Press: The Green Revolution | Green Glove Disposable Glove Sempermed

Disposable gloves must be compatible - both for the skin and for the environment. With the Green Glove, Sempermed is setting new standards in both respects.

What would the modern world be without gloves?

From the saleswoman at the sausage counter to the cleaner and the nurse to the tattoo artist: In all kinds of professions - and of course also in the private sector - people today protect themselves every day with disposable gloves or thus ensure more hygiene. However, there are two problems: Some gloves contain substances that can cause skin allergies in the wearer.

In addition, their production consumes raw materials, energy and water – so the most efficient production possible is desirable for the environment. Sempermed is proactively addressing both points. And in cooperation with the Polymer Competence Center Leoben (PCCL) research centre, he has developed a new glove that is gentle on both skin and the environment: the Green Glove.

The new glove, manufactured at Sempermed's Kamunting site in Malaysia, will be launched on the market at the beginning of 2018. And setting new standards: "The Green Glove is made of nitrile and without the use of accelerators and chlorine," says Lean Seey Tan, Head of R&D Asia. "It also saves 17 percent CO2 emissions and 12 percent water in production." This was achieved through a revolutionary new production process, which her team played a major role in developing.

Such gloves are made by immersing ceramic glove molds in a tank with nitrile latex, then drying the film formed, vulcanizing it under heat and then pulling off the finished gloves again. In order for the gloves to be elastic and tear-resistant, the particles of the nitrile must spread over the
Cross-linking molecular bonds. Under normal circumstances, this networking would take forever. That's why chemicals are added to speed up the process. However, it is these accelerators that can trigger allergies in users, similar to natural latex, from which many comparable gloves are made.

"We feel that sustainability is a matter close to Sempermed's heart." Quote: Marten Gigel, Profa Handisafe

"That's why we use nitrile as a raw material, which, unlike natural latex, does not contain any allergenic proteins," says Tan. "And we use a different method to make the nitrile latex film, as well as a different crosslinking process. This allows us to dispense with accelerators and reduce heating and cooling steps. This, in turn, saves both energy and water."

Sustainability as a driver of innovation

In addition, there is the renunciation of treatment with chlorine. This is usually standard for such gloves and makes it easier for the user to put on later. Instead, the Green Glove is coated with a polymer inside. Although this is more expensive, it is of much higher quality and, with improved application properties, protects the health of the users and the environment. The additional costs were compensated for by optimising the remaining production steps. "With the Green Glove, we are showing that more efficient production processes are also being created in the pursuit of greater sustainability," says Lean Seey Tan.

"Sempermed is leading the way as a pioneer."

This is also confirmed by Marten Gigel from Profa Handisafe, a distributor of disposable gloves in Sweden: "Sempermed is not just following a trend. As long-standing customers, we feel that sustainability, i.e. the preservation of health and the environment, is a matter close to the heart of this company."

The Swede is convinced that the new glove will sell particularly well in Scandinavia. "Not only because environmental awareness is always important here.
is becoming stronger – which is reflected not least in the fact that in Sweden the Green Party was elected to the government with over ten percent. But also because in Scandinavia there are much more problems with skin irritation due to the drier air." According to Gigel, around 30 percent of all Scandinavians have an allergic reaction to natural latex gloves or accelerators. The global average is only six percent.

Udo Dürholt, Managing Director of Fipp Handelsmarken, which supplies the entire German retail trade with disposable gloves and is a major Sempermed customer, is already reporting the first pre-orders for the Green Glove. "Nowadays, German end consumers are paying more and more attention to sustainability when it comes to everyday things. Without meeting this increasing need, a supplier to the retail trade could hardly exist anymore. And that's why we need partners like Semperit who can break new ground with us in this area."

To produce the Green Glove, the raw material nitrile latex is first mixed with paint, stabilizers and other additives. Then the previously cleaned, hand-shaped ceramic molds are immersed. The nitrile film formed in this process is dried and vulcanized, then washed. Instead of treating them in a chlorine bath at the end, the gloves are coated with a polymer. They are then automatically pulled from the mold, turning the glove inside out – so the externally applied coating is now on the inside, making it easier for the user to put it on later.

High social standards

It should be noted that this is not only about sustainability in an ecological sense. It is also about social criteria, i.e. the conditions under which production takes place. "Sempermed is also exemplary in this respect, the plants are BSCI-certified, for example," says Dürholt. This certificate from the Business Social Compliance Initiative for sustainable corporate management is awarded to companies that not only meet high social standards in terms of occupational safety, working hours, wage levels and so on, but also
"audit" them regularly, i.e. have them checked. "The retail trade demands absolute transparency from us and our suppliers so that they can understand whether everything is in order along the supply chain."

The production of the Green Glove therefore also meets the most modern standards in this respect. "When it comes to the environment, it even goes beyond that," says Dürholt. "By dispensing with accelerators and chlorine, it will perform by far the best in upcoming official eco-tests, as our own comparative tests have already shown." Of course, the retail trade likes to advertise with something like this. Especially since the Green Glove will not only be offered in fresh mint green, as is known from examination gloves in care or protective gloves in cleaning. In private households, customers are used to white disposable gloves. And that's why the Green Glove in supermarkets will also be able to
Colour.

With the Green Glove, Sempermed is living up to its own claim – and that of its customers – more than ever: to act more sustainably and innovatively than any other glove manufacturer. Because this is not only good for health and the environment, but ultimately also for the company itself. The company expands its market lead, reaches new customer groups and creates new potential for the future. Two patents have been filed for the novel crosslinking process alone.