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★Mark us as a preferred sourceEssity’s Tork PaperCircle service is revolutionizing the professional hygiene market. Operating across 15 European countries, this award-winning initiative converts more than 500 million used hand towels into new hygiene products each year, significantly reducing waste and supporting corporate circular economy goals.
In short: Tork PaperCircle is the leading success story in Essity paper towel recycling. The program operates in 15 European markets, collecting 35 million used hand towels monthly—surpassing 500 million annually in 2025—and transforming them into new tissue products. It enhances resource efficiency and successfully expanded its participating customer sites by a remarkable 33% in 2025.
The origins and mechanics of Essity paper towel recycling
As sustainability and waste reduction become paramount priorities in the professional hygiene sector, Essity paper towel recycling offers a highly effective, industry-leading solution. The foundational roots of the Tork PaperCircle program date back to 1994, when Essity’s Professional Hygiene business introduced the world’s first dedicated paper hand towel recycling service. Over the decades, the initiative has evolved to become Europe’s foremost circular solution in its category.
The entire system operates on the principles of a true circular economy. Used paper hand towels are meticulously collected from participating customer facilities and transported directly to Essity manufacturing plants. In these facilities, materials that were traditionally discarded as waste are repurposed and recycled into new tissue products, such as toilet paper. Giving these hand towels a second life drastically reduces overall landfill waste and extends the useful lifespan of valuable recycled fibers. For related industry performance, you can also explore how paper recycling rates across Europe are developing.
Circular expansion across 15 European markets
The growing popularity and practical benefits of Tork PaperCircle are evident in its widespread expansion across 15 different European markets. The network currently serves a highly diverse range of industries and facilities. It encompasses major corporate headquarters in France, Poland, the Netherlands, and the United Kingdom, while the system is also successfully implemented at bustling airports in Sweden, universities in Germany, and public-sector institutions in Norway.
Across Europe, businesses and public institutions are showing a rapidly rising demand for practical, scalable solutions that support measurable sustainability goals. Recycling and circularity are increasingly decisive factors in both purchasing decisions and public tender processes. Tork PaperCircle directly addresses this positive trend by ensuring that previously discarded hygiene materials are successfully transformed back into valuable, usable resources.
Measurable impact and millions of recycled hand towels
The environmental impact of the program is highly quantifiable. Today, the Tork PaperCircle network successfully recycles more than 35 million hand towels each month. Over the course of 2025, the service experienced massive growth, recording a 33% increase in the number of customer sites collecting used hand towels. Thanks to this robust expansion, more than 500 million used hand towels were collected in 2025 alone, vividly demonstrating the surging demand for circular washroom solutions throughout the continent.
The innovative nature of the service has earned multiple prestigious European awards over the years:
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2017: The initiative was recognized at the European Paper Recycling Awards, held in the European Parliament.
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2018: It won the Visitor’s Choice Award at Interclean Amsterdam, securing 39% of the total visitor votes as the most innovative nominee.
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2024: The program received the German Ecodesign Award (Bundespreis Ecodesign) in the Service category.
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2025: The service won the Sustainability Awards 2025 in the Commercial Initiatives category at the 16th Retail Summit in Warsaw, Poland.
Pablo Fuentes, President Professional Hygiene at Essity, highlighted the philosophy behind this sustained success: “At Essity, we believe innovation should solve real customer needs, lead the market and deliver meaningful sustainability outcomes.” Fuentes emphasized that by turning used paper hand towels into new products, the company is directly helping customers reduce waste, advance their circularity ambitions, and improve their overall business performance.
The Tork DispenserCircle pilot program and resource efficiency
As Europe’s largest user of recycled fiber in tissue manufacturing, Essity is constantly seeking to improve resource efficiency across its value chains. Building on the extraordinary success of Tork PaperCircle, the company has officially launched a new pilot program called Tork DispenserCircle. This initiative explores new business opportunities strictly focused on washroom waste reduction. Thus far, the pilot has resulted in 240,000 soap, toilet paper, and hand towel dispensers getting a brand new purpose, reaffirming Essity’s commitment to extending circularity to every part of the washroom ecosystem.
FAQ
What is Tork PaperCircle?
Introduced in 1994, Tork PaperCircle is Essity’s award-winning paper hand towel recycling service that collects used hand towels from participating customer sites and recycles them into new tissue products, such as toilet paper.
How many paper towels are recycled by the program?
The circular service recycles over 35 million hand towels on a monthly basis, culminating in the collection of more than 500 million used hand towels throughout the year 2025.
How many countries have access to the service?
Tork PaperCircle currently operates successfully across 15 European markets, serving corporate headquarters, airports, universities, and public-sector facilities in countries like France, Germany, Sweden, Norway, and the UK.
What is the Tork DispenserCircle pilot?
Tork DispenserCircle is a new pilot program extending the circular model by focusing on waste reduction for physical washroom hardware. The initiative has successfully repurposed 240,000 soap, toilet paper, and hand towel dispensers so far.
🔗 Official sources and references: 👉
Tork PaperCircle, a circular success story
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