Consumables

UPM and Vertaris to promote sustainable release liner recycling

Wednesday 20. April 2011 - UPM and the French company Vertaris have teamed up to develop a sustainable release liner recycling concept in Europe. Release liner is the siliconised backing paper that is an essential part of self-adhesive labelstock until the printed label is taken into use. Today, the majority of the used siliconised liner is incinerated. The co-operation of UPM and Vertaris provides a more sustainable solution to recycle the used liner back into pulp and paper.

Vertaris has developed a technology for de-siliconising paper-based release liner at their state-of-the-art plant in Voreppe, France. “Working together with Vertaris, UPM’s Label business, UPM Raflatac, will expand their labelstock waste management concept RafCycle to cover paper release liners in Europe”, states Erkki Nyberg, Director, Business Development of UPM Engineered Materials. The recycled liners will be processed into pulp at Vertaris’ Voreppe plant, and the pulp will be used in paper production at UPM paper mills.
“At UPM, our aim is to minimise solid waste and maximise the reuse of raw materials. With our unique position in the labelling market as a producer of label papers and self-adhesive labelstock as well as the world’s largest recovered paper user in graphic papers, we believe that this recycling concept is a perfect fit to our portfolio. It is a true example of our Biofore thinking, which among other things focuses on value creation through innovation and sustainability”, says Marko Haveri, Portfolio Manager of UPM Paper Products, R&D.
“Both Vertaris and UPM have a strong emphasis on sustainable products and production,” says Vertaris’ President François Vessiere. “Vertaris brings the technology and UPM its leadership position and business integration to this co-operation, which will work for the benefit of the whole labeling industry by offering sustainable recycling solution for paper-based release liners”.

http://www.upm.com
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