Eximpro wins award for recyclable shrink sleeve bottle

Eximpro, a Mexican specialist in manufacturing and printing of shrink sleeves, received the Best of Show award in the Environmental Contribution category for its recyclable cPET shrink sleeve for PET bottles of the sustainable brand ZenWTR Alkaline water, claimed to be the only beverage in the world in bottles made of 100 percent recycled and certified ocean-bound plastic.

‘Even though shrink sleeves offer a variety of benefits for packaging, their deinking properties are often problematic,’ said Dr Miguel Gama, head of technology for North LATAM at Siegwerk. ‘Non-removed ink layers can have a significant impact on the quality of the recyclate and therefore on the potential of its re-use. That’s why labels and bottles are typically separated for recycling.’ 

Eximpro’s winner bottle now sets a new standard for recycling PET bottles as it uses a cPET shrink sleeve technology printed with a solvent-based washable gravure ink system from Siegwerk, which enables recycling of the sleeve along with the PET bottle without negatively impacting the quality of recovered recyclates.

Siegwerk’s proprietary washable ink technology has already been accredited by the Association of Plastic Recyclers (APR), the national trade association of the US plastics recycling industry.

‘We are clearly committed to playing our part for a more sustainable packaging industry,’ added Clemente Gonzalez Marco, director general at Eximpro. ‘With Siegwerk, we have found a deinking expert as a partner to work on a new circular product solution for our sleeve application portfolio. That the solution’s environmental contribution has now been awarded as Best of Show makes us very proud and proves that we are on the right track.’

‘We are proud to be part of Eximpro’s outstanding solution that shows one more time the power of collaboration along the supply chain. Together we are able to develop innovative packaging solutions for a sustainable and circular future,’ commented Ralf Hildenbrand, president of packaging Americas, Global Technology, PSR and Circular Economy at Siegwerk. ‘Congratulations to our partner and all other award winners – we, as well as the packaging industry, are on a good way. Let’s keep things up.’

The International Sleeve Label Award is annually granted by AWA, a global market intelligence company. The competition was launched in 2014 to recognize the industry’s outstanding achievements in stretch-and shrink-sleeve labeling and product decoration.