Innovations in Plastic Packaging Design
Innovation is a significant driver of the recovered materials economy. Ideally, package manufacturers and brands innovate recycling-compatible package design, and plastic reclaimers innovate to accept and process more diverse supply streams into a wider range of recycled content products. APR’s Design® Recognition Program celebrates and showcases innovations in packaging design. This Program was established to encourage innovators to conduct Critical Guidance testing and confirm any impact of new plastics designs and components on recycling.
Since its inception, the APR Design Recognition Program has recognized over 30 different companies for approximately 50 innovations that have collectively improved plastic recycling feedstocks. Every year new innovations are recognized, and most of these are now commercially available and widely used by converters and brands helping to create a circular economy for plastic packaging. Consumer Brand Companies may seek Critical Guidance Recognition to support commercialization of a new technology, while other innovators may use APR Recognition in their sales and marketing programs.
The APR Design® Recognition Program comprises four different levels of review and recognition for plastic packaging. Each level is explained below.
Coming Soon!
- Applies to specific package design components and complete packages. APR can provide a current list of allowed package design components.
- Consists of an evaluation by the APR Design Guide Administrator and technical staff, measuring the candidate item against each Design Guide criterion for a Preferred design
- Results in a letter of acknowledgement that the package component is “APR Preferred”
- Suppliers can use the letter to document recycling compatibility to potential customers
- Applies to specific package design components, not complete packages
- Requires testimonials from recyclers that the innovation does not cause problems with productivity, yield, or final product quality
- Encourages lab test data to be submitted
- Results in a letter of acknowledgement that the package component does not pose problems to recyclers, and a listing on the APR Design® Guide web page
- Suppliers can use the letter to document recycling compatibility to potential customers
- Recognizes significant new technologies or package components that solve long-standing problems in sustainable package design, and encourages wide commercial use of such innovations
- Applies to both specific package design components, and to packages incorporating the component
- Requires APR Critical Guidance test protocol performed by an independent third-party testing laboratory
- Results in a letter of recognition for an innovative solution, licensed use of APR logo and statement for use on promotional materials, and listing on the APR Design® Guide web page
- Innovators can use the letter and promotional materials to document innovative solutions to potential customers
- Recognizes complete packages that incorporate significant new technologies or design components that solve long-standing problems in sustainable package design, and encourages wide commercial use of such innovations
- Requires APR Applications Guidance test protocol performed by an independent third-party testing laboratory
- Operates in the same way as Critical Guidance Recognition
Recipients
APR commends the following companies that have completed rigorous testing to ensure their products meet the APR Design® Guide for Plastics Recyclability.
| Company Name | Innovation Category | Innovation Trade Name | | Inhance Technologies | Barrier materials | FluoroSeal® fluorination coating |
| Inhance Technologies | Barrier materials | Enkase™ fluorination coating |
| Naked Juice and PepsiCo | Barrier materials | Not specified |
| Kim Pack Company | Barrier materials | Kim Pai Go Green 250 HDPE direct decorated tube with 5% or less ethylene vinyl alcohol barrier layer and tie layer and with and without a PET shoulder insert |
| Living Proof | Barrier materials | HDPE bottle with 10% or less clear ethylene/propylene thermoplastic polyolefin outer layer |
| Plastipak | Label Inks | Two color Direct Object Printing™ technology with 0.6% and less surface coverage on a pigmented copolymer high density polyethylene bottle |
| Plastipak | Label Inks | Four color (white, cyan, magenta, yellow, and black) Direct Object Printing™ technology with up to and including 70% surface coverage on a pigmented high density polyethylene copolymer bottle |
| Avery Dennison | PS Labels/adhesives | Unknown |
| Multi-Color Corp. | PS Labels/adhesives & shrink labels | polypropylene labels: gravure printed, wax coated substrate, heat transfer label; flexo printed, wax coated substrate, heat transfer label; gravure printed white in-mold label with EVA adhesive; flexo printed, clear pressure sensitive label with 10126 or |
| Albea S.A. | Barrier materials | Greenleaf Generation 2 |
| Berry Global | Tube | HDPE and LLDPE, 7.6% or less ethylene vinyl alcohol barrier layer and tie layer, direct printed |
| Colgate-Palmolive | Barrier, Label Inks, Attachments | Samson Tube |
| Colgate-Palmolive | Barrier, Label Inks, Attachments | Samson Tube |
| Essel Propack Limited | Barrier materials | Platina 250 and Green GML 300 HDPE tubes |
