On World Engineering Day for Sustainable Development, March 5, Essity, a global leader in hygiene and health, announces the launch of an innovative pilot at its Hondouville site in France aiming at transforming, in a continuous flow and on an industrial scale, paper process residuals into a recoverable mineral for the cement industry and a source of energy.

Tested for several months, the new industrial pilot processes paper process residuals stemming from the deinking of recovered paper and food cartons used as raw material for the making of Tork branded products for the professional hygiene market. In the event of proven industrial success, the paper residuals would be transformed into a mineral suitable for construction and public works. The aim is to sell this mineral as component to hydraulic road binders and commercial concrete. Additionally, the process would generate energy, reducing natural gas consumption and capturing CO2.

“This is one of the many impactful initiatives taken by Essity to transition to industrial activities that are even more respectful of the environment and yet supporting our Professional Hygiene customers to meet their performance expectations while reaching their own sustainability goals. Should this pilot be successful, it could pave the way to eliminating almost all industrial waste from the Essity recycling paper plants,” says Donato Giorgio, President Global Supply Chain Essity Group.

This initiative is another step toward Essity’s goal of recovering all production waste for material or energy, reducing waste, lowering greenhouse gas emissions, and contributing to achieving net zero by 2050. 

In Hondouville, Essity has been committed to circularity for many years, using solely used paper and food cartons for the making of its Tork branded products. In 2023, Essity increased its recycling capacity of food cartons in Hondouville by 40% to 25,000 tons. 

France is Essity’s second largest market in Europe with approximately 2,300 employees and annual sales of over SEK 12.5bn. Essity manufactures and sells hygiene and health products under leading brands, such as Actimove, Cutimed, Delta-Cast, Demak’Up, JOBST, Leukoplast, Lotus, Nana, Okay, TENA and Tork.