How To Address Sustainable Legislation In Label Manufacturing

Navigating sustainable packaging laws in the U.S. is complex. Learn how evolving state legislation impacts packaging compliance, brand commitments, and costs and what coaters and label producers can do to stay ahead.

As manufacturers like you navigate sustainability, new packaging standards regarding improved environmental footprints are being developed throughout the value chain. However, with sustainability laws changing and differing throughout the U.S., it can be challenging for coaters and label producers like you to:

Comply with individual state regulations
Meet brand owner commitments
Understand Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) laws and implications

By understanding these challenges and what you can do to help address them, you can help yourself become better positioned now and going forward.

How Sustainable Legislation Impacts Your Ability To Comply With Individual State Regulations

To date, no national legislation on packaging sustainability levels exists. Instead, the legislation can vary from state to state within the U.S. This may mean that you do not know which laws exist in which state. You may not realize that while one state is proposing a bill that impacts your packaging choices, another may already have implemented a similar law – and yet, while both states address similar ideas, the details within their legislation can differ.

This patchwork of regulations can directly impact what packaging components, such as end-use labels, can be used in each state. For example, once a state enacts a law, it can restrict or ban certain packaging materials, which means the market must retroactively adjust packaging formats and materials to remain compliant in that state; otherwise, they may need to either manufacture different packaging for different states or only sell to certain states. This can disrupt production efficiency, impact revenue potential and increase the burden on supply chains trying to maintain consistency across regions.

How Sustainable Legislation Impacts Ability to Meet Brand Owner Commitments

Many brand owners set sustainability commitments in an effort to address consumer expectations and corporate responsibility. However, in reality, it can be hard for the value chain to follow through on these commitments. This is because sustainability commitments are often created to be evergreen, yet legislation is continuously evolving. For example, it’s common for new legislation to impact one packaging component out of an entire package structure, which in turn can cause setbacks to achieve a long-term sustainability commitment if packaging materials need to be reassessed. This can create a disconnect in thoroughly achieving a goal while addressing evolving industry standards.

Additionally, many non-governmental organizations (NGO) are holding brand owners accountable for sustainability commitments by tracking publicly online whether those goals are met. If brand owners need to change packaging components due to a change in sustainable legislation, they risk not meeting their commitments in time. This could lead to consumers feeling the brand does not value their sustainable commitments.

Further, with label manufacturing, sustainability commitments can cause you to search for new label components, such as more sustainable adhesives; however, you may not know what sustainable features should be included in the adhesive formulation. This is because there is no one-size-fits-all for more sustainable adhesives; an adhesive’s ability to help overall sustainability can depend on factors such as its recyclability, compostability and compatibility with packaging materials. Lifecycle assessments (LCAs) can provide details, such as the processing steps in developing a packaging component, that outline why a label adhesive provides specific sustainable capabilities. This can help you or the brand owner highlight how their end-use package offers a low environmental footprint.

How Sustainable Legislation Impacts Your Ability To Understand EPR Laws And Implications

More state legislators are passing Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) laws for brand owners, which require them to pay a fee that accounts for their products’ end-of-life disposal process. These laws also have brands report all packaging components and materials to a Producer Responsibility Organization (PRO) for transparency and accountability. There is, however, incentive for brand owners to use recyclable materials to reduce overall costs with EPR related fees. This creates complexities for brand owners to follow EPR laws per state to help ensure they are providing accurate information about their packaging components and materials to a PRO. They also often feel the pressure to increase recyclability in their packaging, even if there are complexities with local recycling efforts. As a result, it may lead to complications for brand owners trying to sell their products in numerous states, as regulations may differ in each state or even have yet to be in place.

EPR regulations can also complicate packaging choices, including how you create end-use labels for packaging if there are differing rules on recyclable materials state to state. Brand owners might not always know what is preventing their product from meeting recycling laws, and they often may rely on you to have the answers. Additionally, it’s possible they may even prefer for you to cover EPR fees if the end-use label does not meet recycling requirements. This can create pressure for you to develop a label construction that enables package recyclability to avoid this fee.

What You Can Do Now To Address Sustainable Legislation:

In Your Research & Development:

Track Changes by State

With sustainable packaging legislation differing across the U.S., staying informed is essential. In addition to different requirements, the states’ timelines and enforcement strategies may vary, too. Trade associations can help you understand how materials follow design guidance that is already compliant with state legislations. Consider regularly checking resources such as:

These are a few websites that can help you stay ahead of changes and be compliant.

