Consumer demand for eco-friendly products continues to rise, with buyers now reporting that sustainability is a major consideration when deciding whether or not to make a purchase. Sustainability is also a leading trend in the label industry. According to a recent article in Labels & Labeling, many top brands are turning to packaging with reduced plastic or recycled materials in order to reduce their overall environmental impact.
Water-Based Inks
Water-based inks use water instead of petroleum as the primary solvent, and offer an eco-friendly alternative to traditional inks. Volatile organic compound (VOC) emissions are significantly reduced during production, which improves air quality and environmental safety. Plus, water-based inks use less energy when drying and are faster to clean up. This makes them an excellent choice for printing on cardboard or paper, since they won’t soak into the material and cause smudging.
Recyclable Materials
Using a recyclable material for the facestock is becoming increasingly popular, especially with a quickly expanding selection of sustainable facestocks, including: Biodegradable paper, post-consumer recycled paper or film, and even compostable materials. Some inks and adhesives are designed to work with recycling as well, such as adhesives that completely wash or flake off plastic containers.
Reduced Packaging
Choosing thinner label liners for label materials helps reduce the amount of label waste, and also provides more labels per roll. Pressure sensitive labels with thinner label liners or linerless labels reduce the amount of emissions produced during transit, and help save on shipping costs. Reducing the overall label size or changing the layout to maximize labels per roll are other strategies to minimize material waste.
For more information on creating sustainable label options for your products, contact one of our label experts today. We will help you design a custom label solution with sustainability in mind.