NEW IN VPF RANGE: WASH-OFF ADHESIVE 602 FOR PET PACKAGING AND GLASS

With the new emulsion acrylic adhesive “Wash Off 602”, VPF GmbH & Co. KG extends its range with a wash-off adhesive for glass and PET substrates. The new adhesive has been tested and successfully certified by the Institute cyclos-HTP.

The adhesive was developed in particular to facilitate the recycling of PET packaging. Packaging that is processed by recycling companies as part of a functioning circular economy is shredded during the recycling process. The PET flakes produced in this process, to which label parts adhere, make further recycling more difficult and disrupt the recycling process. Thanks to the “Wash Off 602” adhesive, it is now possible for the label to be washed off the pure PET during recycling. Due to the different density of the label material (<1 g/cm³) and the PET packaging (>1 g/cm³), the label parts float on the surface of the washing solution and the PET flakes sink to the bottom. The adhesive remains on the label material. The materials can therefore be separated by type.

The tests confirm that the adhesive “Wash Off 602” with the print substrates 71786 (rPE white glossy TC 80 μm) and 20598 (machine coated paper alkali-resistant matt 90 g/m²) fulfils the challenges of the “Requirements and Evaluation Catalogue of the Institute cyclos-HTP”.

From a temperature of 70 °C and 1 % alkaline solution, the adhesive can be ideally washed off from PET. Lower temperatures or less caustic additive slow down the wash-off process, but the adhesive retains its functionality. Excellent results have also been achieved on glass, so that the adhesive is also best suitable for labelling beer, wine or spirits bottles as well as honey and jam jars, for example.

As is typical for VPF, the above-mentioned adhesive materials are now available with the corresponding customised liner. The minimum quantity is 1,000 m². In addition, many other combinations of face materials (e.g. grass or bagasse papers, inkjet papers, recycled papers) and “Wash Off 602” adhesive are conceivable.