Featured Stories
Sleeve Label Awards | AWA Confers 4 with Top Honors
AWA Alexander Watson Assoc. bestows awards on four winners of its annual Sleeve Label Competition.
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More than 240 exhibitors from every facet of the package printing [ampersand] converting industries will meet more than 2000 attendees.
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Develop a balanced approach to precision coating by understanding these six areas of concentration.
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PFFC will be the lead brand for RDG Media products.
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News | New Products
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Smart Planet Technologies Starts Paper Cup Recycling Program
With support from Allan Company & Replenysh, company says reCUP Recycling Initiative takes a major step addressing global paper cup recycling problem
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Vetaphone Corona Units Installed at CeDo
The European company says it has used Vetaphone equipment for years and has always likes the quality and consistency it produces
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BALDWIN Acquires Digital Ink System
An agreement with Quad/Graphics results in the acquisition, allowing BALDWIN to continue development for packaging, corrugated, and more
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DowDuPont to Invest in Expansion
The company will invest $100 Million to expand manufacturing capacity of specialty materials at Sabine River Works
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Monadnock Announces Label Product
Envi 96 Label, part of company’s EnviPortfolio line of substrates, is said to offer high performance as well as graphics that “pop”
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New Era Partners with Adept Converting
New Era will service clients of Adept, a manufacturer’s representative, with both companies excited to bring their expertise together
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Flint Announces New-Generation Sleeves
The rotec Smart Sleeve and rotec High Performance Sleeve are said to provide easy mounting and superior performance
White Papers
• Designing a Successful Retort-Grade Packaging Structure
• Hermetic-Seal Performance of BOPP Laminate Structures in VFFS Pouch Applications
• Methods and Design Considerations for the Application of Hot Melt Coatings
• BOPP Laminate Structures for “Over-the-Mountain” VFFS Pouch Applications
Expert Advice
Is P&G’s New Freshies Packaging a Good Idea?
Innovation Station Archive Jackie Marolda's Bio
Brand Reputation on the Line?
Marketing Mojo Archive Stephanie Millman's Bio
The European Directive on Packaging and Packaging waste
- Published: May 01, 2002, By Corey M. Reardon, AWA Alexander Watson Assoc.
Environmental concerns led the European Commission to establish a set of rules for waste management in the European packaging industry. The reduction of landfill, and parallel increase in re-use, recycling, and incineration, were the prime aims of the Packaging Waste Directive (94/62/EC). Individual EU member states were required to implement it by 2001, but even today, most member states are not ready.
Difficulty arises with materials such as release liner. Since it is technically not applied to the package, does a release liner constitute packaging waste or not?
Most of Europe classifies release liner as an integral part of a self-adhesive label stock laminate and therefore “packaging waste.” This has not been the case in the U.K., but recent U.K. government and industry discussions point to a change to the more general European view that release liners are an intrinsic part of packaging.
Although industry associations including FINAT and EPSMA lobby strongly for an appropriate waste management platform, no solution has presented itself so far.
Whatever the final solution, it will have an indelible impact on the packaging industry and on supply side characteristics throughout the value chain — not just in Europe but eventually elsewhere. Environmental issues certainly are not going to disappear from anyone's agenda.
AWA Alexander Watson Assoc. is a leading international market research consultant company for the converting and packaging industries.