Tork PaperCircle®
Essity Professional Hygiene Germany GmbH
The service helps companies to close the recycling loop by recycling paper towels sustainably and with short transport routes into new hygiene paper products. This reduces the total amount of waste by up to 20% and the CO2 footprint by 40%. In the washrooms, the paper towels are collected separately in labelled containers, collected by a recycling partner, returned to the Essity plants and then reprocessed into hand drying paper.
Award winner 2024 in the category »Service«»Quick, hygienic and versatile – paper towels have many useful applications. However, they have to be wet-strengthened with chemical additives, meaning that it’s not possible to recycle them along with normal paper. This smart solution, which makes use of a separate cycle, is a worthwhile service with high savings potential. A clean affair!«
Prof. Matthias Held
Three questions for Sarah Murcia Bromberg, Customer Marketing Activation Managerin & Sustainability Ambassador DACH
How did the idea for “Tork PaperCircle®” come about?
The goal of reclaiming resources and eliminating materials that are otherwise simply lost in the product has lifecycle inspired Essity to develop Tork PaperCircle®, the groundbreaking paper towel recycling service that’s also a world first.
What was your personal highlight in the development process for “Tork PaperCircle®”? Was there a low point?
There were two highlights in the course of the development process. The first was when the legislative foundations were laid for paper towel recycling and it became possible as well as permitted to recycle paper towels. The second highlight was when we started the pilot phase with some of our customers, and we saw that the process works as intended and can be further expanded.
Where do you see your project in five years?
Over the next five years we hope to continue to expand Tork PaperCircle® and to gain more customer perspectives, and in this way close even more material cycles. We're always on the lookout for new partnerships that will work together with us to scale up the service.
