Labels: Sustainability, Environmental protection and Circular economy !

Labels: Sustainability, Environmental protection and Circular economy !

Almost forty years ago, when Iwas just a commercial siliconiser, people at large did not understand what release paper or silicon paper was. I would jokingly explain it was a product, a protective paper behind a sticker, that would eventually go into wastepaper basket. In real terms the release liner, would be disposed-off in landfills or burnt adding smoke and gasses to the environment impacting it adversely.

Time has changed, concern for environment is a necessity and cannot be taken lightly as a joke. We are responsible for leaving behind a legacy of a cleaner and liveable environment for generations that follow us.
We need to make our manufacturing programs, sustainable. Sustainability means giving back to mother earth what we take from it or reduce drawing the resources that we cannot replenish forthwith cut down generation of industrial waste. Unfortunately, 50% of all that self-adhesive label industry produces goes as waste in terms of waste matrix and release liners. While globally many endeavours are being adopted to reduce liner waste yet in India a lot needs to be done. Switching over to liner less labels where-ever possible, helps but not much work is done in this direction. Using thinner filmic liners does result in reduced tonnage of liners and their recyclability. During this period many a top-end printer has started using clear on clear filmic label materials aiding sustainability to some extent. Global leaders in Labelstocks Avery Dennison has initiated a program to collect and recycle silicone release liners in India, it is a step in the right direction. But given the size of the country and geographical spread of label units, it is a gigantic task. Other than this some printers have adopted waste management by shredding waste and compacting it for use as fuel in boilers and other applications, this is only a miniscule portion of the Industry. Largely, the waste is still sent to landfills or is incinerated. In times to come legislation will come to make sustainability and environment safety an imperative. It is time that the label and print fraternity at large must understand that not only the need but also the larger implications terms sustainability, recyclability, circular economy, environmental protection, etc.

The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, adopted by all United Nations Member States in 2015, provides a shared blueprint for peace and prosperity for people and the planet, now and into the future. At its heart are the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), which are an urgent call for action by all countries – developed and developing – in a global partnership.

They recognize that ending poverty and other deprivations must go together with strategies that improve health and education, reduce inequality, and spur economic growth – all while tackling climate change and working to preserve our oceans and forests. The Sustainable Development Goal number 12 states; worldwide material consumption has expanded rapidly, as has material footprint per capita, seriously jeopardizing the achievement of Sustainable Development Goals. Urgent action is needed to ensure that current material needs do not lead to the over extraction of resources or to the degradation of environmental resources, and should include policies that improve resource efficiency, reduce waste and mainstream sustainability practices across all sectors of the economy. In our labels and packaging industry this is an imperative that needs to be attended to because the percentage of waste generated is high, going to landfills. Some companies do incinerate or send the waste generated as matrix or side trim to kilns for use as fuel. This may look good management but in the longer run we are putting gasses into the air from the different materials going into the manufacture of labelstocks viz.; paper, film, primer coats, silicone, adhesive etc. Each component will produce different type of emissions that have in unison no single solution to treat them. Thus, there is a need for reducing the waste generated, use recyclable materials, reduce the energy consumption etc. to become more sustainable.

The label industry globally has been looking at the possibility of recyclability and reusability of the waste matrix or that of the different components of labelstocks. Since release paper is one item that has its usability only until the label is dispensed to be applied on to the product, after that it ends up as waste. Over the years there have been many solutions tried to reduce the impact of this liner waste on the environment. The used liner would either go to landfills or incinerated and in both cases it its impact was adverse. Due to the silicone coating on the paper biodegradability in landfills was an issue as silicone after crosslinking becomes inert.

For the same reason paper mills would not buy this waste for re-pulping and making fresh paper. Initial steps taken in reducing the liner waste were replacing the paper liners with thinner filmic liners thereby reducing the tonnage of paper and moreover the waste liner can be remoulded. This was a positive sign, but large-scale shift has not happened in a long time because of additional increased investment in equipment and tooling. There have been efforts to go linerless in producing labels but the inability to do custom shapes die-cutting and high-speed label dispensing on automatic packaging lines have not produced a lasting solution. Efforts and development in this direction are going on and we hope one day the industry can shift to self-adhesive labels without having release liners to dispose off, becomes a reality. At Labelexpo Europe 2019, four companies Ritrama, Omet, Spilker and ILTI came together to offer their “Core Linerless Solutions”, other companies like Catchpoint are also making strong efforts in this direction, only time will tell how many brand owners move in this direction and prompt their label vendors to offer the linerless label solutions. Some paper mills in Europe have now devised process of de-siliconising release paper and then re-pulping it to make fresh paper but the collection and delivery to the mills from the printing companies widely spread over large geographical locations is a logistic challenge. However still substantial volumes have started to be reprocessed. In India in recent times as mentioned above Avery Dennison has initiated support to a program in which collection of release liners is outsourced to a vendor and then sent to a mill who have devised a process to re-pulp and convert to paperboard. These are positive steps.

