MILWAUKEE — During the height of the pandemic, the sanitary wipe production facilities at Rebel Converting operated non-stop.

"Obviously during COVID, almost all wipe manufacturers including ourselves were running 5 shifts. That means we never shut down for lunch, never shut down for breaks. We were running 24/7. We did that for 16 and a half months," owner Mike Kryshak explains.

Kryshak says that ended as the number of COVID cases and hospitalizations declined.

"Since the demand has slowed down, all wet wipes industry has seen a tremendous slowdown."

But Rebel Converting is seeing a change as COVID cases rise with the highly contagious BA5 variant.

"What we are seeing is people going through their inventory faster, they were just swimming in it previously. We're seeing some people who had orders later in the year pushing them up and we're seeing a little more demand for hospital-grade disinfectants."

Kryshak says while many companies entered the wipe business during the pandemic, they made money and got out. But his company will stay the course, investing in new equipment and investigating new ways to disinfect.

"We're seeing now another resurgence in environmentally plastic-free compostable, biodegradable wipes. I think there are a little more people thinking about the environment now."

Kryshak believes wipes will remain a strong weapon in the fight against COVID-19.

"We believe the wipe industry is going to be a lot higher in the post-Covid world than in the pre-covid world."

Report a typo or error // Submit a news tip