D.O.G. Label adopts Herma GreenGuide tool

D.O.G. Label, an Austrian label specialist based in Vienna, is using the Herma GreenGuide digital tool to support customer consultations on sustainable self-adhesive materials, finding it particularly effective in navigating the growing complexity of material choices and regulatory requirements ahead of the EU Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation.

The GreenGuide uses three or four criteria, including packaging type, desired sustainability aspect and material, to generate actionable material recommendations. Anna-Carin Speneder-Magnet, head of business development at D.O.G. Label, discovered the tool at Fachpack 2025 and has since used it in direct customer consultations, most recently helping a customer identify a compostable self-adhesive material certified by DIN Certco for home and garden composting for direct application to fruit and vegetables.

'It's fascinating how easily and systematically it guides you to a sensible solution that can be implemented straight away,' said Speneder-Magnet. 'I can also use it to guide customers towards sustainable solutions in a targeted way, without overwhelming them.'

The tool is proving particularly useful in addressing knowledge gaps around PPWR implications. Speneder-Magnet highlights that extended producer responsibility fees from 2028 will factor in the material, recyclability and recycled content of the entire packaging, including labels, with a fee difference between good and poor recyclability of up to a factor of ten.

'If price-neutral solutions cannot always be achieved in full, it makes sense to offset impending EPR fees against slightly higher material costs. That really opens some customers' eyes,' she noted.

D.O.G. Label is part of D.O.G. GmbH, headquartered in Darmstadt, Germany, which specializes in pharmaceutical and cosmetics packaging. The Vienna plant generates 165,000 kWh per year through its own photovoltaic system, saving 55 tons of CO2 annually, and is targeting a silver EcoVadis rating.