The menace of waste is gigantic and it has become an absolute emergency to counter it. Governments have woken up to act against generation of materials going to landfills. It is preferred that whatever waste is generated in industrial process should be gainfully recycled for usability to achieve the benefits as described in circular economy.

As per a report published in thehindubusinessline.com of 19th September 2019, leading consumer products companies such as Coca-Cola India, PepsiCo India and Bisleri among others have decided to come together to launch a first-of-its-kind packaging waste management venture in the country. The venture, which is called Karo Sambhav, will focus on creating a formal eco-system for collection of post-consumer packaging and optimising material recycling processes. Commenting on the endeavour, T Krishnakumar, President, Coca-Cola India and South-West Asia added, “Through our vision, World Without Waste, we want to ensure that all our packaging material goes for recycling and not to landfills.” Another report appearing in Live Mint 2nd October 2019 states; The government may soon roll out stringent norms and impose heavy fines on corporates, including hospitality industry, mobile manufacturers and packaging industry, for failing to stop use of plastic. Under the Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) scheme, which the government plans to implement effectively, manufacturers, brand owners, and importers of products should realise and bear responsibility for environmental impact of their products through the product life-cycle. Many of the large FMCG companies have started adopting the requirements of EPR. These are other positive steps taken to eradicate waste to landfills to a great extent.

Besides the liner there is the waste matrix which has the adhesive and various kinds of face materials that include uncoated, coated, metallised, coloured, metallised papers, laminates or films with metallisation or topcoats. Side trims are also generated at some label converting units and most labelstock manufacturing units. With increasing prices of real estate besides an environmental issue, the side trims and matrix call for large amount of space to store until disposed off, putting additional pressure on resources. For this reason, larger label companies are shredding and compacting the waste to sell as fuel for boilers, furnaces and cement kilns.

There are some innovative entrepreneurs who convert this waste into pallets, floor tiles, wall panelling and some small furniture items. It is interesting to see such endeavours.

Circular economy packaging is another buzzword when we talk of sustainability and environmental protection. A circular economy is an economic system aimed at eliminating waste, continual use and recycling of resources to re-engineer products that are preferably not downgraded. It is contrary to the earlier system “traditional linear economy” according to which the aim was ‘take, make, dispose’ model of production to achieve increased usage of all inputs.

Labels are the face of any product and in time of growing organised retail and in view of stringent consumer protection laws labels provide the much-needed statutory information, besides becoming the marketing tool for any product. In such a scenario we need to design labels in manner that they are able, to be a part of recycling process of the package. For instance, on a PE (polyethylene) container we should have a PE label only so that the whole package is mono-polymer and can be effectively reprocessed and recycled. Multi-polymer plastics are neither recyclable nor biodegradable. It is normal in India that we see ragpickers collect the mono polymer milk pouches but leave behind the fancy multi-layered pouches of instant foods and snacks littered around. This is because the monolayer plastics are resaleable for convenient recycling. Similarly, a paperboard carton should have a paper label.

Sustainability or circular economy must be in the conscience of all manufacturers, it does not advocate compromising safety or user experience of any product. It also does not mean increased cost of inputs. It is a mindset to create products that make life sustainable and do not deplete resources available to humans. There is need to replenish what we extract from our environment and establish a legacy for generations that follow for staying committed to the cause. It is a cause that is impacting humanity across the globe and all efforts to make public of all races and countries aware of the situation and need to contribute towards this issue in unison are necessary.
Written By Harveer Sahni Chairman Weldon Celloplast Limited, New Delhi India February 2020

History of Indian Label Industry part 2D

History of Indian Label Industry part 2D

This is the final part of History of Indian Label Industry” up to third quarter of 2019 written by the author. The history would look incomplete if mention was not made of those who started their label journey from scratch or very humble beginning and then rose to a pinnacle achieving success not only in the home market but also internationally and continue with their journey to greater heights.

