Kruger has placed an order with ANDRITZ for its first nonwovens line dedicated to sustainable wipes, the companies' announcement, carried by trade outlet METissue, confirms. The order marks the Canadian group's entry into wipe-substrate production on equipment specified around lower-impact materials.

Kruger, a Montreal-based producer of tissue products and absorbent materials with manufacturing operations across Canada and the United States, has until now sourced or produced nonwovens for other end uses. The new line extends its roll goods portfolio into the wet wipes segment, where converters and branded buyers face mounting pressure to replace plastic-laden spunlace and airlaid substrates with plastic-free or flushable alternatives.

ANDRITZ, the Austrian machinery supplier whose nonwovens division supplies spunlace, airlaid and wetlaid lines globally, will deliver the equipment. The announcement did not specify the line's capacity in tonnes per year, the forming technology, the start-up date, or which plant will house it. ANDRITZ has previously supplied spunlace lines configured to process natural and regenerated cellulosic fibres for wipe applications.

For substrate buyers, the investment signals a further regionalisation of sustainable wipe material supply in North America. Converters that currently import plastic-free or flushable grades from European or Asian roll-goods producers — Owens & Hainsworth-type supply chains aside, the flushable segment is dominated by a handful of producers — gain a potential domestic source once the line starts up.

The sustainability positioning matters commercially because wipe substrates face tightening regulatory scrutiny. France's AGEC law, EU single-use plastics directives, and pending US state-level wipes labelling rules have pushed branded buyers to document fibre content and dispersibility. A "sustainable" claim on a substrate is, in effect, a compliance item: buyers tracing it to a standard should expect Kruger to disclose the certification scheme behind it — whether that is plastic-free verification, flushability testing to EDANA/INDA protocols, or third-party fibre certification such as FSC.

The announcement as reported did not name certification bodies, fibre suppliers, or the specific sustainability standard the line is designed to meet. Buyers evaluating Kruger as a source should treat the order as a capacity signal, not yet a compliance commitment, until those disclosures follow.

The sourcing decision this forces: North American wipes converters planning 2025–2026 programmes around plastic-free substrates should engage Kruger early on qualification timelines, and should request the fibre and dispersibility documentation that regulators and retailers now demand at the point of claim.