Waste Not... –Polischuk

According to market studies by AWA Alexander Watson Associates the worldwide market share for pressure-sensitive labeling technology is 40 percent. This is a big number. What is also a big number is how much material in a standard pressure-sensitive label construction is waste—more than 50 percent (including matrix and release liner waste). Pressure-sensitive labeling technology has many advantages and has a huge installed base of label application equipment, but its waste profile could be viewed as a longer term Achilles Heel. This is especially true in light of the focus on sustainability, measured in many corners by packaging scorecards that quantify the entire value chain, including disposal (landfill) issues.

The industry understands this fully and is ramping up its efforts to address the issue through various approaches, including reducing the amount of release liner material (measured in pounds), developing collection and value-added reuse of matrix and liner material (keeping it out of landfills), and maybe, a more significant solution at some point in time, the mainstream application of linerless labels.

As examples, both UPM Raflatac and Avery Dennison have recently developed and introduced very thin release liner films. UPM Raflatac claims that its ultra-thin ProLiner PP30 polyproplylene (PP) liner is easily recyclable and allows for up to 30 percent more labels in a given-size roll of labels. Avery Dennison developed its new ThinStream™ technology in cooperation with Gallus to provide a liner as thin as 12 microns, about half of what it says is the currently accepted minimum.

To keep the release liner out of landfills, companies such as UPM Raflatac, Channeled Resources Group (CRG), and Cycle4Green, are taking different approaches to reuse of the liner. With the ProLiner PP30 launch, UPM Raflatac introduced its RafCycle™ program that collects and reuses the liner waste in PP-based products such as outdoor decking materials. CRG has an agreement with Greenwood Fuels to supply matrix material to Greenwood that it pelletizes for use as an alternative fuel in industrial boilers. Both CRG and Cycle4Green (in Europe) reprocess used release liners into desiliconized pulp for use in paper products. These types of efforts are—out of necessity—gaining traction.

The use of linerless labels obviously offers the "big prize" on the sustainability front, but still has a number of hurtles to overcome, not the least of which is the need for labeling equipment to apply the label to the product. This alone will ensure a slow evolution.

One thing for sure, however, is that pressure-sensitive label suppliers and converters will be "under the gun" to provide tangible improvements in this area.

Tom Polischuk, Editor-in-Chief

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