From the start of new Millennium in 2000 until the time of writing this part of the history, enormous changes have come about in the Indian label industry. Label printing companies who started from virtually nothing, grew and spread to multiple locations. Some of the bigger ones on the way, decided to sell out to or partnered with foreign companies who were entering the Indian market for label manufacturing. Label, being a miniscule portion of the total packaging cost of a product, does not deliver very large turnover as compared to that of package printing or flexible packaging companies.

However, it does generate relatively higher profit margins than that of high turnover package printing industry. For this reason, we did not see any label companies in the earlier part of the new Millennium who could reach a coveted target of Rupees 100 Crore or a Billion Rupees as annual sales turnover. However, some packaging companies or multinationals who invested in labels as well, were above this figure. It was incredible that at least three Indian startup companies who started their business purely with stickers that later evolved as labels, grew to cross Rupees 100 Crores turnover or more in 2018-2019.

First among them is Manish Desai led Mudrika Labels. Sandeep Desai working at a greeting cards company started trading in stickers that he outsourced in 1975 and a year later he started screen printing them at home. His 10-year-old cousin, Manish was always excited to see stickers being made. In 1977 Sandeep moved his sticker manufacturing to a 500 square feet factory in Malad.

In 1985 they started outsourcing pregummed sheets and get them printed on offset to finally finish them to be stickers at their factory. They grew and expanded into packaging, making cartons and corrugated boxes. Sandeep eventually moved into packaging and the young Manish who had labels in his heart, in 1996 expanded into labels with Kopack label presses and later many Gallus presses. He further expanded integrating backwards to produce self-adhesive labelstocks and collaborated with a Korean company to produce heat transfer labels. By 2019 Mudrika labels were working out of 100,000 square foot shop floor, 550 workforce to achieve a Rupees 160 Crore (1.60 Billion Rupees) annual sales turnover.

The second person to achieve this Kuldip Goel of Any Graphics started from very humble beginnings. At a tender age of 14 years he started making stickers by screen printing manually himself to earn some money while still in school. He did this in his one room home. Despite extreme hardships in life he remained honest and focussed on providing the best in quality and indulging in innovation. In 1989 he started his maiden venture Stickline in Noida. By start of the millennium Kuldip’s company Any Graphics was recognised as one of the best label manufacturers in quality and one that never cut prices to get orders but prove their innovative capabilities to convince customers. From mere screen printing he went on to add dome labels and letterpress printed labels in his portfolio. In 2009 he moved to a 100,000 square feet clean sanitized dust free factory adding, Heidelberg Offset Presses, Orthotecs and a fully loaded Omet flexo and screen combination label press. He also became one of the largest makers of rigid boxes.

By 2019 he had crossed the Rupees 100Crore sale without compromising profit margins and becoming one of the most awarded companies in India. In 2019 he commenced construction of a certified green factory spread over 15000 square meter plot size and 250,000 square feet shop floor.

 The third printer who grew in similar pattern, a stout follower of Lord Shiva who greets people with, “Jai Bhole Ki” (Victory to Lord Shiva, lovingly referred to as Bhole) Sanjeev Sondhi, started his career as a medical Representative and carried on in the profession switching jobs until 2005 when he decided to trade in Barcode labels, printers and accessories.

He was looking for bigger things in life! Two years later in 2006 he launched his maiden start-up venture Zircon Technologies India Limited with a Mark Andy 2200 Label press in Dehradun. Being a salesperson himself he drove the company in fast mode expansion and in a few years added multiple Mark Andy and Omet label presses which include the high-end combination Omet Vary flex 430mm. In just 15 years of inception Zircon crossed the Rupees 100 Crore reaching 120 Crores annual turnover mark coming purely from label manufacturing, “a record in itself”! While other successful label companies at this stage would look for foreign suitors, Zircon in 2019 was the first totally indigenous label manufacturing company planning to go public to raise capital for future expansion. They got the approval from SEBI in November 2018 with plans to open a 90-100 Crores public issue. Waiting for an appropriate time to launch their public issue Zircon continued to grow and invest in expansion. Sanjeev hoped to invest 80 percent of the receipts in expanding labels business while the rest in other allied products. Sanjeev was even looking at inorganic growth by indulging in Mergers and Acquisitions. With 3 factories in Dehradun and one in Chennai Sanjeev Sondhi aims to grow multi-fold with blessing of Bhole (Lord Shiva).

Having achieved such success through sheer commitment and hard work it is natural for companies like the three mentioned above to look at other avenues in synergy with their business to achieve a faster growth. All the above, while they continued to be proud of their beginnings and aware of the evolution, started to study or invest in new technologies. 

