The Growing Shrink Label

Barry Hostetter, business director of Applied Extrusion Technologies' (AET, New Castle, Del.) label films, points to environmental reasons for the expected growth of other substrates. "[OPS] and PET are considered more environmentally friendly than PVC," he explained. "Major problems with recycling of containers with labels are: 1) separation of the label from the container; and 2) contamination of the recycled material with 'label' contamination. Some labels, such as OPP labels, are easier to separate [from PET containers], while others are more difficult—such as PVC labels."