First Impression Labels is helping brands recycle better and reach their sustainability goals. Introducing our revolutionary polyolefin shrink sleeve material that separates easily from packaging during a wet recycling process.
Shrink sleeve labels are a fantastic choice for brands who want full label coverage on their products for eye-catching standout, great protection and comprehensive brand communication. However, shrink sleeve labels that are made from PVC or PET and applied to PET bottles can pose serious challenges during recycling. It’s difficult to separate this shrink label material from the bottle because it sinks, just like the PET bottle flakes. This results in the label plastic, including the inks on it, contaminating the PET flakes after floatation separation.
FIL’s new floatable shrink film material is made from low-density polyolefin so is lighter than the PET bottle flakes and rises to the surface of the water whilst the PET flakes sink. This successfully separates the label from the bottle easily and effectively. The label material and PET flakes can then be diverted into different streams and results in a greater yield of high-quality PET flakes with no contamination of the water. The loop on bottle-to-bottle recycling of PET is now closed.
The Wet Recycling Process of PET Bottles
- COLLECTION & SORTING
Product enters the recycling plant. - GRINDING & WASHING
Bottles are ground and then washed in high temperature water to remove any residue. - FLOATATION SEPARATION
Polyolefin is a low-density film that floats and can be easily separated from PET flakes. - SCOOPING, SEPARATING, MELTING, EXTRUSION & PELLETIZING
- REUSE
Our new floatable polyolefin shrink sleeve material has been tested and validated by one of Africa’s largest and most advanced recyclers of PET, Extrupet (Pty). They officially issued us with a certificate of commendation for the effective recycling of PET bottles back to food-grade PET for reuse.
On top of being eco-friendly, our polyolefin material also guarantees strong and great looking shrink sleeve labels. It is transparent with excellent clarity, printable on both sides and oriented for TD shrink greater than 60%, giving an excellent label fit on all containers.
Contact our team today to find out more about this exciting new labelling solution to improve your packaging sustainability –
contact us.