Who is Tork?

Tork is the Professional Hygiene brand of Essity, a leading global hygiene and health company, and is the No. 1 professional hygiene brand in the world.¹ A committed partner to customers in over 110 countries, the Tork brand provides professional hygiene products and services ranging from restaurants and healthcare facilities to airports, offices, schools, and manufacturing facilities. Tork offers restroom dispensers, paper towels, toilet paper, soap, napkins, wipers, as well as software solutions for data-driven cleaning workflows. Through expertise in hygiene, functional design and sustainability, Tork has become a market leader that truly supports customers and inspires them to think ahead so they can leverage better hygiene for better business. To keep up with the latest Tork news and innovations, please visit https://www.torkglobal.com/us/en

How is Tork changing/improving the FM industry?

Facility managers today face increasing pressures: labor shortages, rising costs and heightened hygiene expectations. The organizations that navigate these challenges successfully are the ones working smarter, not harder, and Tork is helping to make that possible. Firstly, Tork is transforming how restrooms are maintained through data-driven solutions that deliver measurable operational gains, freeing up valuable time for already stretched cleaning teams. Research reveals that 71 percent of cleaning staff find that 8 out of every 10 dispenser checks are unnecessary, representing time that could be invested in other cleaning tasks and quality assurance.²

High-capacity dispensers and data-driven workflow systems like Tork Vision Cleaning directly address this challenge. Customers using these data-driven solutions have achieved a 91 percent reduction in unnecessary dispenser checks³, leading to meaningful cost savings, higher cleaning standards, and improved satisfaction for both staff and guests.

Beyond efficiency, Tork also supports businesses’ sustainability goals. Tools like the Tork Cleaning Efficiency Calculator help facility managers quantify exactly how much time and money they’re losing and demonstrate how Tork systems can optimize their operations. By combining efficiency with sustainability, Tork proves that smart hygiene is not a compromise, but a competitive advantage.

What’s on the horizon in Tork’s industry, and are you meeting those challenges and opportunities?

The future of facility management is clear: expectations for public restroom experiences have never been higher. When those expectations fall short, businesses pay the price. Tork research reveals that 52 percent of people have avoided venues, left negative reviews or chosen not to purchase food and beverages after a poor restroom experience.⁴ Additionally, 54 percent of visitors face physical or cognitive challenges that affect how comfortably they use public restrooms, from managing eczema to assisting a child coping with noise sensitivity.

This shift underscores a growing challenge for facilities: moving beyond baseline hygiene standards that fail to reflect the diverse needs of today’s users. Tork is addressing this head-on with its Inclusive Hygiene approach, a movement focused on meeting the hygiene needs of as many people as possible within the restroom environment.

To support this effort, Tork published the Inclusive Hygiene Playbook to help operators implement this approach, providing actionable guidance for creating restroom experiences where all users feel welcome and cared for. As younger generations increasingly prioritize wellness and inclusion, facilities that adopt this approach not only elevate the guest experience but also build stronger loyalty and gain a meaningful competitive advantage.

Tell us about Tork’s sustainability efforts. How have these contributed to the community?

Tork understands that sustainability works best as an integrated approach that delivers business value, improves outcomes for people, and reduces environmental impact. The Tork Focus4 Sustainability platform is designed with this in mind to help facility managers choose, report, and navigate sustainable hygiene solutions. At its core are four pillars – Materials & Packaging, Use & Waste, Carbon, and Hygiene for All – that guide how Tork develops products and supports customers in reducing their environmental footprint.

The Tork range of compressed and coreless products reduces packaging waste by 89 percent while increasing product capacity by up to 250 percent per dispenser, which directly cuts transportation emissions and refill frequency.⁵ In parallel, through renewable electricity investments, Tork has achieved measurable carbon reductions across key products, such as up to 21 percent on hand towels and 20 percent on napkins.⁶

Sustainability at Tork also extends beyond environmental impact to include hygiene for all. This commitment ensures products are accessible, intuitive, and designed to serve a broader range of users. To further support this mission, the Tork Sustainability Academy offers free training to help facility teams make informed, responsible decisions. These efforts support facilities in meeting customer expectations for sustainable practices while simultaneously improving operational efficiency and community health.

Footnotes:

1. Based on 2023 global sales of Tork branded products & services for professional use.

2. June 2022 – Qualitative and quantitative office segment research with 600+ respondents in North America and Europe.

3. Based on customer feedback for dispenser checks over 6 months before vs after installing Tork Vision Cleaning (between June-December 2019). Measured across 16 sites connected to Tork Vision Cleaning, with each dispenser check taking approx. 20 seconds.

4. Tork Insight Survey 2025, conducted in US, UK, Germany, France, Mexico, Canada, Australia, Spain, Sweden, Netherlands and Poland among 11,500 people from the general public and 1,000 cleaning staff.

5. Compared to Tork Universal refills and folded towel dispenser 552000.

6. On average, compared to the average of all Tork PeakServe® (H5) refill carbon footprint when commencing purchase of renewable electricity certificates (hydroelectric, solar, wind or mix), verified and matched through Renewable Energy Certificates (REC), for our paper making operations. The resulting carbon footprint reductions were quantified in a third party reviewed cradle-to-grave Life Cycle Assessment; On average, compared to the average of all Tork Xpressnap® (N4) refill carbon footprint when commencing purchase of renewable electricity certificates (hydroelectric, solar, wind or mix), verified and matched through Renewable Energy Certificates (REC), for our paper making operations. The resulting carbon footprint reductions were quantified in a third party reviewed cradle-to-grave Life Cycle Assessment.