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how product packaging and green growth can go hand in hand.
Are you happy with your product label? And within your assembly line? And is that process efficient and ecological? Many packaging experts will tell you that combining these elements into one assembly line is impossible. And to be fair, a lot of companies still struggle with this. Helios, however, proves with its stretch sleeve technology that product packaging doen’t have to impact the environment as heavily as classic labels. How, you may ask? We tell you all about it in this blog.
What is a Stretch Sleeve?
Stretch sleeves consist of an elastic PE foil that is briefly stretched and then placed over your product. This process is so fast that the sleeve does not lose any of its elasticity and fits tightly around your product after insertion. This way, your product will be provided with a sleek and attractive label in no time. The only restriction is that the difference between the maximum and minimum width of the shape may not exceed around 30%.
Where’s the efficiency?
The process of applying a stretch sleeve is quick and easy. Where other label types rely on glue to attach the label, stretch sleeves do not use added substances. Nor are high temperatures required to sleeve your product, which ensures minimal use of energy. Just like in the whole application process. It is reduced to one fast mechanical action, produced by one machine.
This means: no waste of space … and no waste of material either. Because every stretch sleeve is made exactly to the size of your product. In other words, no residual waste.
Why is this more ecological?
Eliminating material surpluses is already a first step towards a more environmentally-friendly production process, but there is more. Stretch sleeves are made of polyethylene, a material made from a single fabric that is 100% recyclable. It has a very low specific density, which results in a much lower weight (per sleeve) than standard labels.
Does your product have a polyethylene packaging and you are combining it with a stretch sleeve? The result will be a mono packaging that is completely reusable at the end of the chain. It doesn’t get more ecological than that.
Not suitable for PET or PP packaging?
Sure it is. Even if you use PET/PP packaging, a stretch sleeve can make your product easier to recycle.
Here’s the thing. Depending on the size, stretch sleeves cover a maximum of 50 to 70% of your product. This somewhat limits your design possibilities, but at the same time ensures that when recycling the PET, the pre-sorting of your product goes perfectly well. This results in a more ecological processing than mixed packaging.
What about the quality?
You can rest assured when it comes to quality. Stretch sleeves are just as reliable and will wrap your products as long as any other kind of label.
As far as the film finishing is concerned, you will see that the brightness of shrink sleeves has not yet been matched. But, this does not mean that the print quality is inferior. Your logo will be displayed just as sharply and accurately on a stretch sleeve as on a shrink sleeve.
