We are living in times when the zero waste trend is spreading on a large scale. When making purchasing decisions, consumers pay increasing attention to how the product they want to purchase affects the environment. Shops are somewhat competing in the organisation of the space in such a way as to offer not only individual shelves filled with organic products, but entire departments, thus giving the possibility of increased choice.
Following the European Commission’s guidelines saying that all packages made of plastics should be recyclable by 2030, there has been a lot of talk about the far-reaching implications of continuing to produce from plastic raw materials. This had an impact on the fact that international brands have decided to join programmes whose main objective is to reduce the amount of non-recyclable waste generated.
Zwiększenie się świadomości konsumentów przyczyniło się w dużej mierze do ożywienia
w obszarach badań nad materiałami pochodzącymi z recyklingu, surowców odnawialnych czy takich, które całkowicie ulegają procesowi biodegradacji.
Increased consumer awareness has largely contributed to revival in the areas of research into recycled materials, renewable raw materials or those that are fully biodegradable. The label industry has introduced a number of more eco-friendly solutions over the last few years, thereby promoting a sustainable approach to label production. Label-stock manufacturers are releasing newer and newer materials into the market that are recyclable at the end of a product’s life, thus reducing the amount of new raw materials used. More importantly, labels based on wood or pure cotton are increasingly common. Wine companies, for example, often decide to label their products with more eco-friendly materials.
The interest in labels characterised with lower environmental impact has led to a joint project initiated by Aniflex to expand knowledge of available eco-friendly solutions for the label industry. Take care of the Earth, is a collection of free-of-charge packages containing a number of solutions that do not burden the environment, addressed to the largest companies in Poland. In addition to sample faces and backings containing, among other things, recycled raw materials, it also includes information concerning soluble adhesives to improve the efficiency of the recycling process, as well as programmes to facilitate the disposal of waste from label printing.
The joint actions taken to increase the environmental awareness of customers are to make them aware that it is our responsibility to take care of natural resources. The Take care of the Earth project is intended to provide an impetus to initiate working towards a better future and this concerns the label industry as well.
