Glendale, California based adhesive manufacturer, Avery Dennison, will be the first pressure sensitive labelling material supplier to introduce liner made from recycled PET (rPET) commercially in Europe.

The company, which makes and distributs pressure-sensitive adhesive materials, apparel branding labels and tags, RFID inlays, and specialty medical products, said that the move reflects its commitment to finding more sustainable solutions for the labelling industry.

Jasper Zonnenberg, global director films, explained that the new rPET liner uses carefully selected post-consumer waste (PCW) and will be introduced in October 2018 across a number of self-adhesive constructions:

“Avery Dennison has established eight ambitious sustainability goals that we are committed to achieving by 2025,” he said. “As part of these goals we are focused on reducing waste, not only throughout our operations, but also through the whole value chain. We are determined to pioneer change across the industry.”

“As availability of suitable rPET is currently limited we will initially have a limited supply of our rPET liner - however we will soon be able to scale up production significantly and we aim to have rPET as an option across all of our filmic and paper constructions,” he continued.

Zonnenberg added that the introduction of PCW rPET liner requires careful management during liner production to ensure the stability and robustness that 100% virgin resin PET liner is known for:

“Conversion and application speeds are helping to drive the on-going rise in demand for PET liners, and we have been careful to retain those benefits, while also supporting converters and end users as they make the transition from glassine,” he concluded.