TAGS: Sustainability / Natural Adhesives Acrylic Adhesives
VPF launches Wash Off 602, an emulsion acrylic adhesive for glass and PET substrates. The new adhesive has been tested and successfully certified by the Institute cyclos-HTP.
Recycling PET Packaging
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.
With 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.
Testing and Certification by Institute cyclos-HTP
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 degrees Celsius and 1 percent 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 the adhesive is also best suitable for labeling beer, wine or spirits bottles as well as honey and jam jars, for example.
Source: VPF