Consumables

AVERY DENNISON CLEANFLAKE PORTFOLIO RECEIVES SUSTAINABILITY AWARD AT LABEL INDUSTRY GLOBAL AWARDS

Thursday 03. October 2013 - Avery Dennison was named the winner of the Sustainability Award at the Label Industry Global Awards Tuesday, September 24 for its CleanFlake Film Portfolio - which features a switchable adhesive that debonds at the recycling center to make PET recycling more effective.

With more than two billion PET containers a year failing to enter the recycling stream, finding a way to recycle them and improve the yields of recycled PET (rPET) is an extremely important industry goal.
“We created the CleanFlake portfolio to meet a very real need within the recycling industry. CleanFlake is designed to reduce the environmental impact of a container throughout its entire life cycle,” said Don Nolan, president of Avery Dennison Materials Group. “Industry experts predict that PET usage will increase dramatically over the coming years, and we are proud to offer a solution that will ensure more of that material is recycled.”
CleanFlake is a patent-pending adhesive technology that “switches off” when submerged in a recycling bath so the label cleanly separates from the PET flakes. Although these labels adhere firmly to PET bottles or containers during use, they detach readily in a conventional recycling facility and float to the surface of the bath, allowing clean PET flakes to sink to the bottom for easier reclamation and improved rPET yields.
Label Industry Global Awards judges commended Avery Dennison for its commitment to improving PET recyclability. “The judges saw the innovation as offering major sustainability benefits for global consumer products end-users,” judges comments for the award stated.
The Label Industry Global Awards, organized by Taursus, are held annually, alternating between Labelexpo Americas in Chicago and Labelexpo Europe in Brussels. The Global Award for Sustainability, sponsored by Xeikon, goes to a company that introduced a specific product or process that maintained the most sustainable and environmentally acceptable working practices into their purchasing and manufacturing operations and could demonstrate key materials, production and performance or consumer benefits.
This is the second consecutive year that Avery Dennison has taken an award home during Labelexpo for the CleanFlake innovation. The company received the Global Green Award during Labelexpo 2012 in Chicago. In addition, the product has received the Society of Plastic Engineers Environmental Award in the Design for Sustainability category this year and the Koreastar, Asiastar and Worldstar packaging awards between 2012 and 2013.
“CleanFlake is an important step on our sustainability journey,” Nolan said. “We are committed to continue building relationships throughout our value chain – from raw material suppliers to recyclers – to better understand needs and improve the sustainability of our materials.”