CCL Label launches sustainability tool

CCL Label has launched a new website featuring a Sustainability Configurator that helps brands explore labels tailored to their packaging requirements.

The launch comes as the European Union’s Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation (PPWR) goes into effect, putting greater emphasis on packaging recyclability, material efficiency and circularity. For brands, this means that packaging decisions, including the choice of label, increasingly need to be considered from the very beginning of the design process.

The label is an integral part of the overall packaging system. Its material, adhesive, density, separation behavior and interaction with the packaging substrate can influence what happens to the package during recycling.

'The role of the label has fundamentally changed. It is no longer enough to ask whether a label looks good or performs well on the shelf. We have to consider how it behaves as part of the complete packaging system and what happens to it after use,' said Reinhard Streit, group vice president food & beverage global at CCL Label. 'With our new Packaging Configurator, we want to make this thinking easier for brands and packaging designers. It provides a practical starting point for exploring label technologies and making more informed choices for packaging designed with circularity in mind.'

CCL Label has developed a broad portfolio of products addressing different sustainability challenges. Its Sustainable Product Family includes technologies such as EcoFloat, EcoStream, WashOff, EcoSource, EcoStretch and EcoShear, supporting applications ranging from improved label separation and wash-off capabilities to recycled and renewable material options.

There is no single correct option for every package. The right choice depends on the packaging substrate, recycling stream, application and performance requirements.

The new Sustainability Configurator brings these considerations into a simple digital experience. By entering their base container material (rigid packaging), users can explore relevant CCL Label technologies and identify potential options that combine aesthetics, functionality and sustainability.

'PPWR and other global packaging regulations are changing the way brands have to think about packaging. The focus is moving from individual components to the packaging system as a whole,' said Marika Knorr, head of sustainability and communication at CCL Label.

'A label may represent only a small part of the overall package, but the choice of label can have an important role in how that package performs in the recycling process. The configurator helps brands explore these choices early, when there is still an opportunity to design the packaging system accordingly.'

Streit added: 'Design for recycling does not mean giving up creativity or premium brand presentation. The challenge, and the opportunity, is to design packaging where aesthetics, performance and circularity work together.'

With its new digital platform and Packaging Configurator, CCL Label aims to help customers make more informed label choices and take another step towards packaging that is not only designed to stand out on the shelf, but also designed with its next life in mind.