Tork, an Essity brand, is a global leader in professional hygiene, delivering solutions that help organizations improve cleanliness, efficiency, and sustainability across a wide range of facilities. We spoke with Audrey Wesson, Sustainability Manager, about how Tork is supporting businesses in meeting rising hygiene expectations while advancing more sustainable, inclusive approaches to facility care.
Can you briefly introduce Tork and describe your role in the professional hygiene space?
Tork is the global leader in professional hygiene, serving customers in over 110 countries. As a brand of global hygiene and health company, Essity, Tork delivers a comprehensive range of professional hygiene solutions across sectors, including restaurants, offices, healthcare and recreational facilities, schools, and industrial environments.
In my role, I am focused on driving sustainability efforts across Tork products and solutions, with the aim of improving business performance for both distributor partners and end customers. I have worked in the industry for over a decade and have seen the impact of sustainable hygiene practices on both businesses and individuals. I am passionate about helping businesses optimize sustainability throughout their facility operations to minimize environmental impact and improve access to hygiene for all.
What sustainability priorities are shaping Tork’s work today, and how are customer expectations influencing those priorities?
People care about sustainability – and it’s shaping where they work and how they spend their money. According to our recent survey 65% of people say a company’s eco-image directly impacts their job choices and 67% of people want restrooms to be managed more sustainably.
This ongoing user interest in sustainability continues to reshape how customers are evaluating business decisions – including the products, services, and strategies they bring into their facilities. At the same time, we know that our customers want sustainability to be simpler to navigate. Tork is focused on making it easier for customers to make more sustainable choices by looking at the entire product lifecycle and offering guidance on where in a facility to start.
We also provide a holistic view on sustainability, encompassing both people and the planet. Not only do we offer hygiene solutions that support environmental goals, such as our carbon neutral dispenser assortment and compostable refills, to name a few, but we are also committed to advancing the people part of sustainability. To us, this means raising hygiene standards for all users – embracing this idea of inclusive hygiene, which focuses on meeting the hygiene needs of as many people as possible within a facility.
Tork’s Focus4 sustainability platform highlights key areas of impact. How does Focus4 guide decision-making across your products and services?
Focus4 is a framework that guides sustainability decision-making across four interconnected areas:
- Materials & Packaging –responsible sourcing and using more renewable content
- Use & Waste –reducing waste with less consumption and circularity
- Carbon –lowering carbon impact across the product lifecycle
- Hygiene for All –raising hygiene standards for the majority of users
Every product development decision is evaluated against these four areas, from how we can create compressed products that reduce transportation emissions to designing one-at-a-time dispenser systems that control consumption. Our carbon neutral certified dispensers, coreless toilet paper systems, and soaps with responsibly sourced ingredients reflect this same approach.
The Focus4 framework helps us guide businesses to make the right decisions around their hygiene solutions, ensuring that all needs are met and creating tangible benefits across sustainable product selection, operational efficiency, carbon impact, and ease of use.
What are some of the most common hygiene and operational challenges your customers face today, and how is Tork helping address them?
Our customers are navigating multiple pressures at once: labor shortages, rising costs, heightened hygiene expectations, and more. At the same time, they’re being asked to do more with less – meet sustainability goals, improve customer satisfaction, and retain cleaning staff in a competitive market.
One of the ways Tork helps facilities address these challenges is by providing data-driven hygiene solutions. Our Tork Vision Cleaning platform, for example, uses real-time occupancy and usage data from connected dispensers so facility teams can optimize cleaning schedules and product allocation. This means facility managers can consistently meet standards while minimizing waste and giving valuable time back to cleaning staff.
On top of this, our sustainable product assortment – featuring a hand soap made from natural-origin ingredients and innovative packaging designs that reduce waste – ensures businesses can confidently maintain their sustainability commitments while retaining optimal performance.
Many organizations are working toward waste reduction and resource efficiency goals. What practical strategies have you seen help customers reduce waste while maintaining high hygiene standards?
