• CCL Label Voelkermarkt in Austria launches material efficient solution that helps save plastic
• Stretch Sleeve has a thickness of 30 micron that is a novelty in the market
• Main application are returnable 1 Liter PET bottles commonly used in the mineral water market

CCL Label, the world’s largest converter of pressure sensitive and extruded film materials for decorative, functional and information labels, has announced an innovation that was developed in-house in the Austrian Voelkermarkt site. The sleeve label hub presents the thinnest stretch sleeve in the market that is available at the moment – the sleeve has a thickness of 30 micron. It was especially designed for returnable 1 Liter PET bottles that are typically used in the German mineral water market.

Sustainable

“This extremely thin stretch sleeve was developed with sustainability in mind. With 30 micron the sleeve is a lot thinner than the ‘standard’ 45 micron sleeves that are usually used. This accounts for efficiency on the material side – a lot less raw material is needed to manufacture this sleeve and thus it helps reduce the carbon footprint of the product,” says Thorsten Umek, Product Manager at CCL Voelkermarkt.

“We calculated that beverage brands can save up to 32 tons of plastic material per 100 million sleeves – which is approximately the weight of over 5 adult African elephants.”

Stretch Sleeves technology itself has several sustainability advantages. They are made from mono-PE (polyethylene) material that has a high degree of elasticity. This means that no adhesives and no heat is necessary to apply the sleeve to the bottle or other container – it attaches itself and stays in place with the help of its own elasticity. On top of that it is possible to integrate different percentages of recycled content into stretch sleeves from several sources – including Post-Consumer Recyclate (PCR) material.

“Stretch Sleeves have been a popular decoration technology for the German mineral water industry that traditionally has been a returnable scheme. Typically re-usable 1 Liter bottles made from rigid PET and increasingly rPET are used – which already is a very sustainable system itself. Now the bottle can have an even lower environmental footprint by combining it with the super thin stretch sleeves that we just launched”, explains Stefan Schaeffert, Business Development manager at CCL Label.