Web edges usually have uneven weight and weaker bonding, so they are slit off at the winder and either wound up or, on spunmelt lines, blown straight back to an edge trim recycling extruder. Keeping trim narrow saves money and polymer. Trim that cannot be recycled lands in the waste numbers management watches every week.
Heard on the job
Edge trim is up to 90 millimeters each side, tighten the laydown and save the polymer.
Also heard as
- trim
- edge strips
- selvage trim
Related terms
Repro
Polymer recovered from trim, start-up waste and off-spec fabric, repelletized and fed back to the extruders.
Slitting
Cutting a wide nonwoven roll lengthwise into narrower rolls on a slitter-rewinder.
Mother roll
Full-width roll wound at the end of the production line, before it is slit into customer rolls.