The fear of global warming. The uncertainty of future oil supplies. Overflowing landfills. Am I
sounding paranoid? Wait, sorry. Let me explain. Last night before falling asleep I watched part
of a film called Collapse and woke up on the alarmist side of my bed.

The movie is a documentary directed by Chris Smith exploring the theories, writings and life story
of controversial author Michael Ruppert. I never heard of the guy before but was riveted.

Before becoming a radical conspiracy theorist Ruppert was a former Los Angeles police officer and has authored books on energy issues among other things.

In a nutshell the title refers to Ruppert’s belief that unsustainable energy and financial policies
have led to an ongoing collapse of modern industrial civilization.

Essentially what I took from it is that we have an infinite economic growth model running headlong into a finite supply of natural resources.

While it was as a whole a bit too alarmist for my taste, this was an interesting point and got me
thinking about the drive for sustainable products and processes.

In the nonwovens industry, sustainability has been growing rapidly over the last decade, perhaps
ahead of the curve. This is probably because there is a higher premium on sustainability in our industry due to its dependency on disposable products.

For nonwovens, the international nonwovens association EDANA defines sustainable development, or sustainability, as the reconciliation of economic growth with environmental protection and social responsibility, globally.

The global sustainable nonwovens market is projected to reach $12 billion over the next couple of
years growing at a rate of nearly 13% per year, which is almost twice the 7% annual growth predicted over the same period for non-sustainable nonwovens, according to research firm Smithers Apex.

In its research the firm says sustainable nonwovens will account for more than 30% of all nonwovens in value terms by 2015.

Europe leads the world in sustainable nonwoven consumption. It is projected to be using almost
1.5 million tons by 2015, up from an estimated 786,000 tons in 2010. North America is the second
largest market, projected to reach 1.1 billion tons in 2015.

Wipes are the most developed sustainable end use with a 44.4% share of sustainable disposable
nonwovens versus 25.8% of all disposable nonwovens. Hygiene is the least developed sustainable end use (37.7% of sustainable disposable nonwovens versus 59.4% of all disposable nonwovens).

According to Smithers Apex, drylaid leads all processes for sustainable nonwovens. By 2015 the
process is expected to account for 60% of all sustainable nonwovens (1.9 million tons) achieving a CAGR of 15.5% to 2015.

Let me know your thoughts on what sustainability means to you both personally and professionally.

If I get enough feedback I will publish in an upcoming issue. Also, if you get a chance to see
Collapse, I’d like to know what your impression was.

Tim Wright • Editor
[email protected]


**Correction**
In last month’s Baby Diaper Manufacturers’
Directory we misnamed the brand made
by Napco. The brand is Sanita BAMBI and
not Napco. The correct listing is below.

Napco
Dammam, Saudi Arabia
966-3-847-3111
[email protected]
www.napcogroup.com
Brands: Sanita BAMBI