The Growing Shrink Label

How hard it is to separate a label from the bottle material during the recycling process is determined by the specific gravity of the substrate—its ability to float in water, according to information compiled by Brown and Gary Gates of Mark Andy (St. Louis, Mo.) for this month's TLMI/FFTA Technical Conference in Chicago. OPP is a floater and can easily be separated from PET bottles. OPS is a hanger and doesn't float or sink, but it can also be separated out. PVC and PET labels, on the other hand, have a high specific gravity. This means they sink and blend in with the PET bottle fragments, making the recycled material nearly unusable, said Brown.