-9030.