Labels are more sustainable-Packaging Europe

2021-11-12 11:29:35 By : Ms. Julia Mu

This week's brief: October 1st to 5th

UPM Raflatac launches a full range of paper label products

In our latest innovation focus, Fedrigoni Self-Adhesives has proposed a series of solutions that enable label manufacturers to provide brands and distributors with important sustainable and economical advantages.

Prevent it by developing single-material packaging solutions—that is, avoid waste and reduce the amount of materials needed to make labels—and encourage recycling. This is how Sergio Veneziani, Global Linerless Product Manager at Fedrigoni Self-Adhesives, defines the company's strategy to ensure the environmental compatibility of its products and processes.

In both cases, R&D has proposed a series of innovative solutions to enable label manufacturers to provide brand owners and distributors with important advantages in terms of ecological sustainability and conservation.

The Core Bottomless Paper Solution® is an exclusive technology that creates a complete material machine platform to produce bottomless paper labels. This solves the problem of having to deal with large amounts of silicided materials and increasing collection and recycling costs.

The silicone lining will not be discarded, but will become the laminate material of the product. Aesthetic quality has also gained brilliance and impact without the need for surface treatment or new printing technology. CLS is much thinner than normal. It is composed of 30-micron PP, 12-micron siliconized PET multifunctional smart liner and high-performance transparent acrylic adhesive. The thickness is half of the traditional laminated PP structure. It eliminates the gap separating one label from another, saves a lot of material and avoids the generation of waste.

The combination of these two features—smaller thickness and no waste—makes it possible to transport at least twice as many labels on one reel. As a result, the number of reels to be delivered is reduced by half, thereby reducing storage and transportation costs.

Sustainable labeling of variable data

Another cornerstone of Fedrigoni's self-adhesive sustainable development is variable-information printed labels made of self-adhesive thermal paper.

The 2017 EU Regulation 1169/2011 has come into effect, which requires all manufacturers to provide nutritional information on foods produced and packaged at the point of sale. At first, in large-scale retail trade, the idea was to use the same size label for all types of products-the largest size, of course, to accommodate all the information that needs to be reported.

From the subsequent cost/benefit analysis, it can be seen that the use of standard labels will lead to a large amount of waste of materials and increased costs, and consumers will also be greatly confused when facing partially printed labels.

The solution is a bottomless paper roll, which allows the creation of variable-length labels based on the amount of data that must be reported, thereby optimizing paper consumption.

Fedrigoni Self-Adhesives' DTL labels are continuous thermal paper rolls, coated with a silicon-coated adhesive that can be printed using common technology, and are automatically die-cut at the end of each printing. The economic and ecological advantages are obvious: our DTL can save up to 60% of materials.

Single-material bottle opener for wet wipes

Before the pandemic, wet wipes seem to have to suffer the fate of other disposable items prohibited by environmental protection legislation. The arrival of COVID-19 highlights the role of personnel and surface hygiene protection, and they are undergoing a very active development today.

However, a large number of packages made of heterogeneous plastics are still to be processed: packaging, different labels, protective seals, strong opening and closing lids... the perfect combination of composite materials that are difficult to separate and expensive to recycle.

Fedrigoni Self-Adhesives has taken a decisive step in the direction of single-material packaging, and cooperated with Amcor Flexibles to develop a more streamlined and lighter packaging that can be processed without problems in the supply chain. As we all know, PP and PE have different printability, solderability and barrier behaviors and properties, all of which are essential.

Therefore, under the requirements of product protection and brand image, it is a remarkable achievement to obtain a structure entirely made of PP, and then all made of PE. We achieve this goal by studying the concept of the lid opener: our new label contains only 1 instead of 3; it is semi-rigid to ensure the same effect and ergonomics as the lid, and it is no longer needed here; It uses an adhesive that can resist corrosive chemicals in wet wipes. Compared with the usual 5 or 6 grams, all of these weigh less than one gram and are easier to apply to packaging and, of course, easier to handle.

Together with the packaging manufacturer, we have indeed provided excellent services for users and the environment.

This content is sponsored by Fedrigoni. 

Victoria Hattersley talked with Itue Yanagida, Toray International Europe GmbH's graphics system business development manager.

Philippe Gallard, Global Innovation Director of Nestlé Water, discussed the trends and latest developments from recyclability and reusability to different packaging materials.

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