HERMA: Another award for the joint sustainability project
Probably the world's first PE label made entirely from post-consumer recycled material and with special wash-off adhesive is still causing a stir. Just one month after receiving the German Packaging Award, the label has now also won the "Green Packaging Star". The joint entry by schaefer-etiketten, Polifilm Extrusion and HERMA Self-adhesive Materials has received the Austrian award, now in existence for twelve years, in the “Sustainable Production Processes” category. There were about 80 entries for the now four different categories. The "physical" presentation of the awards and the tribute to the winners will take place during Fachpack 2021 in Nuremberg. The "Green Packaging Star" is a joint initiative between the trade journal Kompack, Packforce Austria and Altstoff Recycling Austria (ARA). The latter is the driving force of the Austrian circular economy. Founded around 30 years ago, ARA now enjoys a high reputation internationally, for example, as a driver of innovation in resource management. Packforce Austria is the Austrian Packaging Forum and is dedicated to promoting the country's packaging industry. Since 2019, Packforce Austria has also been running the office of the World Packaging Organisation, a worldwide organisation of national packaging associations and institutes.
Combined development potential
"Our joint project shows very clearly how recycling processes can be optimised at relatively low cost, especially with plastic packaging, and how products – in this case labels – can be produced with practically the same utility value as a similar product made from new PE granulate," says Volker Hurth, Key Account Manager Cosmetics at schaefer-etiketten. "We are therefore very pleased that this is increasingly being seen in the international arena as well." Dr. Ulli Nägele, Head of Development at HERMA Self-adhesive Materials, goes on to say: "If three companies pool their know-how and development potential in terms of sustainability as we have already done several times in this scenario, this will lead to measurable progress in the near future. The award from Austria is a renewed incentive for us to continue on this path.”
The innovative wash-off label adhesive 62Rpw from HERMA, which is used here, ensures that labels from polyolefin packaging (PE/PP) can be washed off again under suitable washing conditions without leaving any residue. In this way, adhesives and printing inks simply disappear from the flow of recyclable materials. For example, shampoo bottles then form the base material for very pure granulate. This can be processed by Polifilm Extrusions into high-quality films, which can later be refined into HERMA self-adhesive materials, which in turn uses schaefer-etiketten use to produce labels for shampoo bottles, for instance. "If everyone now joins in with the process of utilising recyclable materials, then we are once again getting a significant step closer to the concept of an optimal cycle,” says Dr. Nägele.