PETpla.net Insider 05 / 2020

LABELLING PETplanet Insider Vol. 21 No. 05/20 www.petpla.net 36 Monolayer roll-fed labels increase sustainability and efficiency Shrink the environmental footprint Since sustainability is becoming an increasingly important topic in today’s packaging world, Multi-Color is looking for ways to make labels as environmentally friendly as possible for customers. Knowing that Coca-Cola has interest in reducing their environmental impact, Multi-Color approached Dasani to investigate producing thinner labels, whilst still allowing their bottle to be recycled. LABELLING About Multi-Color Cincinnati, Ohio, U.S.A. based Multi-Color Corporation (MCC), established in 1916, support- ing a number of the world’s most prominent brands including leading producers of home and personal care, wine and spirits, food and beverage, healthcare and specialty consumer products. MCC serves national and international brand owners in North, Central and South America, Europe, Africa, China, Southeast Asia, Australia and New Zealand with a comprehensive range of the latest label technolo- gies in pressure sensitive, cut and stack, wraps, aluminium, in-mould, shrink sleeve and heat transfer. film allows for more labels per roll. This creates fewer roll changes on applica- tion equipment and more labels per pallet. The storage space is also optimised because less space is needed to store a larger number of labels, creating more storage space for other things the brand could utilise. Since more labels can fit on one pallet, this drives down freight costs and allows for more cost-saving oppor- tunities. The Dasani labels are printed in a gra- vure format which provides best print quality and more consistent label length repeats for application. Moving to monolayer labels f r om l ami na t ed labels offer brand teams the ability to surface print embel- lishments (tactile, matte/gloss, etc) which adds to the consumer’s brand experience. Ov e r a l l , t h e Coca-Cola team was very pleased with the final result o f t h e D a s a n i monolayer labels. They were able to make several new improvements, all with one new label construction, Multi- Color stated. Zen Kramer, Associate Brand Manager of Dasani commented: “The transition to monolayer labels allowed Dasani to advance its sustainability agenda as part of a World Without Waste, while also presenting a cost savings oppor- tunity to our business. Working with MCC allowed for a seamless transition to the new label technology and helped continue a partnership focused on inno- vation and efficiency.” This project proved to be successful through fruitful collaboration between Coca-Cola and the Multi-Color Cor- poration. Multi-Color is happy to help Coca-Cola meet their goals and make a positive impact on the environment, states the company. www.mcclabeltalk.com www.mcclabel.com Multi-Color’s solution is a monolayer label that detaches cleanly from the PET bottle in the recycling process. Their previous label technology had issues with the ink coming off the label and staining the recycling wash water. This in turn caused the PET flakes to be stained and discoloured, degrading the quality of the recycled PET flake. The new monolayer labels Multi- Color produced and quality-approved do not stain the PET flakes, thus allowing the flakes to be reused f or subsequen t mouldings. The monolayer labels offer several other benefits compared to standard 2 ply roll-fed versions. The s e i n c l ude increased sustain- ability, enhanced operational effi- ciency, and cost savings opportu- nities, said Multi- Color. The monolayer film is sustainable because it uses less overall mate- rial than laminated labels. In addi- tion, it still meets the strict require- men t s f o r PET bottle recycling. Operational effi- ciency is enhanced because the thinner