Sun Chemical (sunchemical.com) has launched its SunLam de-seaming Adhesive for shrink-labeled containers. The new de-seamable adhesive helps recyclers improve recycled polyethylene terephthalate (rPET) yield without process changes. Partners Sun Chemical and Eastman (eastman.com) tested SunLam on labels made with Eastman Embrace LV copolyester. It has also received a “Responsible Innovation Acknowledgment” by the Association of Plastic Recyclers (APR) after passing APR testing.
By changing from a traditional solvent to SunLam de-seaming adhesive, shrink labels deseam and release during the whole bottle wash step of the wet recycling process, without sacrifice of label performance. The label removal occurs prior to color, infrared and manual sorting, thus preventing shrink-labeled PET bottles being removed from the rPET stream due to misidentification.