Almost
forty years ago, when I was just a commercial siliconiser, people
at large did not understand what release paper or silicon paper was. I would
jokingly explain it was a product, a protective paper behind a sticker, that
would eventually go into wastepaper basket. In real terms the release liner,
would be disposed-off in landfills or burnt adding smoke and gasses to the
environment impacting it adversely. Time has changed, concern for environment
is a necessity and cannot be taken lightly as a joke. We are responsible for
leaving behind a legacy of a cleaner and liveable environment for generations
that follow us. We need to make our manufacturing programs, sustainable. Sustainability
means giving back to mother earth what we take from it or reduce drawing the
resources that we cannot replenish forthwith cut down generation of industrial
waste. Unfortunately, 50% of all that self-adhesive label industry produces
goes as waste in terms of waste matrix and release liners. While globally many
endeavours are being adopted to reduce liner waste yet in India a lot needs to
be done. Switching over to liner less labels where-ever possible, helps but not
much work is done in this direction. Using thinner filmic liners does result in
reduced tonnage of liners and their recyclability. During this period many a top-end
printer has started using clear on clear filmic label materials aiding sustainability
to some extent. Global leaders in Labelstocks Avery Dennison has initiated a
program to collect and recycle silicone release liners in India, it is a step
in the right direction. But given the size of the country and geographical
spread of label units, it is a gigantic task. Other than this some printers
have adopted waste management by shredding waste and compacting it for use as
fuel in boilers and other applications, this is only a miniscule portion of the
Industry. Largely, the waste is still sent to landfills or is incinerated. In
times to come legislation will come to make sustainability and environment
safety an imperative. It is time that the label and print fraternity at large must
understand that not only the need but also the larger implications terms sustainability,
recyclability, circular economy, environmental protection, etc.
The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable
Development, adopted by all United Nations Member States in 2015, provides
a shared blueprint for peace and prosperity for people and the planet, now and
into the future. At its heart are the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs),
which are an urgent call for action by all countries - developed and developing
- in a global partnership. They recognize that ending poverty and other
deprivations must go together with strategies that improve health and
education, reduce inequality, and spur economic growth – all while tackling
climate change and working to preserve our oceans and forests. The Sustainable
Development Goal number 12 states; worldwide material consumption has expanded
rapidly, as has material footprint per capita, seriously jeopardizing the
achievement of Sustainable Development Goals. Urgent action is needed to ensure
that current material needs do not lead to the over extraction of resources or
to the degradation of environmental resources, and should include policies that
improve resource efficiency, reduce waste and mainstream sustainability
practices across all sectors of the economy. In our labels and packaging
industry this is an imperative that needs to be attended to because the
percentage of waste generated is high, going to landfills. Some companies do
incinerate or send the waste generated as matrix or side trim to kilns for use
as fuel. This may look good management but in the longer run we are putting
gasses into the air from the different materials going into the manufacture of
labelstocks viz.; paper, film, primer coats, silicone, adhesive etc. Each
component will produce different type of emissions that have in unison no
single solution to treat them. Thus, there is a need for reducing the waste
generated, use recyclable materials, reduce the energy consumption etc. to become
more sustainable.
The label industry globally has been
looking at the possibility of recyclability and reusability of the waste matrix
or that of the different components of labelstocks. Since release paper is one
item that has its usability only until the label is dispensed to be applied on
to the product, after that it ends up as waste. Over the years there have been
many solutions tried to reduce the impact of this liner waste on the
environment. The used liner would either go to landfills or incinerated and in
both cases it its impact was adverse. Due to the silicone coating on the paper
biodegradability in landfills was an issue as silicone after crosslinking
becomes inert. For the same reason paper mills would not buy this waste for re-pulping
and making fresh paper. Initial steps taken in reducing the liner waste were replacing
the paper liners with thinner filmic liners thereby reducing the tonnage of
paper and moreover the waste liner can be remoulded. This was a positive sign, but
large-scale shift has not happened in a long time because of additional increased
investment in equipment and tooling. There have been efforts to go linerless in
producing labels but the inability to do custom shapes die-cutting and high-speed
label dispensing on automatic packaging lines have not produced a lasting
solution. Efforts and development in this direction are going on and we hope one
day the industry can shift to self-adhesive labels without having release liners
to dispose off, becomes a reality. At Labelexpo Europe 2019, four companies
Ritrama, Omet, Spilker and ILTI came together to offer their “Core Linerless
Solutions”, other companies like Catchpoint are also making strong efforts in
this direction, only time will tell how many brand owners move in this
direction and prompt their label vendors to offer the linerless label
solutions. Some paper mills in Europe have now devised process of de-siliconising
release paper and then re-pulping it to make fresh paper but the collection and
delivery to the mills from the printing companies widely spread over large
geographical locations is a logistic challenge. However still substantial
volumes have started to be reprocessed. In India in recent times as mentioned
above Avery Dennison has initiated support to a program in which collection of release
liners is outsourced to a vendor and then sent to a mill who have devised a
process to re-pulp and convert to paperboard. These are positive steps.
