Cotton Towel Rolls a Clear Triumph for the Environment

Cotton towel rolls – a clear triumph for the environment

Scientific study confirms that cotton towel rolls beat paper on waste, energy and the greenhouse effect

Brussels, 16 January 2017. It's a small thing with a big impact; those who dry their hands on a cotton towel roll after washing instead of on a paper towel are actively helping to protect the environment. This is what a recent study, commissioned by the European Textile Services Association (ETSA) and the Textile Service Trade Association (WIRTEX), confirms with its unequivocal results. Cotton towel rolls produce 95% less waste than paper towels, require 48% less energy, and have an up to 29% lower global warming potential.

Every one of us dries our hands many times on a daily basis. For example, in Germany alone, the 81 million-plus inhabitants dry their hands a phenomenal amount of times. And this happens every day. How they do this has a direct impact on the environment. The key question is “cotton or paper?” In answering this question, everyone, but in particular anyone, who uses a public washroom, is making an environmental decision. Cotton towel rolls not only ensure the most hygienically- clean hands, they also help the environment to shine. This was the conclusion reached by a recent sustainability study.

The results of the study

The study, carried out in Autumn 2016, compares the ecological effects of cotton towel rolls, virgin paper towels and recycled paper towels throughout their entire life cycle. Cultivation of raw materials, production, use, reprocessing and disposal or recycling were all taken into account. The overall comparison shows that cotton towel rolls are clearly more environmentally-friendly. They leave the virgin paper alternatives lagging behind in six out of eight categories, and recycled paper towels in seven out of eight.

Cotton towel rolls: - produce up to 95% less waste - require up to 48% less energy - have an up to 29% lower global warming potential than virgin paper.

Along with the volume of waste produced, energy and global warming potential, the study also compared air pollution, summer smog formation, water consumption and the potential for acidification and overfertilisation of soils.

A study in 2006 by the German Öko-Institut (Institute for Applied Ecology) had already documented the excellent environmental balance of cotton towels. Ten years later, these results were confirmed in a second study commissioned by ETSA and WIRTEX.

Cotton towel rolls – a win-win for the environment and the user

Cotton towel rolls are offered as a rental service. This business model is based on the circulation principle. The rolls are collected from the customer after use, washed in accordance with strict hygiene standards, and then re-delivered. One cotton towel roll can be washed up to 125 times in its lifetime. This produces absolutely no waste. The customer has no disposal costs. If the roll has reached the end of its days, the material can be recycled into cleaning cloths, mops or insulating material. By contrast, paper towels must be disposed of with the general waste and cannot be recycled for hygiene reasons.

Background information Textile Services ETSA and WIRTEX are the European and German trade associations for textile services and represent a wide spectrum of services. Textile services encompass the whole service, finance, logistics and customer service relating to textiles. The companies in this industry operate regionally, nationally and internationally for a wide range of customers in various commercial sectors, from craftsmen to industrial groups. They provide textile management systems in the areas of workwear, linen for hotels, restaurants and hospitals, as well as cleaning cloths, mop heads, floor mats, washroom hygiene and occupational health and safety products. The expertise the associations’ members ranges from materials research and advice on regular deliveries, laundry, maintenance, standards testing and taking over the entire complex logistics for the customer, to solutions for recycling and disposal.

Photo material (all photographs can be requested at short notice in high resolution by emailing [email protected]).

Photo 1: Presenting the life cycle analysis in Frankfurt: Audit Manager, Manfred Russ, study leader, Dr. Sabine Deimling, WIRTEX Executive Director, Dr. Andreas Marek. © WIRTEX

Photo 2: Cotton towel rolls – the environmentally-friendly hand drying alternative. © CWS- boco Photo 3: Hygiene, convenience, environmental protection – 3 advantages of cotton towel rolls © bardusch

Contact details Media contact

ETSA asbl WIRTEX e.V. European Textile Services Association Wirtschaftsverband Textil Service

Robert Long Astrid Rechel rue Montoyer 24 box 7 Mainzer Landstraße 55 B-1000 Brussels D-60329 Frankfurt am Main

Tel. +32 2 282 0990 Tel. +49 69 255618-14 Fax +32 2 282 0999 Fax +49 69 355618-15 Email [email protected] Email [email protected] www.textile-services.eu www.wirtex.de