Mitsubishi develops liner recycling process with Spear

Mitsubishi Polyester Films, one of the largest PET film release producers, has developed a sustainable process for recycling liner: the latest environmental initiative in Spear’s global corporate program, Spear Earth.

Approximately 30 percent of Spear’s product is release liner, which has traditionally been land filled. The new technology, Reprocess, allows cradle to cradle recycling of spent liner into new, quality liner.

Mitsubishi has worked with Spear to test the quality of Reprocess liner in high-speed application lines, successfully proving its reliability. Spear is now leading customer collection.

Bill Wells, sales and marketing director, labels, for Mitsubishi Polyester Films Americas, commented: ‘Spear has demonstrated true industry leadership by supporting the commercialization of our Reprocess closed loop product system. The full scale-up of our program requires continued industry support of the collection of spent PET film release liners. It is imperative that we identify the appropriate contacts within the pressure sensitive user-companies, to reach the decision-makers empowered to implement the change to Reprocess. Our association with Spear has been fruitful and invaluable in assisting our efforts to present sustainable solutions regarding the recycling of spent PET film release liner.’

Mitsubishi hopes Reprocess will eventually become an industry standard. USA is the beta-site, but the program is set to be rolled out globally upon successful implementation. Mitsubishi plans to increase the percentage of recovered content used in construction from five percent to 25 percent over the next 18 months. Spear will continue to help Mitsubishi drive this forward.

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