Sustainable Hygiene Production: How to reduce the carbon footprint?

Sustainable production is of increasing importance, especially in the personal hygiene sector. Consumers are looking for products that are not only safe for them, but also for the environment. In these times they are well aware that a responsible and sustainable production plays a central role for consumer goods like baby diapers, femcare or adult incontinence products.

53% of consumers focus on low carbon footprint when selecting a brand and millennial parents are willing to pay for the sustainably sourced and produced diaper (Euromonitor International Health & Nutrition Survey, 2020).

For manufacturers of sustainable hygiene products there are several ways to reduce the energy consumption or carbon footprint of their production lines by selecting the right adhesive solutions.

• Resource efficiency through mileage improvement – achieving more with less
• Carbon footprint optimization through olefin adhesives
• Melt-on-demand with Easyflow^®
• Energy savings through COOL adhesives

In the following you will find all the details on above mentioned points.

Sustainable hygiene production through resource efficiency: Achieving more with less

A conscious use of resources is one of the most important aspects of a sustainable production. Therefore, the use of adhesives with increased mileage is recommended, as it makes production processes more efficient. Simply said enabling to achieve more with less.

The main factors for increased mileage are bond strength and density which means how strong is the bonding of 1 gram of adhesive and how much surface is covered by this amount of adhesive.

The use of less materials contributes to reducing CO2 emissions also by reducing the amount of transport required. As an example, a reduction of the average coating weight by 15% saves around 4 tons of CO2 emissions in transport every year (for a yearly consumption of 170 tons of adhesive).

Olefin adhesives enabling carbon footprint optimization in sustainable hygiene production

We all need to play our part to ensure that people can live well within the resource limits of our planet. Products should not only serve their purpose, but also contribute the higher common goal of sustainability. That is why we take a holistic approach to sustainability management with measurable results. Carbon footprint reduction and global availability are topics fulfilled by TECHNOMELT ADVANCE.

Adhesives can play a fundamental role when it comes to more sustainable production of personal hygiene products. Impact starts with the sourcing and production of the adhesives itself and continues with the influence on efficiency of the production line including waste and consumption reduction. Going forward adhesives might also have an impact on high value recycling streams of personal hygiene products.

With the Life Cycle Analysis (LCA) the environmental impact associated with all stages of a products' life is assessed. LCA measures the cradle-to-grave footprint down to end product disposal. For our adhesives, we have analysed the cradle-to-gate LCA for several commonly used adhesives to understand their impact expressed in CO2 footprint. 

Melt-on-demand adhesives: Energy savings in sustainable hygiene production through Easyflow^®

The production lines of hygiene products are running faster and faster. Therefore, sustainable hygiene production needs adhesives that guarantee process performance, are efficient in application and safe at the same time.

Easyflow^® sets a new standard in process performance and efficiency. It offers:

• Melt-on-demand capabilities, due to patented product shape. Only as much adhesive as needed is melted
• Closed system integration to eliminate foreign materials in melt tanks
• Automatic feeding system for continuous production and consistent temperature level in the tank

Due to the constant temperature and the on-demand melting process, less heat and therefore less energy is consumed.

Cool Adhesives in sustainable hygiene: Lower temperature means less energy consumption

Another way to reduce energy consumption in the production of personal hygiene products is to use hot melt adhesives with a low application temperature. These adhesives help to reduce the environmental impact because they require less energy but provide the same adhesive performance. All in all, the lower energy required for melting AND manufacturing significantly reduces the carbon footprint of hygiene products.

Would you like to discover your options for an optimized production process of sustainable hygiene products? Please get in touch with us!