 We had reached a time when multiple labelling technologies surfaced, and future had many surprises in store. From the primitive times when a label had to be either tied to a product or riveted on to it or affixed with a wheat flour paste, we believed to have reached a pinnacle when self-adhesive or pressure sensitive adhesive labels that were developed and grew to establish as a predominant labelling technology. Initially it was the manually applied wet glue adhesive paper labels that were in use. With development of starch and dextrin-based glues and availability of automatic wet glue labelling equipment, wet glue labels became the most widely used method of labelling. Most of the organised industry employed packaging lines incorporating wet glue labelling. It was used in all segments like pharmaceuticals, Liquor, cosmetics, oils and in fact most of the products that were packed in glass bottles or metal cans. When plastics, mostly HDPE (High Density Polyethylene), started to evolve as a preferred packaging material for glass bottles and cans due to ease of manufacturing, reduction of freight due to lighter weight per can, possibility to produce in different shapes and colours, labelling with starch or dextrin based adhesive became a challenge. This change was taking place during the 1970s and 1980s. Since HDPE is a low energy material, paper labels with water-based adhesives made from various gums, starches and dextrins would not anchor on to the containers or would fall off in transit. Labels with pressure sensitive adhesives or stickers had already started being made initially by screen printing methods and later by offset printing, these labels would stick well just by application of pressure. They did not have to wait for drying and could be packed instantly after labelling while the wet glue labels would have adhesives oozing out on the sides and attracting dust and shifting in packing process, adversely affecting the aesthetics. More and more companies were opting for these stickers.

Towards the end of last century self-adhesive labels evolved in roll form and the automatic labelling equipment for pressure sensitive adhesive labels became available. Many companies did resist shifting from wet glue to self-adhesive due to the high cost of label applicator replacements.

This is a big challenge that the likes of printers mentioned above faced and yet with their firm resolve they became a part of the change that brought them success. As the retail became dependent on customer choices and there was need for better decorated labels, self-adhesive labels became the preferred labelling technology and grew at fast pace. In between screen printing on containers also started but a slow process that did not have much decoration as compared to printed labels, it did not grow as a preferred process. Self-adhesive grew so much that it became almost 50% of all the labels produced in India. As we entered the new millennium and started looking also into future the thought process for future of labels is becoming extremely diverse and evolving in different tangents. Shrink sleeves came in to take away a big market share given the possibility of 360 degrees visibility. Wrap around labels also became extensively used in the beverage segment. Heat transfer label technology that had originated as Therimage Label technology developed by Dennison Manufacturing company in USA in the 1990s did not flourish then because Avery, who acquired Dennison, did not promote it as it was not in sync with their core business of self-adhesive labels. Once the patents expired, the Heat Transfer Labels or HTL reappeared in the second decade of new millennium and started growing. In mould labels is another labelling technology that had found usage in many segments and started registering growth in large volume usage. At this time, I try and link the changes to the three above who understood the need to expand the scope of labels in their business portfolio. While Mudrika as I mentioned invested in heat transfer labels, Any Graphics into innovative labels and rigid boxes and Zircon also started moving into brand security and innovative packaging including spiral wound containers.

Around this time environmental concerns also impacted the self-adhesive label industry as almost 50% of the converted product is waste going to landfills. Much work was being done on this to reduce the liner tonnage by opting for thinner filmic liners that can be recycled and by developing linerless labels.

Digital printing on to the products is another technology that may replace some of the usage of self-adhesive labels. All said and done, the sheer market size in India and the inertia, brings business to all label technologies and for this reason the self-adhesive labels market continued to grow at double digit rates. The industry will keep evolving both in terms of quality and innovation as also taking environmental concerns in its stride.

In over a year, as another decade ends, the author will update the history on the outcome of such endeavours. The total History as chronicled by the author until now is now available on this blog on links as below:
Part 1: https://harveersahni.blogspot.com/2010/08/history-of-indian-label-industry.htmlPart 2A: https://harveersahni.blogspot.com/2019/07/history-of-indian-label-industry-part-2a.htmlPart 2B: https://harveersahni.blogspot.com/search?q=History+part+2bPart 2C: https://harveersahni.blogspot.com/2019/08/history-of-indian-label-industry-part-2c.htmlPart 2 D: Above
Written by Harveer Sahni Chairman Weldon Celloplast Limited New Delhi July/September 2019
Note: No one is authorised to reproduce, copy or reprint this article until permitted by the author in writing.