SMART DESIGN

22 | L&L
separation, thereby supporting PET and bottle-to-bottle
recycling to become more efficient and of better quality, a
point compounded by no adhesives being involved and no
ink bleeding during the recycling process – as with traditional
shrink sleeves.
For Tim Richards, business development manager beverage
Europe at CCL Label, Triple S stretch sleeve labels are a
fantastic and far more sustainable option than shrink sleeves,
and indeed many other forms of labeling. He explains, ‘Triple S
sleeve labels are based upon LDPE film – and being essentially
a new technology – do offer a very exciting new solution to
environment and sustainability issues, amongst many other
advantages.
‘Indeed, I recently had a meeting with Closed Loop Recycling
in Dagenham, England, in which they made a very strong
appeal to us to help spread the word about just how beneficial
and supportive LDPE stretch sleeves can be for the recycling
process, increasing both the yield of re-won bottle material as
well as improving the quality thereof.
‘This is because from a recycler’s point of view, the optimum
option is always total separation of the sleeve or label from
the bottle which is often quite difficult in practice, beginning of
course with the identification of the clear PET bottle whilst still
covered by the full-body sleeve.’
An additional environment and sustainability benefit of the
stretch sleeves is that they offer a superior carbon footprint and
a reduction in fossil fuel usage throughout their life-cycle (as
examined by OFI and just last month validated by the Lenfest
Center for Sustainable Energy, Columbia University USA).
Indeed, one of the main findings of the Center – ‘that the
product carbon footprint of the Triple S Super Stretch sleeve is
about four times smaller than that of the standard shrink sleeve
(see Fig. 2) – seems directionally correct and explained by
the combination of less raw material (per sleeve) and lack of
required shrink tunnel during labeing.’
Stretch sleeves also offer significant energy and efficiency
savings resulting from a leaner, cleaner application process
(no shrink tunnel, no bottle drying). The extremely low density
(0.91 gr/ccm) films allow the easiest and cleaner separation for
recycling.
‘In summary,’ says Richards, ‘the Triple S stretch sleeve
technology we have introduced is highly competitive with
other label materials (up to 40 percent cost savings), is highly
efficient and, when used with, say, Sleevematic ES application
machinery from Krones AG, provides for a short investment
payback (a ROI is possible within one year) and has low
materials and utilities costs.
‘Our aim is to strengthen the brand owner’s association with
"stretch" rather than only with "shrink" when discussing sleeve
labels in the market place, especially as a result of stretch’s
superior environmental profile.’
EXAMPLES of bottles decorated with Triple S stretch sleeves
LABELS&LABELING