Labels – how much do they help or hinder recycling?

For decades brands have relied on packaging and labelling to differentiate their products from competitors. It’s led to colourful supermarket aisles, brand wars and unfortunately more packaging than necessary.

A new trend emerging amongst consumer goods manufacturers is to find ways to reduce packing. One way is to remove unnecessary layers and creating more uniform packaging on different product lines. This has the impact of creating economies of scale with packaging on the manufacturing side and improving recyclability. The overall aim is to continue to improve this. One of the challenges to achieving this labelling.

From one perspective labels have an important role to play in communicating to consumers. They provide product information as well as how to recycle the packaging. Without those labels, items are often discarded in rubbish bins and end up in landfill.

On the other hand, how labels are added to packaging makes a big impact on their recyclability. Stickers are difficult to remove and are often made from different polymers that cannot be recycled with the plastic bottles they’re attached to.

Global approaches to labelling challenges

Japan has ambitious recycling targets and strict recycling guidelines. For example, consumers are required to separate caps and labels from bottles before placing the items in different recycling bins. Some manufacturers are taking this a step further with the primary aim of improving recycling. That is to create label-less bottles. For companies focussed on branding this may seem like a step in the opposite direction. But there’s sound reasoning behind it.

While most drinks bottles are made from similar PET that can be easily recycled, labels are not. When they remain on bottles this can cause problems. One way that this is problematic relates to identifying waste streams in recycling facilities, especially where automation or thermal imaging are used. Bottles may be incorrectly identified because of the labels and sent to the wrong process.

Also labels in their different forms increase the volumes of waste and most often are the part of the packaging that are least recyclable. Creating label-less bottles eliminates this problem and contributes to reducing the volumes of waste generated.

In the textile industry some clothing brands are moving away from using plastic in their tags. Opting to rather sew paper sizing labels on with cotton or attach with string that is either biodegradable or recyclable. Home stores are moving away from packaging homeware and linen in plastic, opting to label it with a simple cardboard wrap that is easier to recycle and reduces the volume of waste.

Groceries remain a major challenge when it comes to packaging and recyclability. Many fresh foods are packaged in cling film to retain freshness and reduce spoiling. Yet clingwrap is difficult to recycle and is often disposed of in landfill. Some supermarkets are working to promote refill stations where customers bring their own containers, or fresh produce is sold loose. Yet the pricing barcode and information is still a sticker which is not recyclable.  

Can labelling and recycling work together?

As much as label-less makes sense in terms of recycling, it’s not a simple solution. For a start, well known brands are unlikely to want to give up the recognition and reputation they’ve worked hard to achieve. Also creating label-less bottles still requires some form of marking and there is no simple solution to this. Whether this is done through moulding, laser printing or some other form of marking will impact the recyclability of containers. Manufacturers are also cautious in that the marking could impact the integrity of the packaging. It’s once again about finding a balance between what’s ideal in terms of recycling and what’s practical in terms of the market.

While none of this may seem urgent now, as it’s not being chased by changes in legislation or consumer demand, it’s still a problem that needs to be addressed. Taking the lead on innovating solutions will help the industry keep a step ahead. Perhaps even initiating labelling changes that drive a trend to improving recycling.