SUSTAFIT – Sustainability Strategies for Nonwovens

Nonwovens play a vital role in various industries, such as hygiene, geotextiles, automotive, and construction, and in the last decade, there has been a high increase in the production and consumption of nonwovens. Due to complex nature of products and applications, the recycling rates of nonwovens have remained low, and a lot is needed to enable fully circular value chains. Legislation and regulations are pushing towards more sustainable actions inside the EU, especially focusing on single-use products, thus more sustainable approaches have to be found. In many sectors sustainability has become a critical property, however, it has been noticed that there are no clear guidelines to improve sustainability likely due to the varying needs, lifetimes and functionalities associated with nonwovens. The focus of this report is on clarifying how different types of nonwovens can be made more sustainably from environmental point of view, considering existing sustainability strategies focusing on textiles, requirements in different nonwoven segments and the lifetime of the products. Drivers for more sustainable practices are considered – some regulations and existing sustainability strategies. After
background information, the study subsequently dives into a range of sustainability strategies that have been proposed to enhance the sustainability of nonwoven products. The selected sustainability strategies were tailored to the specific combination of product lifetime, technical requirements, and other needs for each nonwoven segment. Regarding product lifetime, the target on single-use or disposable nonwovens to reduce the environmental impacts is high in material choices. Multi-use and longer-lasting products are required to be durable and withstand repeated or long-lasting use, and here, the focus is more on high durability and repairability to maximize the product’s lifespan without losing its functional properties. Regarding technical requirements, if the structure is more complex or more specific performance are needed, more important is to keep desired performance for proposed lifetime, or even lengthening the lifetime if the performance can be preserved longer. It was also found that sustainability must be considered in all parts of the product cycle. Proper lifecycle assessment (LCA) should be made when deciding use of new raw materials or production technologies case-by-case to validate if the new approach is truly more sustainable choice.