Category: SPECIAL AWARD - Sustainability
Special Award: Silver Award
The recycling-dedicated backing sheets have been designed based on the below. Both of them have manufactured by Toyobo Co., Ltd.
>“KAMISHINE” uses more than 25% recycled raw materials from PET bottles.
>“KAMISHINE NEO” uses more than 25% horizontally recycled raw materials such as the recycling-dedicated backing sheets. . We will gradually promote horizontal recycling to circulate “KAMISHINE NEO”.
Furthermore, general PET film has a specific gravity of 1.4, but its unique structure with internal cavities reduces the specific gravity to 1.0, contributing to lower costs and resource conservation. (Due to a hollowed-out structure, an approximately 30% reduction of raw materials comparison with general PET films has been achieved.)
These have both the advantages of film, such as heat resistance, dimensional stability, chemical resistance, and strength, and the advantages of paper, such as adhesion to various inks and coating agents. It is also the perfect material for this environmentally friendly project.
The life cycle assessment (LCA) of the recycling-dedicated backing sheets shows that the CO2 emissions can be reduced by 21.6% compared to the paper liner. Considering the ubiquity of labels across various products, labels are used in every industry. It is challenging for just one company like Shionogi Pharma to significantly reduce waste and CO₂ emissions alone. Therefore, it is crucial to expand the recycling efforts of the Resource Recycle Project across all industries to collectively reduce these impacts. If all companies using labels join this ecosystem, we can potentially eliminate the disposal of approximately 1.4 billion m2 of backing sheets annually in Japan, making this an initiative with significant ripple effects.
Recycling-dedicated backing sheets are thinner than paper release liners yet have equal or greater strength. This means that a greater number of labels can be rolled into rolls of the same diameter, and this helps to boost the production efficiency of customer's factory.
Unlike paper release liners, recycling-dedicated backing sheets do not absorb moisture. Therefore, curling caused by moisture absorption & desorption is greatly reduced. This means that the shelf life of label roll materials may be extended.
If the “paper release liners” are replaced with “recycling-dedicated backing sheets” that have been designed from materials that enable material recycling, it becomes possible to carry out the valuable recovery of used label backing sheets from users.