Cathy Osten

AC Linen Supply Welcomes Senator Osten to Tour Facility, Hear About Plans for New State Aid

NORWICH—The state’s investment in new equipment for the AC Linen Supply company will not only grow local jobs but will also help protect the local environment, AC Linen General Manager Musalam Camasta told state Senator Cathy Osten (D-Sprague) today during an hour-long tour of the facility.

Last May, the State Bond Commission approved a $615,000, 10-year loan to AC Linen to purchase new machinery with the condition that they retain existing jobs and hire two dozen more employees. Forty percent of the state loan ($250,000) will be forgiven if the company meets these employment targets. The 3,500 square-foot facility on Consumers Avenue currently employs about 170 people working three shifts a day, 365 days a year.

Camasta told Sen. Osten today that AC Linen will use the state aid to purchase more washers—which can handle anywhere from 150 pounds to more than 10,000 pounds of laundry at a time in ‘tunnel washers’—and to purchase more water-recycling equipment.

The water recycling equipment not only allows AC Linen to re-use its water and to use less water, Camasta said, but it allows AC Linen to discharge less water to the Norwich Public Utilities sewage treatment plant. The company thereby saves money on both the purchase of water and the disposal of water, Camasta said.

The planned upgrades, combined with a planned open house next year to showcase the facility to potential new clients, will have a positive impact on the company and the community, Camasta said.

“This state support has a huge impact on, number one, the environment. Due to the water recycling system that has been put in place, you can literally drink the water that we put out into the sewer system. This state aid also allows us to hire more local people, from Norwich to Willimantic,” Camasta said.

“And we are giving a chance to people who might otherwise go back to who knows what,” he added, noting that AC Linen is a “second chance” company that trains and often hires women from the York Correctional Institution in East Lyme to work at the laundry.

“The state’s investment in AC Linen has allowed them to maintain a good workforce and for their workers to have a good job,” Sen. Osten said. “AC Linen is committed to Norwich and to hiring people from the local community.”