Director of UPM Raflatac's RafCycle program Juha virmavirta emphasizes the importance of recycling material flows in a circular economy.
"The label industry is a growing industry, and we strive to ensure that self-adhesive labels are as competitive as possible for use in the packaging industry, even through recycling."
With its RafCycle program, Raflatac offers its customer base, which mainly consists of label printers, an easy waste recycling option.
“At the same time, we also offer added value, because waste processing is laborious and expensive.”
Label waste is challenging to recycle, as it is a layered collection of different ingredients.
“In addition to the surface, i.e. the actual sticker label, the product contains glue, silicone and the sticker backing material, which is where the largest amount of waste comes from. When the actual sticker is attached to the product, what is left is waste.”
The degree of processing must also be increased in recycling
In Germany, Raflatac's logistics partners collect label backing waste from customers, which is currently recycled at UPM's Plattling mill, where it is used as a raw material for graphic papers. The silicone, which is essential for the labels, is washed away at the mill before recycling.
RafCycle is not used in Finland, as the equation between a country with small volumes and a large size is difficult. In Finland, label waste is, among other things, incinerated for energy use in Rauma.
Virmavirta emphasizes that in addition to improving recycling efficiency, efforts must also be made to improve the processing rate of production side streams.
“Label waste can be used, for example, in cores. But you get a better margin when the waste is processed into paper and magazines. In general, I would say that there is a lot of room for new innovations in the recycling of label waste. We are only at the beginning of a long road.”
Despite the importance of environmental issues, it is still a business.
“However, this has to be profitable,” Virmavirta points out.
Composite decking boards
According to Virmavirta, the RafCycle program began to take shape eight years ago as a development of side streams from UPM's own production facilities. As a result, Lahti began producing UPM Prof, a composite structure containing label waste, the most common application of which is decking.
“That’s where it started to develop, and we came up with the idea of utilizing Plattning. Then we expanded the service to also include our customers and their customer base, which are mainly representatives of large product brands.”
Text: Jaakko Liikanen
Photo: UPM
