Sustainable nonwoven was the big trend at the world's largest nonwoven event!

Last week, the world's largest nonwoven fair was finally arranged, INDEX 20. Scandinavian Nonwoven was there. The topic in every booth was sustainable nonwoven.

The demand for sustainable nonwoven materials has exploded over the past year. Driven by higher climate awareness but also by the rising price on raw material. Customers want to offer sustainable climate-smart products and thus has started to also place higher demands on nonwoven material.

At the moment, large investments are being made in product development of nonwovens to adjust to the market's urgent demands. There are mainly three aspects of sustainability on the agenda.

1. Fossil-free and biodegradable nonwoven

There are a number of different fossil-free alternatives. Nonwoven made from corn starch, PLA, has been around for a while and is probably the most common option on the market.

Fibre made from sugar cane, PE, has also been developed in recent years and is used in nonwovens.

The latest addition is plastic-free binders to create a wide range of different nonwovens. It has previously been possible to produce nonwoven from a variety of natural fibres, but so far it has been necessary to use a plastic based binder to bind the material together. With this new non-plastic binder, you can finally remove the last plastic component from the chemically bonded nonwoven materials.

2. Circularity and recycled raw materials

One way to create more sustainability is to reuse other materials. We have seen it as a big trend in the past for, for example, needle felt. But also where PET bottles that have served their purpose as bottles are reused in various spunbond. Now there are also methods where you can recycle the most common nonwoven plastic type polypropylene.

3. Make nonwoven recyclable

The latest trend we are seeing is that customers are developing recycling on new levels. For example, companies offer end-users to return material so that they can recycle into new materials.

But it is also about being able to be sorted and recycled nonwovens as plastic in waste management.

In order to be able to recycle nonwoven and remelt it into new materials, it is necessary to use "pure" nonwoven where only one type of fibre is used - previously, different fibres have been combined to be able to achieve certain properties. The trend now is to create the composite nonwoven materials from the same type of plastic to be able to easily recycle the material.

There are also requirements on how to handle the materials according to their life cycle: whether the materials can be broken down either naturally, mechanically or incinerated in a climate-smart way.

About us

Scandinavian Nonwoven is Scandinavia's largest nonwoven retailer. We are experienced in helping customers to identify the right nonwoven for their needs. Or we help them to develop new nonwovens that completely meets the requirements that the they place on the material.

Contact us at info@nonwoven.se if you want help or visit our website to order samples.