● SKC Inc. promotes environmentally-friendly design of SKC Ecolabel sleeves at a leading International Heat-Shrink Film Conference in the USA
● Global businesses showed strong interest in heat-shrink PET bottle sleeve labels that do not require separation

​SKC Inc., a US-_ base_d subsidiary of SKC Corporation, has started promoting ‘SKC Ecolabels’ that can be reused 100% along with PET bottles by participating in a leading International Heat-Shrink Film Conference in USA. The new heat-shrink film is mainly used for packing sleeve labels for PET bottles because of its attribute of being shrunk by heat. So far, sleeve labels have had to be separated by complicated processes s they cannot be recycled along with PET bottles. On the other hand, SKC Ecolabel sleeves can be introduced into the recycling process along with PET bottles once the print has washed away. As such, they are very environmentally-friendly as they increase the yield of PET chips produced by the recycling of PET bottles. 

SKC Ecolabels made of recyclable heat-shrink film cure headache of recycling businesses ​

SKC Inc. vigorously promoted the merits of its Ecolabels at the AWA International Sleeve Label Conference & Exhibition held in Atlanta, Georgia from May 18 to 20. Over seventy major companies participated in the conference where they exchanged information on market trends etc., including major global beverage producers, users and producers of heat-shrink film in the USA. SKC Inc. introduced the outstanding quality of its Ecolabels in connection with the recycling of PET bottles, which has emerged as a hot industry topic.

<Tom Grey, SKC Inc. Director in charge of new business and marketing (left in photo), introduces the outstanding quality of SKC Ecolabels at the AWA International Sleeve Label Conference & Exhibition.>

SKC Ecolabels are the only heat-shrink film sleeves that can be recycled without any significant cost increase. Although PETG and PVC, other than SKC Ecolabels, are used as packing sleeve labels in the USA, these products cause a number of problems when mixed with PET bottles in even small amounts in the recycling process, causing failures of recycling machines due to the adhesion of PET particles and creating a great headache for the recyclers who have to separate the heat-shrink film.

US recyclers of plastic bottles have so far incinerated or buried packing sleeve labels after shredding them into small pieces and separating them from PET bottle particles using differences in weight or in the light deflection rate. However, SKC Ecolabels can be recycled together with PET bottles when the printed _ layer_ is washed away from the packing label in the recycling process. They are highly environmentally-friendly as more plastics are recycled efficiently without causing pollution of the environment by incineration or burial.

Certified by US Association of Plastic Recyclers (APR) after passing tests by a large recycling service provider

The outstanding quality of SKC Ecolabels was officially certified by US Association of Plastic Recyclers (APR) in July 2016. In addition, SKC Ecolabels passed tests conducted by large plastic recyclers in North America last year.  “Our verification tests reveal that SKC Ecolabels can be successfully recycled along with PET bottles,” said the CEO of the recycling service provider that conducted the tests. “We strongly recommend SKC Ecolabels as they can greatly contribute to increasing the production of high-quality recyclable PET chips.”

<Tom Grey, SKC Inc. Director in charge of new business and marketing (right in photo), inspects recycled PET chips together with the CEO of the recycling service provider that conducted the tests.>

SKC Inc. began intensively marketing its Ecolabels in March of this year, attracting a favorable response from customers. One of the global beverage producers that listened to the product explanation given by SKC Inc. at the conference has decided to cooperate with SKC Inc. to attain its sustainability target. Another global producer of consumer products has also decided to conduct tests for the application of SKC Ecolabels soon. Representatives from many other companies also showed great interest in the product.

“SKC Ecolabels is a new, environmentally-friendly, price competitive SKC solution for the future,” declared Hoseok Park, Chief Operating Officer of SKC Inc. “We will promote the outstanding quality of SKC Ecolabels to our customers in China and Europe as well as Korea together with SKC’s Industrial Raw Materials Division. [End]