LTC Laundry Cost Case: Switching to Disposable Bed Sheets

September 6, 2026

Can a long-term care home lower its linen costs by moving some beds to disposable non-woven sheets? In this example, a 120-bed Canadian home ran a 90-day, two-wing comparison and found the 24-bed wing on disposables recorded fewer linen changes, a lower fully loaded cost per change, and faster room turnaround than its cotton control wing. The figures are illustrative of that single facility, and results vary with resident mix, laundry pricing, staffing, and product choice.

Quick Facts — the example home

120 beds; 24-bed pilot wing vs cotton control; 90-day run
Pilot wing covered incontinent care and isolation rooms
About 2.2 vs 3.1 linen changes per incontinent bed per day
About $1.10 vs $1.75 fully loaded cost per bed change
About 14 vs 22 minutes of room turnaround time
Illustrative figures only — results vary by facility

The daily cost of cotton linen

Both wings started with cotton sheets and one routine: soiled linen was collected twice daily, bagged, and sent to an off-site laundry, then returned as clean bundles to sort, fold, and restock. Incontinent care drove the volume — in this example, an occupied incontinent bed on the cotton wing was changed about three times a day, and roughly one sheet in seven was retired over 90 days for staining, tearing, or wear. Stained sheets were pulled early, and isolation-room linen was double-bagged; some loads were discarded on site, so the home paid for laundering it never received back.

The pilot: one 24-bed wing, 90 days

The home moved its 24-bed wing — incontinent-care bays plus two isolation rooms — onto CliniEco disposable non-woven bed sheets and kept the adjacent wing of similar acuity on cotton as a control. Both wings tracked linen changes per occupied bed per day, fully loaded cost per change, room turnaround, and linen-handling steps. On the pilot wing, a used sheet went from bed to disposal bag at the bedside, with replacements kept on a room cart — no sorting, folding, or soiled-linen storage.

CliniEco non-woven disposable bed sheet made up on a long-term care bed

What the comparison showed

Figures here are the example home's own. The pilot wing logged about 2.2 changes per occupied incontinent bed per day versus 3.1 on cotton, because cotton beds were often changed entirely once the layer beneath was stained or worn, while the disposable layer was replaced on its own. Fully loaded cost per change averaged about $1.10 versus $1.75, room turnaround fell from about 22 minutes to 14, and the disposable cycle involved about four linen-handling steps against nine for cotton.

In this example (90 days)	Conventional cotton wing	Disposable pilot wing
Fully loaded cost per bed change	About $1.75 — laundering, replacement stock, sort-and-fold labour	About $1.10 — sheet at pilot pricing plus disposal labour
Labour per change	Collect, bag, cart, launder, sort, fold, restock	Remove at bedside, bag, replace from room cart
Room turnaround time	About 22 minutes	About 14 minutes
Waste output	Roughly two tonnes of soiled linen shipped off site	One to two disposal bags of used sheets per day

Results vary: these are one home's figures, not industry averages.

Trade-offs the home weighed

Not everything favoured disposables. Some residents preferred cotton and were moved back or offered a cotton overlay, and the per-sheet price in this example exceeded one cotton wash cycle — savings came from avoided replacement, labour, transport, and discarded isolation linen, not from unit price. Waste volume rose on the pilot wing (daily landfill) while off-site laundry fell. For a lower-impact option, CliniEco also offers PLA biodegradable bed sheets (plant-based), now in a two-room trial there.

CliniEco PLA biodegradable non-woven disposable bed sheets on a shelf

What to try before switching

Pilot on a defined wing before changing a whole building, and track three KPIs:

Linen changes per occupied bed per day (incontinent beds separately)
Fully loaded cost per bed change — purchase or laundry cost, replacement stock, and labour minutes
Room turnaround time, from resident exit to room ready

Take a 30-day baseline, run disposables for at least 90 days, and compare like months. Review your infection prevention expectations first — Ontario homes can start with Public Health Ontario's infection prevention and control resources and ask their IPAC lead whether a disposable bedding protocol fits their policies.

FAQ

Do disposable bed sheets meet infection control expectations in long-term care?

Facility IPAC guidance decides that. In this example, the IPAC lead approved disposables for incontinent care and isolation rooms, and the cycle involved fewer linen-handling steps than cotton. Confirm with your own team before trialling.

How does cost per sheet compare with laundering cotton?

Per unit, the disposable sheet in this example cost more than one cotton wash cycle, but fully loaded cost per change was lower once replacement, labour, and transport fell. Pricing varies with volume and local laundry rates.

Do residents notice the difference?

Some do. A few residents in the example moved back to cotton or received a cotton overlay, which kept the pilot voluntary. Sensory preferences matter in dementia care, so keep an opt-out.

Is disposable bedding waste a concern?

Yes: landfill volume rose on the pilot wing while off-site laundry fell. Homes can compare biodegradable options like the CliniEco PLA bed sheet and confirm local waste rules with their municipality.

How long should a trial run, and what should we measure?

A 30-day baseline plus a 90-day wing pilot smooths weekly spikes. Track changes per bed per day, fully loaded cost per change, and room turnaround — results vary by facility, so decide on your own numbers.

Every figure here comes from the example home and is not a promise of savings. The team kept cotton on most of the building and switched only where its numbers made sense — run your own pilot before you change your linen program.