Seeing the forest for the trees: what sustainable materials are there?

Sustainability is a hot topic, especially in the packaging industry. The demand for sustainable materials continues to rise and customers are looking for more environmentally friendly materials as well as new opportunities for recycling or reuse. When you look around the world of sustainability, you come across different terms such as compostable or bio-based. We explain the differences between those terms:

Biodegradable

A material is “biodegradable” if microorganisms such as bacteria can break it down to its elemental constituents (e.g., carbon and minerals). How long the organisms take to do this depends on the composition of the material and the conditions under which the breakdown process takes place. Biodegradability depends primarily on the chemical structure of the material rather than the raw material from which it is produced. Fossil substances can also be biodegradable due to their chemical structure, while some natural substances are not. If a material has good biodegradability, it can be certified. Certification ensures the utmost transparency – not only for the end customer, but also for companies that depend on reliable information from the manufacturer.

If a material is certified biodegradable, however, that does not mean that the materials can be thrown onto a household compost pile. Here the conditions for successful composting may not be optimal because, for example, the required decomposition temperature is not high enough. Certification of a material in terms of biodegradability therefore assumes a professional degradation process. A prerequisite for the actual recycling of the material is that a sufficient quantity of the used material is collected that makes recycling economically worthwhile. As long as the quantities are insufficient, biodegradable materials are processed with the residual waste and, at most, used for energy generation.

‘Bio-based’ material

Bio-based materials are entirely or in part made from renewable raw materials such as corn starch, wood or sugarcane. A material is considered bio-based if it consists of at least 40 percent renewable raw materials. However, bio-based does not automatically mean that the material is biodegradable. However, some bio-based products, such as bottles made from bio-based plastic, can also be recycled just like their counterparts made from conventional, fossil-based materials. But even here there is another drawback: bottle sorting plants are not yet set up to separately recover and recycle these bio-based materials, so most are still incinerated along with conventional materials, using the heat for power generation.

Compostable

Compostable means that microorganisms break down the material under certain conditions within a certain time. In other words, a biological degradation process takes place. However, the conditions for this process are optimized and standardized (EU standard EN 13432): Something is considered compostable if it is at least 90% converted in an industrial composting plant within a maximum of six months. Industrial compostability is characterized by specific and controlled conditions in terms of humidity and temperature. Unfortunately, most industrial composting plants do not give compostable materials enough time to fully decompose. This is mainly for economic reasons: A longer composting time increases energy costs and reduces throughput. Therefore, most compostable materials and products remain with conventional waste and provide energy in incinerators.

Note that products labeled “compostable” do not belong in household compost, because in most cases the backyard compost pile does not have the ideal conditions to compost properly.

Recyclable

Recyclable simply means that waste and raw materials return to the economic cycle for reuse in the production of new products. First and foremost, recyclable packaging saves raw materials and thus money through reuse. But not everything can be recycled: Milk cartons, for example, are not only made of paper (which would be very easy to recycle), but often also contain plastic or aluminum. Such packaging is therefore not recycled but burned. Glass containers, on the other hand, are very recyclable: so always throw them in the bottle bank, nowadays the label and lid are even allowed to stay on! Unfortunately, the vast majority of compostable, bio-based and biodegradable materials cannot yet be recycled separately. They are usually disposed of with other residual waste in ending up in incinerators. This is because separate recycling is not cost-effective for waste treatment plant operators. But once the currently low proportion of bio-based, compostable and biodegradable raw materials in packaging increases, recycling and recovery processes will certainly be adapted in the future.

Our sustainable materials

unieketiket.nl considers sustainability a very important topic. As a label manufacturer, we therefore see it as our duty to contribute to a more sustainable world. We try to meet the increasing demand for environmentally friendly and eco-friendly materials in the packaging industry and are adding more and more sustainable materials to our product range. In this way, we can offer you the best possible choice of materials for your needs and fulfill our ambition to be a sustainable company.

• One of the sustainable materials in our range is grass paper. It consists of 50% sun-dried grass fibers (hay) and 50% FSC-certified paper, making it particularly environmentally friendly, recyclable and even compostable*. The grass paper label looks particularly special because of its unique surface structure, in which the individual grass fibers are visible. At the same time, the material can be processed and used for labels just like conventional paper.
• Plastic and sustainability, is it possible? It is possible! Biofilms are indeed a great alternative to their fossil-based counterparts. Our bio-based polyethylene (PE) film consists of 83% sugarcane and can be processed and designed in exactly the same way as conventional PE film.
• Separate recycling of packaging and labeling can also be a sustainability factor when dealing with packaging. Therefore, we also offer removable labels, for example made of removable film or paper with alkali or water-soluble adhesive. This means that the label and packaging can be recycled separately.
• Of course, it is also possible to order other materials on request. Please contact our customer service. We will be happy to give you information about the possibilities.

Of course, we keep a close eye on new trends and developments in the printing industry. We are constantly expanding our material range and production site to make them more sustainable. With our range of sustainable materials as an alternative to standard variants, we are taking a first step in the right direction: sustainability in label printing. In any case, it remains exciting to see what new materials will take the printing industry by storm in the future – we’ll keep you posted!