Absorbent hygiene products touch millions of lives every day. Products like baby diapers, feminine hygiene pads, and adult incontinence products are essential to health, dignity, convenience, and quality of life. And demand for them is growing: in emerging markets, rising incomes are expanding access, while in many mature markets, aging populations are driving demand for adult incontinence products. In Europe, people aged 80 and over are now the fastest-growing age group, and life expectancy is continuing to rise, so more people are older for longer.
That growth puts pressure on the materials the hygiene products industry has relied on. For decades, long-fiber pine fluff has been the go-to absorbent material. But softwood fluff availability is not expected to keep pace with rising market demand. Meanwhile, hygiene product manufacturers continue to look for ways to reduce costs, while maintaining product performance and improving sustainability. Suzano launched Eucafluff®, the world’s first eucalyptus-based fluff pulp, in 2015. At the time, many questioned whether a new, short-fiber alternative could perform in products designed to be made with pine fluff. Ten years later, the conversation has changed. Eucalyptus fluff is becoming a core part of the global conversation on fiber replacement. More industry players are willing to learn how to apply eucalyptus fluff and manage the challenges of changing current hygiene industry standards and machinery bases.
For consumers and producers, the benefits are clear. Eucafluff® fibers are smaller and softer than pine fibers, which helps manufacturers create thinner but more absorbent cores. That matters in categories like feminine hygiene and adult incontinence products, where comfort and discretion are central to the consumer experience. It also offers improved rewet and water-retention performance, keeping products feeling drier against the skin for longer. In laboratory testing comparing Eucafluff® with standard US South pine fluff, Eucafluff® showed a 17% lower rewet mass and a 76% higher water retention value, or WRV. These results point to stronger liquid retention inside the absorbent core and reduced liquid return to the product surface under the tested conditions. Eucafluff® additionally has an odor-control effect, an important factor in products where confidence is closely linked to everyday quality of life.
For manufacturers, these same properties can improve cost efficiency. Because Eucafluff® has strong compression capability, absorbent pads can be made thinner, and products can occupy less space. This helps reduce plastic film use in packaging while improving storage and transport efficiency.
Eucalyptus fluff also offers clear sustainability advantages at the raw-material level. Life-cycle assessment studies show that Eucafluff® has a lower potential impact on global warming compared to US pine fluff.¹ Moreover, as eucalyptus has a faster growth cycle of seven years, Suzano can grow almost four eucalyptus harvest cycles in the same period required for one pine cycle. This means producing more with less area, so Eucafluff® has a 78% lower impact on land use. Fast-growing farmed eucalyptus also offers strong future availability at a time when pine supply is expected to become more constrained. Eucafluff® is also approved for use in products carrying the EU Ecolabel and Nordic Swan. Additionally, Suzano’s eucalyptus farms hold the most important international certifications, including FSC and PEFC. Suzano’s Track and Trace system strengthens full-chain traceability and supports compliance with the EU Deforestation Regulation.
For absorbent hygiene producers, this combination makes eucalyptus fluff more than a potential substitute for pine. As the hygiene sector continues to grow, the industry’s challenge is not simply to make more products. It is to make smarter fiber choices that help balance performance, cost efficiency, supply security and sustainability.
www.suzanoeucafluff.com
