EDANA celebrated its 50^th anniversary as the voice of the nonwovens industry with a major event in Brussels recently, the get-together was attended by over 280 EDANA members, policy makers and other stakeholders. The event was an opportunity to honour EDANA’s history of collaboration with its members and highlight how the industry has evolved.

The event included an immersive exhibition highlighting the many ways by which innovation in the nonwovens industry has enhanced citizens’ lives by ensuring safety, protection, hygiene, convenience and comfort, EDANA said in a press release.

“The event was not only an opportunity to celebrate 50 years of relentlessly advocating the many benefits nonwovens bring to society, as shown in the last two years during the pandemic. It was also a chance to further emphasise how this dynamic industry continues to innovate and drive sustainable development,” said Mikael Staal Axelsen from Fibertex Personal Care and current chair of EDANA.

The event featured keynote speeches by European commissioner for justice and consumer affairs Didier Reynders and Kerstin Jorna, director general of DG internal market, industry, entrepreneurship and SMEs, along with a number of panel discussions with EDANA and industry leadership.

“We were delighted to receive a clear acknowledgement and endorsement by the European Commission of EDANA’s past efforts in supporting its member companies’ compliance with product safety requirements through codes of practice that establish state of the art guidelines for consumer information, such as our 2001 code for tampons for instance,” said Luminita Barbu, regulatory affairs director at EDANA.

“Even more importantly, our current product stewardship programme for absorbent hygiene products was highlighted by commissioner Reynders as an opportunity for companies’ commitment to support the commission’s aim to promote industries’ pledges to product safety,” added Barbu.

The exhibition also showcased the industry’s commitment to sustainability and included numerous examples of how nonwoven products and solutions are raising the bar on sustainability. It highlighted how nonwovens can play an important role in the circular economy by, for example, facilitating the uptake of circular raw materials across the entire value chain.