Zoltán Venter

Managing Director

Essity Hungary

One of the key pillars of the circular economy is the efficient use of resources, which has a great tradition at Essity. By optimizing our use of raw materials, we minimize not only our environmental impacts, but we also realize financial savings. From the Essity’s committments regarding the production we have set a goal for 2030 to produce zero waste, which means that all the waste that was generated as a part of the production is 100 percently recycled as a raw material or an energy source. Our PaperCircle initiative has recently won the Interclean Innovation Audience Award from the audience. “

Circular economy at Essity

Industry: FMCG

Date: since 1990

Sustainable Lifestyles


Solutions of the macro-sustainability challenges

Measure and decrease negative environmental impacts to decrease the consumption footprint by introducing the circular economy model

Further targets:

What´s the solution?

We know that our resources are finite, our processes need to be sustainable and our operations must be transformed considering the principles of the circular economy.

Essity’s goal is to design solutions for sustainable consumption that deliver better, safer, and more environmentally-dependable products and services to meet the customers’, consumers’ expectations.

Our main goal is to have all raw materials based on fresh wood fiber regarding our products and have FSC® or PEFC™ certification or will comply with the FSC certified standard for wood, moreover by 2030, all solid waste from the production should be utilized.

When developing our products, we carry out a life cycle analysis. Thinner incontinence products, baby nappies and women’s hygiene products are more efficient, have better fit (more comfortable) and have lower ecological footprints. Thanks to the softer design it has a better absorbing ability, more compact packaging with a new technology, and the ecological footprint of the hand towels is also reduced.

Business connection

The consumer demand for sustainable products and services is increasing. By applying the principles of the circular economy, we can meet these expectations while achieving financial results.

Results

In 2017, 62% of our solid waste was recycled.

99.9% of all Raw Materials based on our raw materials in our products have FSC® or PEFC ™ certifications or comply with the FSC certified standard for wood.

The environmental impact of many of our products has also declined significantly with respect to product development that takes environmental considerations into account:

  • TENA Lady Pants: 19% reduction
  • Tork SmartOne®: Feeds only one sheet at a time, which reduces toilet paper consumption by 40% compared to traditional coils. Due to its rapid dissolution, it reduces the risk of seepage of sewers.
  • Okay Compress: 30% less packaging and 36% less truck deliveries. The volume of greenhouse gases is reduced by 8% over the entire product life cycle.