Doing Your Part- Design and Source Your Packaging for Maximum Recyclability

“Is my label recyclable?”  In my thirteen plus years of producing quality labels to the food, natural products and personal care industries I’ve never heard a single question asked as often as this one in the last six months!  But before you accept the answer from an uninformed label printer and choose a different decoration method to make your package more eco-friendly read on!
You’ve invested time and money into getting a PCR bottle; you’ve avoided BPA & PVC, and have selected a container that works well in the recycling stream.   You may have even gone so far as to choose a white, clear or black container color so that it won’t contaminate the recycling stream (yes, black is a high demand color for PCR so it isn’t necessarily a bad choice).  Bravo, you’ve done your part…or have you? 
What could I possibly have missed you ask?  Decoration! Will you screen print this container, foil stamp or label it? What’s your best choice for the environment? Let’s discuss the options.
Screen printing- less material=less waste=more eco-friendly packaging right?  Not necessarily.  We’re finding that screen inks are often a red flag during plastic container sorting, or worse yet don’t get sorted out at all.  When this occurs there is a risk of contaminating or ‘tinting’ the recycling material.  This creates a lower quality recycled plastic container.   Ink removal also becomes a problem.  The very thing that attracts us to screen printed inks is the very reason why we might not want to use them- the ink adheres too well!
What about foil stamping?  There is no doubt that foil adds pop and shelf appeal to a container but is it ‘recyclable’?  Well, the folks with FSEA (Foil Stamping & Embossing Association) say that because there are no solvents, inks or vapors in foils it breaks down just fine in a landfill.  (http://www.fsea.com/Designersclub/DCenvironment.htm) If this is truly the case then foil stamping may be a viable option if you’re looking to create a container that will end up in a landfill but if you’re designing for recyclability however there are concerns that foil does contaminate regrind material.
So direct decoration is out…what are the other options?  Sleeves (shrink sleeves) are a great choice- sleeves printed on corn-based PLA or Eastman’s Embrace shrink films can be easily removed from plastic containers and discarded with other waste material.   To be effective however sleeves generally need to cover a large area (close to 100% of a container), thus increasing the amount of material you’ll need to source and… throw away!
All of this leads us to my preferred decoration method… labels!  “But labels have adhesive!” you say.  “Doesn’t adhesive gum up the works in a regrind operation?”  “Aren’t labels difficult to remove in a conventional recycling plant?  The answers to these questions are yes, yes, and yes, but… there are options that make this one of the most attractive decorating options. 
To understand how adhesive selection can affect this process one must first understand the plastic recycling process.
Plastic containers are recycled using several methods and a complete discussion here would chew up a dozen or more pages.  In a nutshell, there are generally three basic stages to this process:  Stage 1- Containers are sorted; Stage 2- Containers are ground into flake (also called regrind), labels and all, and the ‘lighter’ particles are blown or vacuumed out; Stage 3- Washing with water and chemicals to remove contaminants; Stage 4- additional air/vacuum separation, and drying; and, Stage 5- melting of the regrind and extruding this material through screens to filter out any left over, non plastic materials.
The wrong adhesive can increase the amount of energy used to complete this process and/or contaminate the system altogether, but there are options.  Although Recycling Compatible Adhesives (RCA’s) were designed to minimize the effect of ‘stickies’ in paper recycling processes there has been significant discussion about whether this might also increase the efficiency and effectiveness of plastic container recycling. 
Choosing a lighter coat weight of adhesive, and/or an adhesive designed to ‘break away’ from a container during the regrind or washing process can also help.    There are literally thousands of adhesives available for label materials- simply asking your label supplier for a ‘stronger’ or ‘lighter’ adhesive isn’t going to get you the performance or recycling compatibility you’re after. 
Face stocks should be chosen wisely and this can be, in fact more important than adhesive selection.  PVC, polystyrene, vinyls, and polyesters should be avoided.  PET and HDPE might be good choices though eco-friendly options such as cellulosed-based biodegradable films and films made from minerals such as FiberStone™ paper made from calcium carbonate are better choices.
Rely on the expertise of your label supplier when specifying a label material for your application but don’t expect him to recommend an adhesive and face stock combination appropriate for recycling.  This topic is so new and, surprisingly hasn’t yet caught the eye or interest of the majority of label printers and print brokers.  If you can’t find a well informed, cutting edge eco-friendly label supplier you’ll need to take the time to educate your label printer on the recycling process a bit (send him this article!), or better yet… find a label printer that is interested enough in the environment to do the research and recommend the right product! 
If your printer comments, “You’ll have to choose between having a label that works and saving the environment- what’ll it be?”  RUN!  This is a sure sign that your label printer isn’t ready to assist you with adhesive selection and environmentally sound labels.  
So what IS the question you should be asking?   What ARE my options for eco-friendly labels?  Then sit down and listen for awhile- the list of options is, believe it or not more extensive than you might think!

Tagged as: Design, Doing, Maximum, Packaging, Part, Recyclability, Source