Russell Wiseman, Head of Global Beverage Solutions, Domino Printing Sciences, takes a look at the growing pattern of labelless or “label-free” family pet drink bottles and highlights how brand names can want to move far from external labels while still sticking to basic item marking requirements.
Food and drink brand names are under continuous pressure to decrease waste and enhance the recyclability of their item packaging. Today, numerous worldwide brand names have actually taken actions to change product packaging to quickly recycled mono products, eliminate colours and ingredients and decrease the variety of parts in a piece of product packaging – all in a quote to increase recyclability.
But what if an essential part of the item packaging triggers recycling concerns? Such holds true with external labels or diminish sleeves on bottles, which offer important item details however can lead to considerable recycling obstacles.
The increase of the labelless bottle
Worldwide FAMILY PET is the most recycled plastic, with recycling rates exceeding 50% in certain regions, consisting of India, Europe, and South Korea, however there is still a lot that can be done to enhance this figure. Removing labels from family pet bottles is one such action – which is now being checked out with interest in particular Asian drink markets, with other local markets anticipated to do the same.
In December 2020, the Ministry of Environment of the Government of South Korea released a campaign to promote kerbside disposal of transparent family pet bottles along with new legislation prohibiting external labels on mineral water from January 2026. Ten significant Korean mineral water manufacturers consequently signed arrangements to launch brand-new line of product utilizing labelless family pet bottles.
Several of Japan’s crucial drink business are already beginning to promote labelless product packaging in their core drink brand names.
The Japanese federal government has actually likewise set out a strategy to move towards utilizing 100% recycled plastic product packaging by 2035. Japan has reasonably rigorous guidelines for recycling plastic – customers should separate family pet bottles from their labels and caps – and labelless family pet bottles would make the procedure simpler.
Several of Japan’s crucial drink business are already beginning to promote labelless product packaging in their core drink brand names.
The advantages of labelless family pet
Not just are labels of family pet bottles frequently not recyclable – developing extra plastic waste and requiring elimination either prior to collection or as part of the recycling procedure – however they can trigger concerns with the recognition of bottles in recycling centers. Labels might be made from plastics aside from family pet, and as numerous recycling centers utilize maker optics to determine various products, utilizing alternative plastic labels can trigger family pet bottles to be improperly determined.
By contrast, eliminating labels from family pet can substantially decrease plastic waste – the Ministry of Environment of the Government of South Korea reported that eliminating all labels from plastic water bottles might save the nation 24.6 million tonnes of plastic waste per year – and streamline recycling, as customers and recyclers don’t need to eliminate or deal with plastic labels independently. The threat of inaccurate bottle recognition is likewise reduced.
Despite the apparent advantages, labelless family pet bottles do likewise present obstacles for brand names.
Labelless family pet bottles can likewise decrease the monetary concern for makers in areas where plastic tax has actually been executed. For example, in the UK, products of single-use plastic product packaging which contain less than 30% recycled material are taxed at £200 per tonne.
While family pet bottles can quickly integrate above 30% recycled material, labels and caps – which do not normally consist of any recycled product – are taxed independently. Tesco grocery store in the UK just recently reported that plastic tax for labels represent around 10% of the overall yearly plastics tax liability for one popular own-brand drink line.
Despite the apparent advantages, labelless family pet bottles do likewise present obstacles for brand names – not least guaranteeing that a product abides by regulative labelling requirements and shows the significant details for customer understanding without depending on external labels.
Coding on labelless bottles
There is a series of services for coding and marking labelless family pet bottles; the most suitable service for brand names will depend upon numerous aspects, consisting of local labelling requirements and whether the bottles will be offered as part of a multipack or separately.
For multipack bottles, it might be possible to consist of required labelling requirements as part of the secondary product packaging, eliminating the requirement for coding on private bottles. Bottles offered separately, nevertheless, will certainly need brand-new and ingenious coding approaches.
Direct marking on family pet bottles
Laser coders can be utilized to include item information such as dietary details, structure information, batch codes, barcodes, recycling logo designs, and other graphics and text onto the body of family pet bottles.
The kind of laser utilized will depend on private brand names specifications, consisting of:
- The bottled drink type: water and clear liquids will need a coding service efficient in attaining a darker contrast than dark-coloured liquids such as sodas and other sodas.
- The density of the family pet: the wall density requirement for still water is normally much less than that of carbonated drinks and sodas. This can restrict the viability of specific lasers to code efficiently without jeopardizing bottle stability.
- The portion of recycled family pet: minor pollutants in recycled family pet can affect the capability of plastic to soak up the wavelength of specific laser types and impact code quality.
Printing on bottle caps and closures
Brands can likewise select to print straight on bottle caps. Despite their little size, bottle caps are normally appropriate for basic item branding and logo designs. They can likewise accommodate machine-readable codes, consisting of scannable 2D codes, to offer extra item details, traceability information and marketing product.
The ideal service for printing on bottle caps will require to consider numerous various aspects, consisting of:
- Cap product: various inks and lasers are fit to various plastic types, so cap product will eventually impact innovation option.
- Colour of the bottle cap: the needed contrast in between the cap and the code will impact ink option and laser viability.
- Code requirement: direct barcodes and scannable 2D codes need a high-resolution ink or laser coding service.
- The phase at which the caps will be coded: it’s reasonably basic to code loose caps, however this might not be an appropriate service for all assembly line. Lines needing cap coding of bottles post-fill will need an item dealing with service to make sure coding quality and decrease end-of-line waste.
Blow moulding
A crucial issue for brand names checking out labelless bottles will be how to handle branding to make sure that items and product packaging are quickly acknowledged and in keeping with brand name identity.
Incorporating branding, such as logo designs and text by means of on-pack laser coding or straight onto bottle caps, is possible. Another option would be to integrate top quality shapes and logo designs into the bottle style by means of blow moulding.
Conclusion
Labelless bottles are an amazing brand-new pattern in the drink market – and while legislation forbiding using external labels of family pet bottles is presently limited to specific Asian markets, it might be simply a matter of time prior to other areas do the same.
When picking an innovation for marking labelless family pet bottles, the ideal service might be bespoke, established to fit particular requirements, and depend upon different aspects, as checked out above.
Brands seeking to present choices due to regulative requirements or as a reflection of their sustainability dedications need to start to investigate their coding and marking choices now, with performance and branding in mind, to win the competitive benefit.
