Page 57 - FINAT Yearbook 2014

LINER RECYCLING OPTIONS
Closed-loop, cradle-to-cradle recycling is, naturally, a prime goal for FINAT members. In that context it is so much easier, and more successful, to set up recycling initiatives for film liner, because of its intrinsic financial value. Mitsubishi Polyester Film’s scheme for collection and recycling into their ReprocessTM liner programme – containing 25% of recycled material – is now handling 4-5000 tonnes per annum in the US.
HELPFUL ACHIEVEMENT:
ENLISTING FOR PAPER LINER!
Most of the negative recycling issues, sadly, relate to paper liner base. Paolo Guagliami observed that it is helpful that paper liner is listed as ‘recyclable’ in the 2013 revision of EN 643. In this document, paper release liner for self-adhesive labels has been added to Group 5 (special grades) – as grade no. 5.05.03. (CEPI’s new guidance document -- http://www.cepi. org/en643 -- provides valuable detail.)
IS RELEASE LINER PACKAGING OR PROCESS WASTE?
If, however, the European authorities finally decide to define release liner as packaging waste, Erkki Nyberg pointed out, there will be no question: the industry as a whole will have to recycle. Voluntary action is preferable, so Mike Fairley urged: ‘let’s set targets NOW!’
ALTERNATIVE SCENARIOS – SPENT LINERS AS
INSULATION MATERIAL
Options other than recycling are also practical in the context of the ‘three Rs’ –reduce, re-use, recycle. Calvin Frost provided an excellent example as to how liner simply be rewound into rolls, is already being used by small laminators in the Asia Pacific region, for example in making self-adhesive tapes. RecuLiner patented technology is another possible route. Eric Van Pottelbergh’s company’s model – already up and running in the Benelux countries -- collects and transforms spent paper release liner into high-performance cellulose fibre insulation material for the construction industry.
THE LABEL CONVERTERS’ ROLE: OBTAINING ‘BUY-IN’ FROM CUSTOMERS IS KEY TO THE SUCCESS
The label converters are perhaps the key to success in engaging the ‘buy in’ of the end users, since they talk to their customers every day, said Stephan Reis. However, Petri Tani showed that ‘it’s not so easy for a label printer to talk to the right person – who is most probably NOT the person who actually purchases labels.’ The outcome of TLMI’s current pilot spent liner collection initiative with LIFE-registered converters, across seven states, will certainly be of relevance and interest in Europe, and in the broader L9 associations.
This provoked a printer delegate to comment that his company had actually been required by one brand owner to sign a form confirming that their labels had NO recycled content.
FINAT: THE ACTION HUB
As the discussions drew to a close, panelists and delegates agreed on one key future action: it is FINAT, the European label industry’s association, which must take the lead, and ensure that self-adhesive labelling’s future is safeguarded by delivering the message that release liner, paper and film, has a valuable second life after it has performed the tasks in production and application that have made the self-adhesive label such a successful and enduring element of the packaging industry. This is an agenda which FINAT’s Board, Committees, and Secretariat enthusiastically embrace.
A short video recording the live debate during the 2014 FINAT Technical Seminar is available for viewing soon from the FINAT website at www.finat.com/
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