Essity celebrates one year of producing tissue from wheat straw

Essity, a Swedish hygiene and health company, has completed its first year producing tissue from sustainable fibers. The plant in Mannheim, Germany, opened in September 2021, uses wheat straw as raw material for its production.

The company’s project, although recent, today represents 15% of Essity’s toilet paper in the German market. The alternatively manufactured product is as soft, shiny and strong as traditional tissue paper and has helped the company maintain its focus on developing sustainable activities.

According to the company, its carbon footprint is reduced by 50% when using wheat straw instead of wood fiber as an input, so the goal is to continue seeking more sustainable options for business, combining the offer of well-being with people through its products to reducing its environmental impact.

Recently ranked as one of the world’s most sustainable companies, Essity reduced its carbon emissions under Science-Based Targets, Scopes 1 and 2, by 15%. But the goal is even more ambitious: the company aims to achieve zero net emissions by 2050.

The first company in the tissue sector to use agricultural by-products on an industrial scale, Essity believes it is on the right path to reduce its climate footprint and offer consumers more sustainable solutions.

“This type of innovation is the way forward to increase circularity and reduce our climate footprint. Using straw as a new raw material in pulp makes us less dependent on wood fiber and recycling fiber and is more resource and cost efficient, while our consumers can make more environmentally friendly choices,” says Magnus Groth, President and CEO of Essity.