Recyclable hotmelt adhesive launched

Dow and Avery Dennison have developed a hotmelt label adhesive solution enabling polyolefin filmic labels and polypropylene or polyethylene (PP/PE) packaging to be mechanically recycled together in one stream.

The adhesive is approved by Recyclass for recycling in the HDPE coloured stream – Class B.

Hotmelt adhesives are suitable for labels in chilled applications but standard hotmelts reduce the usability of recycled PP/PE material. This olefinic hotmelt is based on the same chemistry as PP/PE packaging and can be treated as a mono-material when combined with a polyolefin facestock.

The adhesive’s development was driven by Avery Dennison’s design-for-recycling thinking and made possible using Dow’s polymer science expertise. It is based on Dow’s AFFINITY GA polyolefin plastomers and sold by Avery Dennison under the name CF3050 in the Europe, Middle East, North Africa (EMENA) region.

Jarkko Pitko, senior research associate at Avery Dennison Materials Group EMENA, said, “The joint launch of this new olefinic hotmelt is a great example of how collaborating with partners across the supply chain, like Dow, is key to deliver innovations that help reduce waste, enable the circularity of plastics and advance the circular economy.”

Imran Munshi, global marketing manager, Dow Packaging & Specialty Plastics, said that Dow aims to deliver 3 million metric tonnes of circular and renewable solutions annually by 2030.

“Collaborations like this will help accelerate our contributions towards a circular economy for plastic packaging,” Munshi said.

Image credit:  Avery Dennison, PR479