LABEL REMOVAL | INNOVATION


ered a good way for a brand to use a clear, desirable, and highly recyclable PET bottle without putting the brand colour into the PET bottle. Full-body shrink labels are a way to utilise full-cover- age graphics and brand colour. When used with SunLam De-seaming Adhesive on Embrace LV shrink labels, they are compliant with the APR testing protocol.


Another company active in


recycling-friendly shrink sleeves for bottles is the manufacturer of Topas COC (cyclic olefin copolymer), Polyplastics USA. The company says that the main reasons for such shrink sleeves include the need to improve the quality and lower the cost of recycled PET bottle resin, improve the sustainability of the beverage industry, and simplify recycling operations. Timothy Kneale, President of Topas Americas at


Polyplastics USA, explains that it is first necessary to review how PET bottles are currently recycled. “Recycling plants (MRFs) are engineered around the much more common PET bottle with a non- shrink wrap-around label, such as major soda and bottled water brands and 2L bottles. The dominant non-shrink label material for PET bottles is polypro- pylene, while bottle caps are either PP or polyethyl- ene. Because PP and PE float in water, while PET sinks, the separation of these materials is done in a water bath. Bottles, including attached labels and caps, are shredded and conveyed into a water tank. The cap and label fragments float, and are skimmed off the surface, while the valuable PET flakes are collected at the bottom of the tank. Unlike roll-on labels, shrink sleeves have tradition- ally been made of PVC or PETG. These plastics have similar density to PET bottle resin. This meant that, if shrink-labelled PET bottles were not separated out or labels removed beforehand, the PET flake at the bottom of the float tank became contaminated with ink-covered PETG or PVC. This ruins a lot of valuable PET and raises costs for everyone involved.” According to the company, Topas COC has some important properties that make it highly suitable for use in sleeve materials. COC is an ethylene copolymer widely used to modify the performance of PE and PP. Topas COC is a high- performance additive that allows polyolefin-based films (PE or PP) to deliver high shrinkage, enabling


www.plasticsrecyclingworld.com


the manufacture of floating shrink sleeve labels. Kneale claims that the


recycling advantages of using Topas COC in sleeve materials are compelling. “Unlike other proposed solu- tions to recycling of shrink-labelled PET containers, shrink labels using Topas COC are compatible with every


MRF’s current processing


techniques. Several COC-containing shrink label products from global suppliers


have been certified by the APR as compliant with the industry’s best practices for recyclability. COC-based sleeve labels have passed all perfor- mance tests at multiple leading beverage firms, and have been in commercial use for well over a decade at leading brands all over the world. “Shrink sleeved PET bottles can be recycled just


like traditional PET bottles at every recycler, with no changes to the recycling process. This eliminates cost and inaccuracy of sorting out shrink labelled containers, addition of label removal equipment and water contamination risks, for example. This maximises the quality and supply of recycled PET bottle resin.” Topas COC is also beneficial in other areas of


plastics recycling. “It is used by several leading manufacturers of films for ‘air pillows’ — protective inflated bags found inside most current e-com- merce shipments,” said Kneale. “These films are traditionally made of PE, but PE does a poor job of


Left: Use of Topas COC for shrink sleeves can improve the quality and lower the cost of recycled PET bottle resin, says Polyplas- tics USA


Left: PET bottles with shrink sleeves made from Eastman Embrace LV copolyester


March/April 2018 | PLASTICS RECYCLING WORLD 37


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