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8 - 10 April 2025 | Messe Düsseldorf

Tissue World & Sustainability

The tissue industry is known for its efforts in sustainability and has constantly been leading the push for a greener future. As a key part of the industry Tissue World shares this drive for sustainability and our events reflect that through a number of incentives designed to make them as green as possible.

Better Stands

Better Stands is our landmark campaign to reduce the waste that stands and booths at exhibitions can create. We are working with customers to phase out all disposable stands at our EMEA events by 2024.

Plus, we are looking to expand this initiative to other regions and by co-ordinating with our peers and partners in the industry.

Better Stands also shows how sustainable business can be better business too. Reusable structures not only reduce waste but they can reduce the time it takes to construct and take down stands, reduce the cost of design and construction and allow for investment in higher quality and more successful stands.

How have we made our show more Sustainable?

Event Venue

In addition to our Better Stands initiative, we have removed all aisle carpets from our trade show. The carpet industry still produces significant carbon emissions, and we want to do everything we can to make our show more climate friendly.

The catering at Tissue World Düsseldorf all comes from locally sourced suppliers, meaning less travel and less carbon emissions. 


Event Badges

We have transformed our event badges for Tissue World Düsseldorf, making them greener than ever. The plastic wallets we used to house the tickets have been removed, and the lanyard’s are now made out of P.E.T plastic sourced from recycled bottles. Even the ink is eco-friendly!


Show Guide

The show guide comes as part of our magazine to save paper and is printed locally. The pages are made from FSC certified paper, so you can rest assured that it has been produced and harvested in a responsible manner.

Sustainability Sessions at Tissue World Düsseldorf

Senior Management Symposium

The Tissue World conference includes a number of presentations aimed at helping business leaders improve their sustainability efforts, while continuing to operate a successful business in the current climate. These include:

Speaker: Riika Joukio

Date: 28th March

Schedule: 11:50 - 12:15

Presenting the view of the retailer sector, Riikka Joukio talks about the need of joint efforts of companies and individuals to build a sustainable future. She describes Kesko’s actions towards their sustainability vision: We enable sustainable choices for our customers and drive change throughout the value chain.  

Speaker: Anna Papagrigoraki

Date: 29th March

Schedule: 11:00 - 11:15

This presentation will look into long-term strategic perspectives on issues affecting the industry such as climate change and energy efficiency. The European paper industry has already delivered a successful decoupling of carbon emissions from economic growth while reducing carbon emissions by 29% from 2005 to date, having increased product volumes and proved the climate friendliness of its products thanks to certified raw materials and world class performance in recycling. Our objective is to be the most competitive, innovative and sustainable provider of net-zero carbon solutions by 2050. How will this be achieved within the EU legislative framework under the Green Deal? Building towards this goal, this presentation will also give insight into the uptake of science-based targets in the industry – outlining ways to get there as well as goal setting.

Speaker: Tobias Lüning

Date: 29th March

Schedule: 11:15 - 11:40

Metsä Tissue's Senior Vice President in Central Europe, Tobis Lüning will present a session on sustainability, focussing on what environmentally efficient raw materials are suitable for hygiene tissues, what can be sustainably produced in a short value chain, and looking at how to harness local production to secure a continuous supply.

Speaker: Khalid Saifullah

Date: 29th March

Schedule: 11:40 - 12:05

Star Tissue is one of the UK’s leading independent tissue converters, producing products based on both virgin and recycled fibers, sold as brands or for private label, to consumers and AFH customers. Major investments have spurred impressive growth and highly flexible manufacturing, while maintaining the highest ethical and environmental standards. How has this success story evolved in challenging times and what next for this family-owned business?

 

Speakers: Laure Miribel & Elena Troia

Date: 29th March

Schedule: 12:05 - 12:30

Independent family business and an AfH market leader in the French tissue market, the AHEAD 2.2 tissue machine 2024 start-up will mean its CO2 footprint will be one of the lowest in the world. This important investment will take MP Hygiene to another level by doubling our mother reels manufacturing capacity and strengthening even more our environmental commitment.

Technical Sessions

There is also a number of sessions aimed at improving sustainability from a technical standpoint. These will look at particular parts of the tissue creation process, and how businesses can reduce their environmental impact. These include:

Speaker: Luca Linari

Date: 28th March

Schedule: 15:20 - 15:40 

Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions are steadily increasing at the global level, reaching 58,710 million of tons of CO2 equivalent in 2016 (+62% compared to 1990 levels) and public awareness about their negative effects on human health and ecosystem is increasing worldwide. In 2017-2018, the annual carbon dioxide emissions recorded per capita were 16.2 tons in the USA and 6.86 tons in China. Among the many industrial sectors, it is well known that the pulp and paper industry is one of the most energy-consuming and the “drying section” has the highest level of energy consumption. In tissue machines, the drying section is constituted by a steam heated Yankee and a high-temperature air hood. Generally, the thermal energy for both the cylinder and the hood is obtained burning fossil fuels directly on the plant. In this speech, ANDRITZ will present three methods it has developed: fully electric heating (hood and Yankee drying), syngas fuel and green Hydrogen fuel. These methods can be applied in conventional machines and TAD technology.

Speaker: Jenny Lahti Samuelsson

Date: 28th March

Schedule: 15:40 - 16:00

There is a potential with new technology and fossil free fuels to reach an energy consumption of 1700 kWh/ton with zero CO2 emissions by 2025. A holistic approach to reduce energy consumption and thereby environmental footprint in Tissue production is a must. It is not enough to have the best equipment, the equipment has to fit into sections and system that together will form the production line. It does not stop there, even if you have a good production line you must know how to use it, you have to find the centerlines, the best operating practice. Never reaching the Process lines design capacity is equal to operating a mill with oversized process systems which means less efficient systems. Fan pumps are a common example. More than half of the energy for drying is needed in the hood. Traditionally this is coming from gas, however it is important to have in mind that it is not gas we need, it is hot air. This opens up for a lot of new possibilities. One example is circulating fluidized bed boiler and hot air generator, generate air more than 350 deg. The high temperature air prevents dust buildup in the hood, a large benefit. Another example is electrical heaters with fossil neutral electricity, a solution easy to retrofit into existing machine.

Speaker: Bud Chase

Date: 30th March

Schedule: 10:55 - 11:15

Enzymatic mechanisms have been performing energy-efficient fiber modification in nature for millions of years. Quite simply, enzymes are the most efficient and natural way to modify and ultimately break down organic materials which is why they are Nature’s evolutionary tool of choice. Continuing developments in enzyme technology allow tailoring of specific blends of enzymes for each mill designed to target energy savings through both function and application technique. When tailored correctly to a mill’s situation and mechanistic goals of fiber modification, enzyme blends have shown tremendous potential to reduce energy costs of all types. Never has this been more important than it is today, especially in Europe.

This paper will provide mechanistic explanation and real-world commercial examples of how enzyme technologies lead to more stable tissue machine operation and substantial energy savings.

Our Aims

Zero Carbon

Become carbon neutral as a business and across our events by 2025.

Reduce Waste

Halve the waste generated through our products and events by 2025.

Faster to Zero

Become zero waste and net zero carbon by 2030 or earlier.