I'm at TLMI Tech 2013 now at the Hyatt Regency Chicago in downtown Chicago. The turn out looks to be great with over 350 registered attendees.
This morning we started off at 8 am with a group of speakers discussing Sustainable Labeling Solutions. The speakers included people from all facets of industry, from recyclers to manufacturers to suppliers and a printer/converter.
I actually found this discussion more interesting then I had anticipated and learned several surprising truths.
Tamsin Ettefagh, from Envision Plastics, started off with a history of recycling and how it's has grown in demand...and yet shrunk in sources over the years. She commented that it is a tough business to make money, shrinking from about 200 recycling sources to just about 30 today. She spoke of recycling challenges from the recyclers point of view.
Dr. Weilong Chiang, from PepsiCo, continued to highlight recycling challenges and showed how CPCs can be involved and help address these issues. The biggest problems are with shrink sleeve labels, aggressive adhesives on pressure sensitive labels and metallized labels. This is becoming increasingly difficult to deal with for recyclers, especially as more products involve shrink sleeve packaging.
If you don't think recycling is that big of a deal, consider this interesting "fun" fact: Only two man-made structures are visible from outer space - the Great Wall of China and the Fresh Kills Landfill on Staton Island.
APR (Association of Post-consumer Plastic Recyclers....NOT to be confused with All Printing Resources) is establishing protocols for recyclable bottles and their labels and continuing to explore these recycling challenges.
In South Carolina, we are not required to recycle and there is no penalty for not recycling; however, I have always been an avid recycler. In fact, I'm know as the "recycling nazi" in my household, but all this time not understanding that some of the products I have been throwing in the bin end up in a landfill due to the labels on them. By simply removing this shrink sleeve or adhesive label before I toss it in the plastics bin, I can go back to making a difference.
I'm at TLMI Tech 2013 now at the Hyatt Regency Chicago in downtown Chicago. The turn out looks to be great with over 350 registered attendees.
This morning we started off at 8 am with a group of speakers discussing Sustainable Labeling Solutions. The speakers included people from all facets of industry, from recyclers to manufacturers to suppliers and a printer/converter.
I actually found this discussion more interesting then I had anticipated and learned several surprising truths.
Tamsin Ettefagh, from Envision Plastics, started off with a history of recycling and how it's has grown in demand...and yet shrunk in sources over the years. She commented that it is a tough business to make money, shrinking from about 200 recycling sources to just about 30 today. She spoke of recycling challenges from the recyclers point of view.
Dr. Weilong Chiang, from PepsiCo, continued to highlight recycling challenges and showed how CPCs can be involved and help address these issues. The biggest problems are with shrink sleeve labels, aggressive adhesives on pressure sensitive labels and metallized labels. This is becoming increasingly difficult to deal with for recyclers, especially as more products involve shrink sleeve packaging.
If you don't think recycling is that big of a deal, consider this interesting "fun" fact: Only two man-made structures are visible from outer space - the Great Wall of China and the Fresh Kills Landfill on Staton Island.
APR (Association of Post-consumer Plastic Recyclers....NOT to be confused with All Printing Resources) is establishing protocols for recyclable bottles and their labels and continuing to explore these recycling challenges.
In South Carolina, we are not required to recycle and there is no penalty for not recycling; however, I have always been an avid recycler. In fact, I'm know as the "recycling nazi" in my household, but all this time not understanding that some of the products I have been throwing in the bin end up in a landfill due to the labels on them. By simply removing this shrink sleeve or adhesive label before I toss it in the plastics bin, I can go back to making a difference.