Original, and now even
better for everyone

A specialist team led by Director Product Development Michel Mies has been tasked with updating tesa^® 4965 Original tape to reduce its carbon footprint, while retaining the quality it’s renowned for.  

Michel has written about how the team struck the balance between more sustainable composition and reliable performance.

Upholding the original quality

When you have a product that’s been trusted for over 40 years, making changes is a huge challenge. Our tesa^® 4965 Original double-sided tape has set the standard for quality in industrial applications. We had a big responsibility to match it.

Maintaining performance was a primary objective of this task. Therefore, the guiding principle throughout development was to keep the tape’s chemical and mechanical properties the same as the original while reducing the carbon footprint.  

Supporting sustainability in every business

We recognize that reducing emissions and helping businesses lower their carbon footprint is something they find increasingly valuable.

Achieving a higher level of sustainability is an important goal for our customers - just as it is for us. In addition to our own product sustainability, we are working to ensure that our products can benefit customers from their own point of view towards sustainability. 

Our new tesa^® 4965 Original Next Gen has 40%¹ less carbon emissions in our value chain. Businesses can measure the potential impact of replacing the current tesa^® 4965 Original with the tesa^® 4965 Original Next Gen tape using our calculation tool, useful for monitoring Scope 3 inventory. 

To maintain bonding performance whilst reducing emissions, we use ISCC PLUS-certified raw materials for the adhesive. The process enables us to substitute significant quantities of fossil raw materials with alternatives, which contribute to the replacement of virgin fossil resources by renewable feedstocks such as bio-naphtha or biomethane, without compromising the quality and performance of our adhesive tapes.

When using renewable and more sustainable raw materials, it’s important to establish credible evidence of their origin and ensure traceability through the entire supply chain. At our ISCC PLUS-accredited plant in Hamburg, Germany, we have established a framework for the traceability of biomass balanced and other renewable raw materials from our component suppliers.

Despite these changes, the new tesa^® 4965 Original Next Gen tape is still as reliable and versatile as ever. It remains compliant with global quality and reliability standards throughout different markets. 

We set out to create an updated product that enables our customers to meet their sustainability targets and reduce their Scope 3 emissions. By refining the process and not the result, tesa^® 4965 Original Next Gen meets the industrial needs it always has, signifying a step towards the sustainability requirements for the future.  

Find out more about the ISCC PLUS accreditation and how we trace our biomass balance from source to tape.

¹ Product Carbon Footprint (PCF) reduction for the new tesa^® 4965 Original Next Gen (50m x 50mm handroll, PV0: red MOPP liner) compared to the current tesa^® 4965 Original (50m x 50mm handroll, PV0: red MOPP liner) calculated in 2023 with Cradle-to-Gate values including biogenic carbon uptake. Individual PCF values for the other liner types (PV1, PV2, PV4) and further information you can find in our ISO 14067-compliant comparative PCF calculation on tesa.com/4965-report  (opens in a new window or tab)