FINAT Announces Recycling Awards
- Published: July 14, 2016
THE HAGUE, THE NETHERLANDS | For the third year running, FINAT, the worldwide association for manufacturers of self-adhesive labels and related products and services, has rewarded exceptional achievement in this arena via a focussed competition, the FINAT Recycling Awards. UK cider makers Brothers Drinks and German label printers Hagmaier Etiketten & Druck are the headliners in the 2016 FINAT Recycling Awards, presented by association during its European Label Forum in Amsterdam in June. Conceived as a way to increase visibility of the industry’s sustainability profile and, in parallel, the increasing recycling opportunities for label waste—particularly spent release liner—the competition rewards both label printers’ and brand owners’ outstanding initiatives. 
Brothers Drinks Co. Ltd. of Shepton Mallet, UK, won the End User Award for its early involvement in a special program focussed on the recycling of used PET release liner and jointly set up by label stock producers Avery Dennison and UK plastics processors Polymer Extrusion Technologies (UK) (PETUK). Brothers Drinks ships the used silicone-coated PET film liner following the automatic labelling of the drinks bottles to PETUK, where it is reprocessed into PET granulate for subsequent reuse in, for example, microwave trays. The jury was impressed by both the maximum-capacity recycling rate and Brothers Drinks’ efforts in spreading awareness of recycling in the media and amongst its customers.
The FINAT competition also recognized the efforts made by label converter companies in pursuit of waste reduction and sustainability. For the second time, the Converter Award went to Hagmaier Etiketten & Druck, Münsingen, Germany, for its commitment to recycling, and the fact that release liner, matrix waste, and other related secondary materials—paper and film—are all recycled by the company, eliminating landfill. Hagmaier is also, the judges noted, extremely active in promoting the value of its recycling activities across the label industry supply chain and also offers brand owner customers the possibility to return their used release liner at neutral cost.
FINAT recycling consultant Jacques van Leeuwen says, “We congratulate both winners and the other contenders with their accomplishments, as all entries this year were of an excellent quality, encompassing efforts in both recycling and awareness raising. We are heartened by the fact that the recycling of release liner is seeing ever greater uptake amongst both converters and end-users and look forward to the next edition of the FINAT recycling awards next year.”
This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