The menace of waste is gigantic and it has become an
absolute emergency to counter it. Governments have woken up to act against generation
of materials going to landfills. It is preferred that whatever waste is
generated in industrial process should be gainfully recycled for usability to
achieve the benefits as described in circular economy. As per a report
published in thehindubusinessline.com of 19th September 2019, leading
consumer products companies such as Coca-Cola India, PepsiCo India and Bisleri
among others have decided to come together to launch a first-of-its-kind
packaging waste management venture in the country. The venture, which is
called Karo Sambhav, will focus on creating a formal eco-system for
collection of post-consumer packaging and optimising material recycling
processes. Commenting on the endeavour, T Krishnakumar, President, Coca-Cola India and South-West
Asia added, “Through our vision, World Without Waste, we want to ensure that
all our packaging material goes for recycling and not to landfills.” Another
report appearing in Live Mint 2nd October 2019 states; The government may soon roll out stringent norms
and impose heavy fines on corporates, including hospitality industry, mobile
manufacturers and packaging industry, for failing to stop use of plastic. Under
the Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) scheme, which the government plans
to implement effectively, manufacturers, brand owners, and importers of
products should realise and bear responsibility for environmental impact of
their products through the product life-cycle. Many of the large FMCG companies
have started adopting the requirements of EPR. These are other positive steps
taken to eradicate waste to landfills to a great extent.
Besides the liner there is the waste
matrix which has the adhesive and various kinds of face materials that include uncoated,
coated, metallised, coloured, metallised papers, laminates or films with metallisation
or topcoats. Side trims are also generated at some label converting units and
most labelstock manufacturing units. With increasing prices of real estate
besides an environmental issue, the side trims and matrix call for large amount
of space to store until disposed off, putting additional pressure on resources.
For this reason, larger label companies are shredding and compacting the waste to
sell as fuel for boilers, furnaces and cement kilns. There are some innovative
entrepreneurs who convert this waste into pallets, floor tiles, wall panelling
and some small furniture items. It is interesting to see such endeavours.
Circular economy packaging is
another buzzword when we talk of sustainability and environmental protection. A
circular economy is an economic system aimed at eliminating waste, continual
use and recycling of resources to re-engineer products that are preferably not
downgraded. It is contrary to the earlier system “traditional linear economy” according to
which the aim was 'take, make, dispose' model of production to achieve
increased usage of all inputs. Labels are the face of any product and in time
of growing organised retail and in view of stringent consumer protection laws labels
provide the much-needed statutory information, besides becoming the marketing
tool for any product. In such a scenario we need to design labels in manner
that they are able, to be a part of recycling process of the package. For instance,
on a PE (polyethylene) container we should have a PE label only so that the
whole package is mono-polymer and can be effectively reprocessed and recycled.
Multi-polymer plastics are neither recyclable nor biodegradable. It is normal in
India that we see ragpickers collect the mono polymer milk pouches but leave behind
the fancy multi-layered pouches of instant foods and snacks littered around.
This is because the monolayer plastics are resaleable for convenient recycling.
Similarly, a paperboard carton should have a paper label.
Sustainability or circular economy must
be in the conscience of all manufacturers, it does not advocate compromising
safety or user experience of any product. It also does not mean increased cost
of inputs. It is a mindset to create products that make life sustainable and do
not deplete resources available to humans. There is need to replenish what we
extract from our environment and establish a legacy for generations that follow
for staying committed to the cause. It is a cause that is impacting humanity
across the globe and all efforts to make public of all races and countries aware
of the situation and need to contribute towards this issue in unison are necessary.
Written By Harveer Sahni Chairman
Weldon Celloplast Limited, New Delhi India February 2020
