Tork manufacturer Essity has stepped up its contribution to a circular society by investing €11m in enhanced recycling facilities at one of its French factories.
The move will allow Essity to increase its beverage carton recycling capacity by up to 24,000 tons per year. Thanks to a new process, the plant will now be able to recover and recycle up to 98% of the fibre contained in each drink carton.
More than 63% of the beverage cartons in France are processed at Essity's factory in Hondouville, northern France. The facility also recycles paper fibres from documents, magazines and newspapers.
Eric Kleinpeter, Commercial Director Professional Hygiene France at Essity, said: “This €11m initiative brings a new dimension to recycling and circularity. It will allow us to substantially increase the amount of recycled beverage cartons used to manufacture our professional hygiene products. By investing in technologies that reduce environmental impact, we at Tork are offering solutions that meet our customers’ own sustainable development goals.”
Magnus Groth, President and CEO at Essity, added: “This improves our contribution to a circular society while also taking an important step towards our target of ensuring that all production waste will be subject to material or energy recovery by 2030.”
Paper fibres recovered from drinks cartons will be used to make Tork branded toilet paper, hand towels and industrial wiping papers. The enhanced recycling system will be fully operational in the first half of 2022.
Sustainability forms a crucial part of Essity’s remit. Early in 2020, the global hygiene and health company company unveiled its new Sustainable Life Away from Home strategy to help customers reduce their environmental footprint both at work and in the public arena.
In December 2020 Essity qualified for inclusion in the 2020 Dow Jones Sustainability Europe Index in the Household Products category, receiving high scores for its environmental and social reporting plus its work with suppliers, innovation and climate strategy.
The company’s Tork PaperCircle solution – the world’s first recycling service for paper hand towels – is also being expanded this autumn to include the UK and France for the first time. The service involves washroom hand towels being picked up from business premises after use and taken to local recycling centres where they are turned into other tissue products.
