ARTA serves its members in several ways. The association:

• Promotes the value of and need for reusable textiles through education conferences, seminars, marketing and sales resources, research, and by creating a library of data on the benefits of reusable textiles.

• Provides a forum for the exchange of information among all interested parties, focusing on key economic and environmental issues that offer opportunities for membership involvement.

• Promotes ARTA’s concerns to legislative and regulatory decision-makers.

ARTA is committed to position reusables as the first choice among consumers.

ARTA supports the three R's of sustainability — Reduce, Reuse and Recycle — and promotes the three C’s of reusable textiles — Comfort, Cost, and Conservation.

For example, in the healthcare industry, reusable textiles offer benefits of:

• COMFORT: The softness of washable textiles is unsurpassed in garments for patients and surgical staff and in bed linen, toweling, and other flatgoods.

• COST: When the price of single-use, disposable goods - acquisition, storage, and removal - is compared to reusable textiles, serviceable for hundreds of washings, the ratio is 2 to 1.

• CONSERVATION: Carefully engineered medical devices made of cloth for use again and again under professional laundering conditions provide a solution to the worsening problems of waste disposal and polluted air from disposables’ incineration.