LABEL REMOVAL | INNOVATION


Separating polymer labels from PET bottles


New material developments and progress in de-labelling equipment are now assisting plastic packaging recyclers improve rPET quality and yield. Mark Holmes looks at some innovations


One major issue hindering aspects of the plastics recycling process has been the difficulty associated with removing shrink labels from PET bottles. New developments in the label adhesive are now emerging that promise to streamline the label removal process and greatly improve recycled PET yield. Sun Chemical has launched its Sun Chemical SunLam De-seaming Adhesive for shrink-labelled containers. This new de-seamable adhesive helps recyclers improve rPET yield with minimal process changes. Developed in partnership, Sun Chemical and Eastman tested SunLam on labels made with Eastman Embrace LV copolyester. It has received a Responsible Innovation Acknowledgment by the Association of Plastic Recyclers (APR) in the US after passing stringent testing outlined by the APR. There are a number of reasons why it was necessary to develop a system for de-seaming labels from bottles, according to Ronnie Little, Market Development Manager, SP-Plastics Packag- ing at Eastman. “The current method to seam


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shrink labels uses a solvent that makes a very strong bond that does not easily come apart,” he said. “When a shrink label is made, it looks like a tube and is slid over the top and onto the bottle. It then goes into a heated tunnel and shrinks tightly and secures itself to the bottle. There is no attach- ment of the shrink label to the bottle with the use of a solvent or adhesive. This causes a problem at PET recyclers because the label will not readily come off the PET bottle. SunLam De-seaming Adhesive replaces the solvent in the shrink label making process. This allows the shrink label to release from the bottle early in the PET recycling process, which helps minimise misidentification and contamination. “The only deficiency with a solvent seam is that it does its job too well, and the label does not release very easily. This is great for the brand because they do not want the label to come off their package during its life cycle, but hard on PET recyclers because the label is not easily removed unless


Main image: Bottle labels can pose a problem to PET recyclers


March/April 2018 | PLASTICS RECYCLING WORLD 35


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