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Lightweighting of plastic labels formats

• Posted by Gete cecil November 7, 2019 Filed in Business #plastic labels  288 views
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  The packaging industry and its customers are continually moving towards decreasing the weight of product packaging, either using thinner rigid containers, whether metal, glass or plastic; or by switching to flexible plastic formats.
  Labels are also contributing to this drive for weight reduction, with product manufacturers either using smaller labels, or labels produced from thinner materials. Material science developments have aided the reduction in volume and thickness of label materials, while maintaining the strength for handling and printing processes. In addition to the reductions in material that will be used for the labels, thinner materials offer other advantages to both the label printer and its customers. Printers can use rolls with longer lengths so that there is less downtime to splice on a new roll, and label users will receive more labels on longer rolls that are lighter and easier to manage.

  Recyclability
  Recyclability of packaging materials is of growing importance globally, and local authorities around the world are introducing and improving recovery schemes for household and industrial waste. The label is a relatively small part of the packaging, but the choice of materials can play an important role in recycling processes.

  plastic labels can affect the purity of the plastic that is recovered, or potentially make mixed plastic packaging unrecyclable. Most reclaimers pre-wash recovered plastic bottles with very hot water or steam, shrinking the bottle slightly to loosen dirt and remove as much of the labels as possible before granulation.

  The purity of the recovered plastic granules will depend on how easily the adhesive can be removed. Development of new label adhesives have been introduced to ensure that the bond is broken completely, resulting in high purity reyclate. A practical example of this can be found in Avery Dennison’s CleanFlake, a water-based recyclable adhesive. The adhesive is designed so that the cohesive bond is only broken during the sink-float process, allowing the label and adhesive to cleanly separate from the granules to give pure PET flakes.

  Greater automation in plastic label printing
  New demands on label printers for shorter print runs, faster turnaround, and greater flexibility and customisation is driving the label printing industry towards higher levels of automation.

  Printers are investing in sophisticated management information systems (MIS) that are integrated with specialised inspection and colour performance software and technology, and even fully automated press and finishing line set-up systems.