WEPA, Europe's market leader in the production of hygiene paper from recycled fibres, launches its hygiene paper innovation GreenGrow under the BlackSatino brand – based on the raw material innovation miscanthus, one of the world's most sustainable fresh fibres.

Arnsberg, 24 October 2022 - European family-owned company WEPA takes yet another major step in the implementation of its sustainability strategy: with BlackSatino GreenGrow, WEPA launches an innovative and sustainable hygiene paper product manufactured following years of research and using technologies developed in-house.

Regional, rapidly renewable and environmentally friendly

Compared to other wood-based fresh fibres, miscanthus has the smallest ecological footprint and is therefore primarily a sustainable alternative to such fibres. The renewable raw material can be harvested annually, requires no fertilisation and irrigation and thus has very low requirements for good growth. The soil is also not depleted - on the contrary, Miscanthus improves its structure. For years, WEPA has been researching alternative raw materials that are compliant with the concepts of sustainability and regionality. In Westdorpe in the Netherlands, miscanthus has already been successfully cultivated together with local partners. The production and further processing of the raw material are currently carried out at the WEPA Professional site in Swalmen (NL) and will also be set up in Germany in the future. To produce BlackSatino GreenGrow, the sustainable miscanthus cellulose fibre is combined with recycled fibre streams sourced from waste paper, thus fitting into WEPA's circular economy concept.

Andreas Krengel, Professional Business Unit CEO and Member of the Management Board of the WEPA Group: "The raw material miscanthus ideally complements WEPA's fibre strategy. Derived from our sustainability strategy, we've set ourselves the target of increasing the share of recycled fibres or alternative fresh fibres in our raw material portfolio to 60% by 2030, which in turn reduces our environmental footprint by 25%."

Thanks to innovative manufacturing processes, a sustainable hygiene paper can be produced that has a high degree of softness and comfort. The colouring of the paper is natural due to lack of fibre bleaching, which indicates an exceptional manufacturing process.

Official launch – a raw material you can touch

The innovative BlackSatino GreenGrow hygiene paper solution was presented to international customers from Germany, Belgium, the Netherlands and France as well as selected press representatives at an exclusive launch on 19 October 2022. The event took place in Westdorpe in the Netherlands, right next to the miscanthus fields of the founder of Cradle Crops, farmer Filip Baecke. Guests were introduced to the product with informative presentations relating to the background of the new raw material and regarding research and development. They also had the opportunity to walk through the miscanthus fields with the farmer and gain an impression of the raw material with all their senses.

Eric van Hoof, process engineer at WEPA, who has been involved in the project from the beginning and is responsible for technical implementation, adds: "The development took more than ten years because we wanted to create a process that would use the whole plant, and these years of research paid off. We've created a 100% sustainable solution that, in this form, has not yet existed in the production of hygiene papers."

About WEPA:

The WEPA Group is a future-oriented European family business specialising in the production and distribution of sustainable hygiene paper. WEPA offers sustainable and innovative hygiene solutions that provide a safe feeling of hygiene and contribute daily to the well-being of millions of people. With 4,000 employees, the WEPA Group manufactures hygiene products such as toilet paper, paper towels, tissues and napkins at 13 European sites. WEPA is among the three largest European manufacturers and leading the market in the production of hygiene paper from recycled fibre. Its annual turnover is roughly 1.3 billion euros. In the Consumer business area, WEPA is a private-label specialist for European retailers. The Professional business unit with the brands BlackSatino and Satino by WEPA stands for sustainable and professional hygiene solutions which are used, for instance, in public washrooms, the industry, offices or health care facilities. The WEPA Group has its registered office in Arnsberg, North-Rhine Westphalia, Germany.