Avery Dennison is introducing a new portfolio of Fasson Wash-off labels that will help brand owners reduce the environmental impact of their products by maximising opportunities for material recycling.Suitable for both glass and PET bottles, the wash-off labels provide label converters with a simple and immediate replacement for any existing wet-glue product.
“Our responsibility as a producer of wash-off labels extends far beyond our portion of the value chain,” said Jon Maley, vice president, marketing at Avery Dennison Materials Group. “We work closely with our customers to develop solutions that reduce the environmental impact of the products we collectively manufacture and consume. Maximizing recycling is a great way to do that for beverage applications. ”
Developed for “no-label look” decoration of returnable beer bottles, the wash-off labels are designed to enhance the brand image of premium beers and support complex label shapes.
They are suitable for body and/or neck labelling of both light and dark containers, as well as bottled water in glass and large (gallon) containers of juices and smoothies in recyclable PET bottles.
Wash-off labels have a multi-layer construction consisting of a polypropylene film that delivers excellent clarity, a PET liner and a proprietary wash-off adhesive. The adhesive is formulated for the easy removal of labels when washed in industrial brewery washers. Wash-off labels leave no adhesive residues on the bottle, nor in the washer. Furthermore, they leave no label marks or “ghosting” on the bottle. The labels wash off from 65°C, allowing for lower washer temperatures than the current average of 80°C.
The labels are designed to have excellent performance in tropical and/or hot environments and are resistant to UV.
The new material is ideal for any returnable glass bottle. Due to their innovative duo-layer construction and unique adhesive range, wash-off label’s two film layers expand at different rates in a hot washer. This makes the label curl for easy removal. Both the adhesive and the inks remain on the label, which allows the label to wash off without contaminating the water in the washer.
When Fasson Wash-off labels are used in combination with PET bottles, the high quality PET is suitable for bottle-to-bottle recycling, which helps increase productivity and improve cost-effectiveness across the value chain. After use, PET bottles and their labels are shredded, before the resulting mixture is soaked in a hot alkaline solution. The label material then separates from the PET chips, due to a difference in density. During this part of the recycling process, the high-performance washable adhesive stays with the shredded label flakes which allows 100% recycling of the PET material.
