UPM Raflatac celebrates a decade of Label Life service

Label Life calculates labels' environmental impact from cradle-to-grave.

UPM Raflatac has marked a decade of providing Label Life, a lifecycle assessment service that enables businesses to make informed, environmentally responsible decisions.

Continuously evolving to cover an ever-widening portfolio of more sustainable products, Label Life now accounts for over 90 percent of UPM Raflatac’s commercial portfolio by sales volume, reflecting the company’s commitment to sustainability.

Label Life provides essential environmental information on label materials, utilizing the standardized method of life cycle assessment (LCA) to calculate their environmental impact from cradle-to-grave.

Customers benefit from individual footprints or ‘product passport prototypes’ (PPPs) displaying 25 indicators, as well as focused comparisons of three key metrics—greenhouse gas emissions, energy demand, and water consumption—facilitating a transparent and guided decision-making process.

‘Label material choice can have a significant impact on packaging sustainability. For the past decade, our Label Life service has been at the forefront of transforming the labeling industry,’ said Flora D’Souza, sustainability manager for Label Life at UPM Raflatac. ‘We are proud of the positive difference the service has created by empowering our customers to measure the impact of their label materials, make informed, more sustainable choices, and reduce their overall environmental footprint.’

In 2023, UPM Raflatac set a new industry standard by receiving a certificate of validity from leading international assurance service provider DEKRA for its Label Life service.

The new validation reinforces the credibility of UPM Raflatac’s LCA calculations and supports customers to make better-informed choices, bringing them closer to their own sustainability goals.