From our work with all types of facilities, we’ve seen that three strategies – when implemented together – have both measurable and meaningful impacts:
- Smart Dispensing: High-capacity, one-at-a-time dispensing simultaneously prevents overconsumption by delivering the right amount of product per use, reducing waste, and ensuring consistent supply availability.
- Responsible Materials and Packaging: Our Green Seal-certified products, like coreless toilet paper systems and hand towels made from 100% recycled fiber and a minimum of 50% post-consumer material, eliminate unnecessary packaging and maintain performance while reducing environmental footprint.
- Data-Driven Optimization: Facility managers are increasingly using real-time data from connected dispensers and occupancy levels to optimize cleaning schedules and product allocation, reducing waste and saving staff time while maintaining hygiene standards.
These tactics are already creating real benefits. One arena we work with utilizes connected systems that leverage real-time data to optimize labor, uphold cleanliness standards, and analyze usage patterns, enabling schedules that match actual foot traffic and give time back to staff. This has resulted in reduced complaints, boosted operational efficiency, and a positive experience for both staff and guests. The key insight: sustainability and hygiene performance don’t have to be competing priorities.
How does Tork approach responsible ingredient selection, materials sourcing, and product safety in high-use environments?
Ingredient and material selection isn’t just about performance – it’s about transparency and safety for all users, including distributors, guests, and cleaning staff. Tork prioritizes inclusive design methods, rigorous safety standards, and responsible manufacturing practices that minimize environmental impacts while ensuring efficiency is not compromised.
Some examples include:
- Tork is proud that our dispenser development process is the first in the world to be certified according to the Design for All Standard (EN 17161), demonstrating our commitment to strengthening inclusive hygiene, and many are certified Easy-to-use by the Swedish Rheumatism Association.
- Our soap and sanitizers are tested by dermatologists, rheumatologists, and other experts who can ensure they’re safe and beneficial to all users. In addition to being gentle on skin, our Tork Clarity Hand Washing Foam Soap is made with 99% ingredients from natural origin.
- 90% of Tork packaging is now made from renewable resources such as paper or cardboard, reflecting our dedication to responsible sourcing.
What motivated Tork to partner with Green Seal, and how does Green Seal certification support your sustainability goals and customer commitments?
Green Seal certification validates our sustainability commitments through independent verification in a landscape where end-user expectations around sustainability are continually growing. We are proud to offer Green Seal certification on a range of our products, from hand soaps to tissue and hand towels.
For customers, it simplifies procurement. Facility managers can confidently work toward corporate sustainability targets without conducting extensive supplier audits. For us, it’s representative of a shared dedication to environmental and health impact alongside performance.
The partnership also drives innovation. Green Seal standards encourage us to continuously improve ingredient selection, material sourcing, and lifecycle impact.
Looking ahead, what trends do you anticipate will shape the future of professional hygiene and sustainability?
In 2026 and beyond, I see three main trends shaping the professional hygiene landscape:
- Younger Generations Raise the Bar: 21% of 18-to-34-year-olds won’t return to venues with poor restrooms, according to our research, compared to 14% of the general population. As younger users set higher expectations, businesses are going to invest in hygiene as much as they are in sustainability and customer experience.
- Circular Systems Become the Standard: Organizations will move toward circular systems that review product sustainability from creation to disposal. This includes working toward carbon neutral operations and designing for minimal environmental impact. Essity’s 2030 zero production waste goal reflects this shift toward regenerative systems.
- Inclusive Hygiene as an Expectation: Environments that take into consideration the hygiene needs of a broad array of individuals with different abilities and circumstances will become a baseline requirement, driving design and product choices across facility types – from offices and hotels to sports venues and hospitals.
Anything else you’d like to share?
To learn more about the Tork Focus4 sustainability platform — which helps customers make sustainable hygiene easier — please visit: https://www.torkglobal.com/us/en/sustainability.