Avery Dennison launches recyclable filmic label materials for PET packaging circular economy
24 Jun 2021 --- Avery Dennison is launching the latest iteration of its award-winning CleanFlake filmic label materials, now suitable for PET packaging in food, home and personal care, and beverage applications.
With new adhesive technology and a best-in-class topcoat, CleanFlake enables PET packaging recyclability in combination with printability and performance equal to conventional label constructions.
“More than ever, CleanFlake helps brands keep the promise of PET,” says Avery Dennison’s product manager, Mariya Nedelcheva.
“Companies that use PET packaging no longer have to choose between true recyclability and outstanding performance when it comes to their labels.”
“We are closing the gap between CleanFlake materials and conventional, general-purpose label materials. For companies that care about recyclability, the question now is not why they would use CleanFlake, but why they wouldn’t.”
Avery Dennison is targeting net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 and recently introduced new 2030 social and environmental sustainability goals.
Recycling-enhanced adhesives
First introduced in 2013, CleanFlake technology solves a critical problem in PET plastic recycling by ensuring the label’s adhesive stays on the label and not on the package, meaning all label material fully detaches during the recycling process.
The resulting washed PET flakes can then be recycled into new PET packaging. Flakes that are otherwise contaminated by conventional label materials must be downcycled or sent to landfills or incinerators, the company points out.Mariya Nedelcheva, product manager at Avery Dennison.
Engineered for printability
Avery Dennison highlights the CleanFlake materials look and perform like any other self-adhesive label material by using a new proprietary adhesive called SR3011N.
An upgrade to a best-in-class topcoat provides “outstanding printability,” and CleanFlake materials are designed to deliver fast, flawless application on high-speed labeling machines.
CleanFlake facestocks offer the same attractive, “no-label” look as comparable Avery Dennison materials.
Products in the CleanFlake portfolio comply with Petcore guidelines for trays and are certified by Institut Cyclos-HTP. Endorsement by the European PET Bottle Platform (EPBP) is pending.
“We are proud to offer a solution that helps keep PET plastic containers out of the waste stream and helps to increase the global supply of recycled PET (rPET),” says Nedelcheva.
“Our CleanFlake portfolio is one more way we’re helping to build a circular economy in Europe and around the world.”
Avery Dennison recently announced a partnership with The Future Laboratory consultancy to develop a zero-waste roadmap. The report provides brands and retailers with a strategic framework for action, outlining a set of key drivers to accelerate solutions for a circular economy.
Edited by Joshua Poole
