SharpCell, a Finnish manufacturer of airlaid nonwovens, is working with research organisation VTT to reduce the environmental footprint of its airlaid production process. The collaboration centres on the materials and process chemistry behind airlaid web formation, a tier-one concern for hygiene, wipes and absorbent-product brands sourcing nonwoven substrates from Europe.

Airlaid nonwovens rely on fluff pulp combined with bonding agents — historically including latex and thermoplastic fibres — to form absorbent webs used in baby diapers, adult incontinence products, feminine hygiene items, kitchen towels and dry wipes. Because the bonding system determines both product performance and the process's environmental profile, SharpCell has identified it as the main lever for sustainability improvements at its production site in Jyväskylä, Finland, where the company operates a modern airlaid line.

VTT, the Technical Research Centre of Finland, brought its expertise in biobased materials, cellulose chemistry and nonwoven process development to the case. The research partnership examined how alternative raw material choices and process adjustments could lower emissions, resource use and dependence on fossil-based binders without compromising the absorbency, softness and strength that airlaid converters and brand owners specify.

For buyers of airlaid substrates, the case matters on two fronts. First, European hygiene brands face tightening compliance expectations under EU packaging and sustainability rules, which push converters and their suppliers to document the environmental performance of nonwoven inputs. Second, airlaid capacity in Europe has consolidated around a small number of producers, so process-level improvements at a single supplier — such as SharpCell — can shift the sustainability baseline available to sourcing teams across the region.

SharpCell positions itself as a flexible, customer-driven airlaid producer serving global hygiene and wiping brands. The VTT collaboration forms part of its broader effort to develop more sustainable product options, including work on biodegradable and plastic-material-free airlaid structures that would give brand owners alternatives to conventional bonded webs.

The decision the news forces on sourcing teams is straightforward: buyers specifying airlaid nonwovens for hygiene and wiping applications in Europe should ask SharpCell and competing suppliers to evidence which binder systems and raw material choices the upgraded process uses, and to what measurable standard the environmental claims trace. Compliance teams, in turn, should treat any resulting sustainability claims as documentable process changes — not marketing language — when auditing nonwoven supply chains.