Page 26 - Plastics News April 2017
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          Full-Wrap Shrink Labels: Their Impact on PET Bottle Recycling

          and Sustainability

          While “temporary” solutions have been discussed involving zippered or scored labels that would
          make them easier to remove, or a return to paper labels, clearly the most effective long--term
          solution is to use a label that floats and is compatible with the existing label stream and PET
          recycling infrastructure
         Background                                             is no longer a viable option. Currently, some full- -wrap
                                                                label bottles are being sold as “out- - throws” at prices
         The incidence of PET bottles using full-wrap shrink Labels
         was first noted by NAPCOR in its 2007 bale composition   significantly below market; some are being blended
         study at Levels around 65% by weight. At that time,    into low-valuea pplications;and  many  aresimply  being
         reclaimers reported that the bottles were contributing   stockpiled as reclaimers look for a solution or a market. All
         to the increased residual contamination in the recyclate   of this has significant economic impact on the PET bottle
         produced. NAPCOR’s 2011 Bale study showed an increase   reclamation industry. If the PET recycling infrastructure
         to 3% by weight of all bottles collected in the USA, and to   is to remain sustainable, this issue can not be ignored; it
         3.5% of containers collected through curbside recycling.   needs to be addressed now.
         Canadian Reclaimer data indicate that full- -wrap shrink   The Issues and Impacts:
         Labeled PET bottles now make up 6% of the curbside     The information is intended to give a working knowledge
         recycling Stream by weight.
                                                                of the problem and the complexity of its impacts; it is not
         What is a Full-Wrap Shrink Label?                      meant to be prescriptive or an evaluation of any particular
                                                                labels other than in a generic sense.
                                                                Reclamation Process:

                                                                PET bottle reclaimers are those operations that purchase
                                                                post consumer bottles and thermoforms, and sort
                                                                and  clean  them  to  produce  a  clean  flake  suitable  for
                                                                remanufacture. The flake is either sold or used internally
                                                                in the production of pellets, sheet, fiber or strapping.
                                                                Reclaimers  are  the  lynchpin  of  the  industry:  without
                                                                them, there is no true PET recycling. Full-wrap shrink
                                                                labels pose a variety of problems for reclaimers, none of
                                                                which are insignificant. Although all reclaimers employ
                                                                slightly different technologies, their concerns fall into
         A  label  that  is  heat  shrunk  snugly  around  a  significant   three common areasof processing and quality control.
         portion of the entire bottle surface, running contiguously,
         with no seam or other break. These labels are becoming   Blinding of autosort devices as also experienced by the
         increasingly  popular  with brand  owners  due  to  the   MRFs during intermediate processing, forcing either a
         marketing opportunities they  provide and positive     reprogram  of  the  software,  or  the  addition  of  manual
         consumer response.                                     sorters to remove the bottles.
         What was formerly a nuisance has now become a crisis...   Difficulties in label separation:

         As reclaimers, particularlythose focused on manufacturing   Reclaimers commonly remove label and cap material by
         RPET suitable for use in packaging applications suchas   both elutriating and float / sinking: separating material by
         bottles and thermoforms, have had to remove these full- -  density variances using air and water mediums. However,
         wrap label bottles, either manually or by reprogramming   the full-wrap labels are so heavy that in order to gain any
         autosort equipment. Initially, most of these bottles were   removal  efficiency,  the  elutriation  equipment  must  be
         simply thrown out, but as their volumes increase that


        Plastics News | April  2017    26                                                                                                                                                                          43    April 2015   Plastics News
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