News, Markets & Analysis for the Nonwovens Industry Subscribe



Tools

A Kinder, Gentler Nonwoven



alternative raw materials prove that disposable doesn’t have to mean irresponsible when it comes to the Earth.



By Karen McIntyre
Editor




Click here to read the full article.
One year ago, Clorox bet on consumers’ need for natural cleaning products when it launched its GreenWorks line of cleaners. That gamble has paid off. First year sales of the eight-SKU line, which includes an all-purpose spray, a toilet bowl cleaner, dishwashing soap and a glass cleaner, reportedly reached $100 million and now Clorox is celebrating the one-year anniversary of GreenWorks by introducing a biodegradable cleaning wipe.

As the largest manufacturer of all-purpose cleaning wipes with a near 50% marketshare, Clorox knows how to sell wipes and the development of a wipe that meets the GreenWorks goal of being easy on the environment without sacrificing cleaning performance demonstrates how disposables can combine convenience and ecofriendliness in one product.

“People still don’t get it that reusables are not necessarily better for the environment than disposables,” said Susan Stansbury, of converters group Converting Influence. “By the time you figure in solvent run-off, the impact of laundering and other factors, sometimes reusables can be harsher.”

Like Clorox, converters and marketers of wipes and other nonwovens products are incorporating more ecofriendliness into their goods hoping to take some of the stigma off of disposability in today’s greener times. From disposable diapers sold by niche players like Nature Baby and Seventh Generation to wipes made from renewable resources from industry giants like Clorox or greenminded household cleaner company Method or Italian hygiene producer WIP srl, products are emerging that offer the convenience of disposability without the stigma of draining nonrenewable resources or adding to already overflowing landfills.

“Moving into new, innovative materials always comes with challenges. We wanted to improve the eco profile of our wipes as well as some other characteristics in the wipe substrate,” said Rachel Goldberg, spokesperson for Method, a green-minded maker of household cleaning products including a cleaning wipe made from renewable bamboo fibers.    

Among Method’s green cleaning line is a floor mop based on polylactic acid and a bamboo all-purpose cleaning wipe.