ISSUE MANAGEMENT

INDA has a long history of defending market sectors under stress. In 2004, we brought together 30 members from the entire wipes value chain to protect the flushable wipes market from potential restrictive legislation and biased media attention. Under INDA issue management, this group of INDA members coalesced to create the first living guideline document for assessing flushability. In 2018, the 4th edition of the Guidelines for Assessing the Flushability of Disposable Nonwoven Products was released to reflect the continuing innovation of flushable wipes.

Over the past 20 years, INDA has helped members work with wastewater stakeholders, government officials, and competitors to help reduce the amount of non-flushable material in the wastewater stream. We’ve also been very involved in Single Use Plastics (SUP) issues. Before the COVID-19 pandemic, SUPs were facing increasing scrutiny from consumers and lawmakers in the US as well as Europe. The issue at hand was pollution in the environment resulting from improperly discarded plastic bags, straws, bottles, etc. INDA coalesced members to ensure that potential broad-brush SUP legislation would not inadvertently include much needed products in the absorbent hygiene, medical, and surgical sectors. Today, INDA and our members are keeping a close tab on legislative activity at the local, regional, and national level.