One year of #ItsInOurHands
#ItsInOurHands is celebrating its birthday: precisely one year ago, Lenzing presented the initiative for the very first time. The intention was and continues to be to make people aware of an environmental problem which is underestimated all over the world, to promote the exchange of ideas and present alternatives. A lot has happened in the last 12 months in the world of single-use plastic. These changes will also have an impact on wet wipes aiming at reducing the use of fossil-based plastic fibers in the former. Before we start to shape the future together, it is worth taking a look at the past.
Since 2019 the www.ItsInOurHands.com platform has regularly hosted information videos, interviews with experts, analyses and statistics surrounding the theme of sustainable wet wipes. In the center of the discussion there is an open exchange on the Social Media channels. Recently, Evelyn Höllrigl, editor and founder of the Little Paper Plane blog, even commenced a petition to the EU.
In a study conducted last year, the reputed online-research MarketAgent Institute determined that in Germany and Austria only around 16 percent of those interviewed suspected fossil-based plastic in wet wipes. And yet the majority of the wet wipes commonly in use contain up to 85 percent of the former. This is something which was also determined by the Test and TÜV Certification Authority Rheinland at the end of 2019: according to very precise tests, only 5 of 33 common baby wet wipes did not contain fossil-based fibers such as polypropylene or polyester. There is still no obligation to label single-use plastic. This will, however, change since according to the EU single-plastic directive as of mid 2021 it will be obligatory to label when wet wipes contain single-use plastic.
In this respect, wet wipes can be free of fossil-based plastic fibers even now: the wood-based cellulose fibers, which the Upper-Austrian Lenzing AG manufactures under the VEOCEL™ brand, are a suitable alternative. The wood used to make them comes from certified and sustainably managed forests. So no more wood is used than will grow again. Anyone who does not want to wait for the labelling obligation and who wishes to do something for the environment right now, can look out for the VEOCEL™ logo on the packaging when making a purchase. Where there is the logo, the product contains biodegradable cellulose fibers. These sustainable wipes are for example offered under the Kindoh or Sweeps brand. At the latest when manufacturers have to declare single-use plastic in wet wipes as of the middle of next year, sustainable alternatives will conquer the market. After all almost 90 percent of those participating in the survey of MarketAgent would change their user behavior if there favored wipes contained fossil-based plastic.
Until then there is a long way to go. The months to come will be about creating alternatives and generating awareness. This is precisely what the ItsInOurHands initiative stands for. Our goal is to give people guidance. After all, you can only make conscious decisions as a consumer if you are well informed.
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