Build Strategic Relationships

To help meet regulations and improve packaging sustainability levels, different manufacturers need to engage with multiple levels of the value chain.

As a coater and label producer, it’s important for you to understand how adhesives in your label construction can impact sustainability when used with inks, substrates and other packaging components. Working with an adhesive supplier can help you:

Understand your label construction requirements for different markets
Follow design guidance from trade organizations to prepare for sustainable legislation going into effect
Accelerate innovation and reduce risks of non-compliance as state regulations increase

Ensure Your Label Adhesives Are Recycle-Ready

Label adhesives play a critical role in determining whether a package can be recycled. Wash-off adhesives, for example, allow labels to be removed cleanly during recycling and help improve the overall package recyclability. Working with an adhesive supplier can help you:

Select adhesives that meet recyclability standards to provide assurance the package will move through the recycling stream.
Design label constructions that support circularity to help ensure you have a solution ready for use when a brand owner needs a recyclable label.

Clear plastics like PET (polyethylene terephthalate) can be recycled into similar products, increasing circularity. While colored plastics may be recyclable, they are often produced into entirely different products or other materials. Uniform packaging that meets the highest recycling standards can help you avoid state-by-state compliance issues; PET is useful for this due to its durability and recyclability. Providing brand owners with a label for recyclability can help them become one step closer to complying with EPR laws.

In Your Manufacturing Processes:

Improve Carbon Footprint

Every manufacturer contributes to carbon emissions, but there are ways to reduce your footprint during processing:

Eliminate or reduce solvents: Switching to solvent-free materials, such as solvent-free adhesives, or using adhesives with high solids content, can improve worker safety, reduce energy use and increase yield of your material supply.
Streamline production: Using one more sustainable material, such as an adhesive that offers versatile substrate compatibility across multiple lines, can reduce changeovers, downtime and energy consumption.

While this step benefits your processes directly, it can provide benefits to your brand owners as well along their journey to achieving sustainable commitments.

Provide Accurate Reporting

Being transparent with your sustainability journey helps your brand owners build trust with consumers and other stakeholders. By providing accurate reports on your label manufacturing and materials, you can help brand owners show consumers they are making progress towards their goals. Some reports to consider showcasing include:

Lifecycle assessment (LCAs): Identifying your product’s potential environmental impact during its lifespan can help you find places for potential improvement. LCAs can highlight areas throughout the product lifespan, such as raw materials, production and end-of-life disposal, that could be enhanced further for sustainability. This helps determine which areas to address.  When trying to find the cumulative impact of your products, your adhesive supplier can be a resource for LCAs.
Carbon footprint reduction: To demonstrate a meaningful reduction in carbon footprint through label manufacturing, it's essential to measure both direct and indirect emissions, which are commonly referred to as Scope 1 and Scope 2 emissions. Scope 1 includes direct emissions from sources such as transportation initiatives between your plant and the customer’s facility, while Scope 2 covers indirect emissions from the energy used in production. By reporting these emissions, you can showcase your commitment to sustainability and provide foundational data that brand owners can use to assess their own environmental impact.

How Bostik Can Help

As the adhesives solution segment of Arkema, Bostik is committed to helping you improve sustainability while enhancing production efficiencies and maintaining key performance in your label adhesives. Further, we understand the complexities of designing an end-use label that must comply with evolving sustainable legislation criteria. That is why we provide:

Large portfolio: Bostik offers a robust portfolio of pressure sensitive adhesives (PSAs), including the market’s first APR-approved, all-temperature wash-off label adhesive, Flexcryl® ClearCycle 1000. Based on waterborne acrylic technology, this adhesive is compatible with PET bottles and trays, helping to increase the PET circular yield and address recycling-related regulations.
Technical support: Our team is here to help you throughout trialing processes and beyond. We can test customized formulations on our pilot equipment to ensure your label adhesive provides the performance levels you desire. Our technical service also stays up-to-date on industry changes that can impact your label construction ability to comply with sustainable legislation. For example:
- Bostik is an active APR member, allowing us to utilize key resources to address performance needs for increasing recyclability.
- Bostik utilizes strategic partnerships that can help us connect with other key contacts involved in manufacturing sustainable packaging. For example, we are part of Nextek Ltd’s NEXTLOOPP Project aimed at creating food-grade and INRT-grade* recycled polypropylene (rPP) from post-consumer waste.

Looking for assistance in navigating sustainable legislation for your label manufacturing? Contact a Bostik expert to learn how we can help you address regulatory requirements.

*INRT-grade PP refers to a polymer designed specifically for packaging that requires no odor or migration challenges.