Colour-coded laundry bags: a practical guide for hotels, aged care and commercial laundries

Colour-coded laundry bags let staff tell at a glance what is inside a bag and where it is going, without opening it. You choose what each colour means, write it down, and use the same key on every floor and shift. Our Dolphy Linen ripstop laundry bags come in five colours (black, purple, yellow, red and brown), each 75 cm long with a 70 cm opening and sold by the carton of 50.

What colour-coding is for

A linen room handles several kinds of laundry at once: used guest linen, staff uniforms, towels from a gym or salon, items belonging to residents, or a client's linen in a commercial laundry. When every bag looks the same, the only way to sort them is to open them. A colour key does the sorting before the bag is opened.

The listing puts it simply: give each floor, department, client or linen type its own colour, so soiled, clean and guest laundry never end up in the same pile.

Colours are a system you set, not a rule

We do not assign a meaning to any colour. The meaning is whatever your business decides. If your organisation, your laundry contractor or a client already uses colours for particular kinds of linen, match theirs rather than starting a second scheme that staff have to remember alongside it.

Ways to split your colours:

• By linen type. One colour for sheets and pillowcases, another for towels, another for uniforms.
• By floor or department. Each wing, floor or department has its own colour, so a bag that turns up in the wrong place can go straight back.
• By client. A commercial laundry gives each customer a colour, so their linen comes back to them and nobody else.

Whatever you choose, keep the key short. A key with too many entries is one that nobody follows on a busy shift.

Write the key down

A colour scheme only works if every person handling the bags reads it the same way.

1. Write the key on one page: colour, what goes in it, where it goes.
2. Put a copy in the linen room, on the laundry trolleys and wherever bags are filled.
3. Show it to new staff on their first day, and to anyone covering a shift.
4. Use the same colours at every site you run, so staff moving between sites do not have to relearn them.
5. Keep a stock of each colour, so nobody fills the wrong colour because the right one ran out.

The Dolphy Linen laundry bags

Ripstop fabric has a reinforcing grid woven into it, which helps stop a small snag running into a tear. The listing names hotels, motels, aged care, gyms, salons and commercial laundries as the places these bags are made for.

Each colour is its own listing:

• Black laundry bags, carton of 50
• Purple laundry bags, carton of 50
• Yellow laundry bags, carton of 50
• Red laundry bags, carton of 50
• Brown laundry bags, carton of 50

Working out how many bags you need

The number depends on your own linen, so work it out from your figures rather than a rule of thumb.

1. Weigh a typical run. Weigh the linen one floor or department produces between collections, or use the weights on your laundry invoices.
2. Divide by the bag's working load. Each bag takes 15 to 20 kg, so divide the weight of a run by that range to see how many bags one run fills.
3. Count the bags out at once. Bags at the laundry, bags on the way back and bags being filled are all in use at the same time. Count every place a bag can be.
4. Split it by colour. If one linen type or client makes up most of your volume, that colour needs the most bags.

Do not pack a bag past its 30 kg maximum to save a bag. A bag that is easier to lift is easier on the people lifting it.

Filling and closing the bags

Fill each bag to its working load rather than its limit, pull the drawstring tight and lock the toggle so nothing falls out on the trolley. Keep empty bags folded by colour in the linen room, so the right colour is always to hand.

You will find the bags alongside other linen room supplies on our housekeeping supplies page, and with baskets and hampers on the laundry storage page.

Frequently asked questions

What do the colours on laundry bags mean?

They mean whatever your business decides. We do not assign a meaning to any colour. Choose a meaning for each colour, write it down and use it everywhere, or match the scheme your laundry contractor or client already uses.

How much linen does one laundry bag hold?

Each Dolphy Linen bag holds 15 to 20 kg of linen or clothing, and the maximum load is 30 kg per bag.

How big are the laundry bags?

Each bag is 75 cm long with a 70 cm opening, and it closes with a drawstring cord and a toggle lock.

What colours do the laundry bags come in?

Black, purple, yellow, red and brown. Each colour is sold by the carton of 50 bags.

What is ripstop polyester?

It is polyester fabric with a reinforcing grid woven into it. The grid helps stop a small snag running into a tear. These bags use 265gsm ripstop polyester.