Healthcare Wipes

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Demand for wipes used in healthcare settings is expected to increase 2.7% per year to $635 million in 2026. Growth will come mostly from increasing unit sales, which will accelerate as healthcare operations return to pre-pandemic levels. Other factors supporting market growth include:

• an aging population and increasing need for senior care, which will boost demand for patient care wipes because they are often used to bathe seniors with mobility issues
• an increase in surgeries, spurring demand for skin disinfectant wipes
• ongoing concerns about cross-contamination and HAIs, promoting demand for hard surface disinfectant wipes

In addition, product innovations will encourage new adoptions of wipes in certain healthcare applications, such as skin-contact and disinfectant wipes.

Healthcare Wipe Demand Was Stronger in 2021 Following Mixed 2020 Performance

The market for healthcare wipes in both unit and value terms grew in 2021 following a depressed 2020 (attributable to the COVID-19 pandemic):

• While demand for surface disinfectant wipes spiked in 2020 to combat the coronavirus, a decrease in surgical procedures caused demand for skin disinfectants to decline, weakening overall growth.
• In 2021, the healthcare wipes market expanded robustly as facilities were able to operate in more normal capacities.

Going forward, it is expected that demand for products like surface disinfectant wipes will remain above pre-pandemic levels. Additionally, demand will be supported by increases in healthcare spending prompted by an aging population and an uptick in surgical procedures, as well as an anticipated rise in births.

Among Applications, Patient Care Wipes to Account for Largest Absolute Gains

Patient care wipes are projected to account for 67% of total market gains, driven primarily by the aging US population and the prevalent use of personal bathing wipes in senior-oriented healthcare. As this segment of the population continues to increase in size, the market for senior care will expand, in turn boosting healthy gains for personal bathing and other patient care wipes. Growth will also result from continued product innovation, such as the development of substrates and chemicals that are gentler or more eco-friendly.

Product Innovations Continue to Promote Sales

Product development efforts will continue to promote demand growth for healthcare wipes, with enhanced disinfection capabilities and increased gentleness (of both substrates and chemicals) among the key areas of focus. For example:

• In late 2020, Ecolab launched Disinfectant 1 wipes, which are formulated to kill 44 pathogens in one minute.
• In 2021, GOJO Industries introduced PURELL professional surface disinfecting wipes, which can eliminate the SARS-CoV-2 virus in 30 seconds.
• Kimberly-Clark’s Huggies Natural Care extra sensitive wipes, which were designed in partnership with neonatal intensive care unit nurses, are intended to be extremely gentle on the delicate skin of premature infants.

Demand by Application

Demand for healthcare wipes was volatile in 2020 and 2021 as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. While hard surface disinfectant wipes saw strong gains in demand in 2020, wipes used for other disinfectant purposes declined significantly along with surgical procedures. In 2021, demand for hard surface disinfectant wipes declined slightly, although not nearly as steeply as in other markets. Demand for disinfectant wipes used as antiseptics rebounded along with surgical procedures.

Through 2026, demand for wipes used in healthcare settings is expected to increase 2.7% per year to $635 million. Gains will be driven by:

• an aging population and increasing need for senior care, which will boost demand for patient care wipes, which are often used for bathing for seniors with mobility issues
• an increase in surgeries, spurring demand for skin disinfectant wipes

In addition, hard surface disinfectant wipes sales will continue to rise due to ongoing concerns over the risk of cross-contamination and HAIs. Product innovations will also encourage new adoptions of wipes in certain healthcare applications. However, in many applications – especially patient care – wipes are already widely used. This will restrain faster growth since it limits the opportunity for new adoptions of wipes over alternative products.

Raw Materials

At their most basic, healthcare wipes are substrates (e.g., airlaid, spunlaced, composites, and paper) that may or may not be saturated with chemicals (e.g., emollients and surfactants). The materials used to create healthcare wipes often include nonwovens, which themselves are composed of fibers from both natural and synthetic sources. Material composition for healthcare wipes continues to see innovation of better performing products.

Additionally, the raw materials used by converters for their end-use products can be influenced by:

• costs further upstream, such as those for plastic resins or fossil fuels
• the environmental profiles of the ingredients employed
• shortages of available materials due to high demand or delays in the supply chain

For example, early in the COVID-19 pandemic, high demand for both surface disinfectant wipes and other products made from nonwovens – such as PPE – caused shortages in the available raw materials; that included polyester spunlace, which many companies use to make their wipes. Additionally, high demand for the quaternary ammonium compounds that are often used in disinfectants caused further challenges. Since disinfectant wipes are EPA-registered products, it was difficult for converters to adapt their products.