Sustainability

Sustainability

Our label of trust extends to pushing the boundaries in sustainability in our products to ensure a greener future for the generations to follow.

“Let us stand together to make of our world a sustainable source for our future as humanity on this planet.”

– Nelson Mandela

Rotolabel is passionate about the environment and is focussed on minimising any negative impact that our products may have on it. Our label of trust extends to pushing the boundaries in sustainability in our products to ensure a greener future for the generations to follow.

We subscribe to the 4R’s in packaging sustainability: responsible sourcing, reduction of materials, recyclability and increased recycled content.

As the leader in innovation in sustainability within the label printing space in South Africa, we’ve introduced some notable initiatives.

Forest Stewardship Council® (FSC-C119866)

Responsible sourcing is one of the cornerstones of sustainability – and while paper can be biodegradable and easily recyclable, it can also be the product of deforestation or poor forestry practices.

The Forest Stewardship Council® (FSC) is an international certification and labelling system that enables people to identify responsibly sourced wood, paper and other forest products. As the original pioneers of forest certification, FSC has over 25 years of experience in setting the gold standard for sustainable forest management.

In today’s world there’s no excuse for paper to not be sourced responsibly, which is why Rotolabel became FSC Chain of Custody-certified (FSC-C119866) back in 2015 – and was the first label printer in South Africa to achieve this.

SAVE OUR FORESTS. SAVE OUR CLIMATE.

Forests play an essential role in climate regulation. Together with oceans, forests are the key ecosystems the planet uses to remove carbon dioxide (CO2) – the most important greenhouse gas – from the atmosphere.

The Paris Agreement highlighted the importance of forests in responding to climate change, calling on all countries to conserve carbon sinks in forests. One-third (nearly 2.6 billion tonnes) of all CO2 released from fossil fuels are absorbed by forests every year.

FSC standards play an important role in maintaining forest cover, preventing deforestation and forest degradation, which are vital elements in the global climate change agenda to stop the planet passing the danger point of a more than 1.5 degree celsius temperature increase.

Showing the full value of forest ecosystems is fundamental to climate action and sustainability. Ecosystem services claims enable the inclusion of nature in decision-making through the measurement of impacts such as carbon sequestration and storage, biodiversity conservation, watershed services, soil conservation and recreational services.

Glassine Recycling

While self-adhesive labels are a great option for product labelling, recycling of the glassine liner remains a challenge in South Africa.

In partnership with Avery Dennison, Rotolabel ran a pilot project in Cape Town for the first ever glassine liner recycling programme in South Africa in 2018.

Despite many challenges, we have been able to recycle our first 21 tons of glassine liner, which is a significant step in reducing waste to landfill.

Material Reduction

One of the critical pillars for a more sustainable future is to reduce.

Pressure-sensitive labels form less than 3% of the overall packaging on a product, but reducing the use of resources can have a significant impact on the environment.

By reducing raw materials we can now offer thinner and lighter films with less grammage, without compromising the label’s performance. Using less raw material also generates less waste and creates a reduction of total consumer packaging – and that also means higher efficiency for brand owners.

The Avery Dennison ‘Lite’ range includes PP cavitated, PP clear and semigloss options.

Recycled Content

A key driver in the circular economy concept is for raw material suppliers to use recycled content in their virgin products.

There is now an array of materials available with up to 100% recycled content – saving resources including water, energy and greenhouse gasses.

With 15% post-consumer waste, rDT Direct Thermal Paper is the first recycled non-top-coated direct thermal paper in the market. It’s a solution for thermal applications that focus on sustainability and provides similar performance as that of a standard grade.

rCrush Wine Label Paper is a range of paper facestocks made from 30% to 100% recycled content and responsibly sourced crop materials with unique finishes ready to inspire creativity.

Made partially from recycled PET plastic, at 23 microns rPET Recycled Liner is the thinnest film liner currently in the market. And you can reduce your environmental footprint even further with liner recycling options.

Recyclable

Rotolabel has recently started garnering positive results from an 18-month collaboration of the commercialisation of CleanFlake™ with Avery Dennison.

CleanFlake™ is a unique pressure-sensitive adhesive technology that facilitates PET (Polyethylene Terephthalate) recycling through a clean separation during the sink/float of the recycling process.

On a planet awash in plastic waste – and with regulators responding accordingly – every recycled package counts. But label contamination prevents proper recycling of hundreds of millions of food-grade PET packages every year, resulting in downcycling or no recycling at all. CleanFlake™ technology ensures that labels and adhesive separate from PET every time, increasing the yields of pure PET flakes.

CleanFlake™ products have passed the most stringent tests of the Association of Plastics Recyclers (APR). The technology has also been endorsed by Extrupet as a suitable solution for recycling PET bottles back into food-grade rPET (recycled PET) in its facilities.

Through this initiative, Rotolabel hopes to share the benefits of CleanFlake™ and its recyclability of not only bottles made from PET, but other packaging formats as well – and help set an example for others in the industry.

Compostable

Demand for compostable packaging is increasing across many business segments due to tightening legislation on the use of plastic.

Avery Dennison’s ClearIntent™ compostable range offers a combination of facestocks and adhesives that can be reintroduced into nature. It helps brand owners, retailers and converters meet growing consumer demand for sustainable solutions and also addresses anticipated legislative requirements on landfill and sustainable packaging.

It’s important to note that when applying biodegradable and compostable labels to packaging, the packaging must also be biodegradable and compostable, otherwise it defeats the purpose. Also, most compostable packaging needs to be decomposed by industrial decomposting, and South Africa currently has a limited infrastructure and resources.

Renewable Solutions

Renewable solutions can help us to reduce carbon dioxide emission and mitigate climate change.

UPM Raflatac has created Forest Film™ – the unique white or clear plastic label solution based on wood-based residue materials – a product that allows you to take the first important steps of phasing out fossil fuels.

Forest Film™ uses UPM BioVerno naphtha, a 100% wood-based solution originating from sustainably managed forests that gives new life to residue from the pulping process.

Bio-based Materials

UPM Raflatac is constantly trying to find ways to speed up a transition from virgin fossils to bio-based raw materials.

PP White Food FTC and PP Clear Food FTC are specially designed for rigid packaging for food end-use and suit the majority of PP labelling applications. PP Food is part of the sustainable SmartChoice™ portfolio that helps to reduce carbon footprint and mitigate climate change.

PP Food minimises the amount of virgin fossil raw materials by using thinner and resource-optimised components. Combined with R307 adhesive and FSC™ certified (FSC-C012530) HD Lite-FSC backing paper, PP Food is a labelling solution that takes rigid plastic packaging in a more sustainable direction.
PP Food enables brand owners to lower their carbon footprint, increase the sustainability of their packaging and be a sustainable leader in their market.