| Essel Propack Limited | Barrier materials | Platina 400 and GML 300 HDPE tubes |
| Essel Propack Limited | Barrier materials | Platina PRO 220 series and Platina PRO 250 series |
| Company Name | Innovation Category | Innovation Trade Name | | ColorMatrix Europe | Additives | ColorMatrix™ SmartHeat RHC reheat and process aid for PET bottles |
| Plastipak | Label Inks | Four color Direct Object Printing™ technology with 2.5% and less surface coverage |
| Plastipak | Label Inks | Four color (white, cyan, magenta, yellow, and black) Direct Object Printing™ technology with up to and including 70% surface coverage on a PET bottle |
| Auriga Polymers | Resin | Polyclear® EBM PET 5505 |
| Auriga Polymers | Resin | Polyclear® EBM PET 5505 |
| ColorMatrix | Additives | HyCat and Ultimate UV390™ |
| KHS Corpoplast | Barrier materials | FreshSafe-PET® |
| Proctor & Gamble | Closures & Dispensers | PET bottle and all-polymer valve, seal, and dip tube
assembly |
| Plastipak | Label Inks | Four color (white, cyan, magenta, yellow, and black) Direct Object Printing™ technology with up to and including 70% surface coverage on a PET bottle |
| Spear Incorporated | PS Labels/adhesives | Spear®RC clear #11581 and Spear®RC white #11582 |
| Polysack Flexible Packaging | Sleeve Labels/inks | Polyphane™ FitSleeve Label with 527 ink system |
| SKC, Inc. | Sleeve Labels/inks | SKC EcolabelTM used with MCC DNX53TM inking system |
| Taghleef Industries and Brook & Whittle Limited | Sleeve Labels | Floatable 45 micron TDS65 sleeve label substrate undecorated and converted sleeve label substrate gravure printed by Brook & Whittle Ltd. |
| UPM Raflatac Inc. | PS Labels/adhesives | RW85C acrylic emulsion adhesive and clear or white BOPP films undecorated labels covering 40% or less of the area of a PET bottle |
| CCL Label | PS Labels | LD-PSL System |
| FLEXcon Company, Inc. | PS Labels/adhesives | optiFLEX ecoFOCUS PP 200 H Clear TC, optiFLEX ecoFOCUS PP 230 H White TC, with V-52RE adhesive |
| Golden Manufacturers | PS Labels/adhesives | FIJI Water pressure sensitive label |
| Green Bay Packaging | PS Labels/adhesives | GreenCycle™ 2.4 mil white top-coated BOPP pressure sensitive label substrate and 1.85 Mil Clear BOPP pressure sensitive label substrate, both with 776S acrylic emulsion adhesive |
| Green Bay Packaging | PS Labels/adhesives | GreenCycle™ 2.4 mil white top-coated BOPP pressure sensitive label substrate (024TL) and 1.85 Mil Clear BOPP pressure sensitive label substrate (018CT), both with 776S acrylic emulsion adhesive |
| Green Bay Packaging | PS Labels/adhesives | GreenCycle™ 2.4 mil white top-coated BOPP pressure sensitive label substrate (24WCT) with 776S adhesive |
| The Kennedy Group | PS Labels | PureVue™ White or Clear Recyclable Pressure Sensitive Labels |
| Mactac | PS Labels/adhesives | 2.6 mil white top-coated BOPP pressure sensitive label substrate and 2.0 mil clear top-coated BOPP pressure sensitive label substrate, both with PUREfloatTM emulsion acrylic adhesive |
| Multi-Color Corp. | PS Labels | Multi-Color recycLABEL™ Clear (PSPL78411, PSPL78413) and recycLABEL™ White (PSPL78412, PSPL78414) |
| Multi-Color Corp. | Sleeve labels | Roll-On Shrink-On (ROSO) label with MCC Colorfast™ Inks |
| Avery Dennison | Sleeve Labels | CleanFlake™ |
| CCL Label | Sleeve Labels | EcoCrys™ |
| Fort Dearborn | Sleeve Labels/inks | Recycle Friendly washable ink system printed on SKC Ecolabel™ |
| Eastman Chemical Company | Sleeve labels | Eastman Embrace Encore® & Eastman Embrace Float® |
| Eastman, Bonset, Siegwerk | Sleeve Labels/inks | Aquantum primer and Sicura inks Printed on Bonset America’s Bonpet Renew™ crystallizable shrink film, made with Eastman Chemical’s Embrace Encore™ resin |
| Eastman, Bonset, Sun Chem | Sleeve Labels/inks | Bonpet Renew™ crystallizable shrink film, made with Eastman Chemical’s Embrace Encore™ resin, and printed with Sun Chemical’s SunSpectro® SolvaWash GR washable ink system |
| Far Eastern New Century Corp | Sleeve Labels | TopGreen® |
| American Fuji Seal | Sleeve Labels/inks | shrink film “FVH2-05” & non-bleeding ink system “IA1-L” |
| American Fuji Seal | Sleeve Labels/inks | RecShrink |
| INX International Ink Co. | Sleeve Labels/inks | Genesis GS™ |
| Klockner Pentaplast | Sleeve Labels | Pentalabel® ClearFloat™ LC8CF (previously referenced as LC8CV) and TC8CF (previously referenced as TC8CV) |
| Klockner Pentaplast | Sleeve Labels | Pentalabel® SmartCycle™ |
| DEKRON GmbH | Label Inks | DecoType Select |
| Multi-Color Corp. | Sleeve Labels/inks | recycLABEL™ Clear (HSLPE10002) shrink sleeve label with white, yellow, magenta, cyan, and black decoration |
| Multi-Color Corp. | Sleeve Labels/inks | MultiColorTM washable ink system on Bonset America’s Bonpet Renew™ Shrink Film made from Eastman Chemical’s Embrace Encore™ resin |
| Multi-Plastics, Inc. | Sleeve Labels | EnviroCycle® 4200 Series copolyester heat shrinkable sleeve film substrate |
| Sleever International | Sleeve Labels | LDPET shrink sleeve labels |
| UPM Raflatac Inc. | Sleeve Labels | RafShrink PO MDO 40 and RafShrink PO MDO 40 HS |
| UPM Raflatac Inc. | Sleeve Labels | RafShrink PO MDO 40 LS and RafShrink PO TDO 45 HS |
| Auriga Polymers | Resin | PolyClear® EBM PET 5506 |
| DAK Americas LLC | Resin | Array™ EBM 5860 and Array™ EBM 5861 |
| DAK Americas LLC | Resin | Laser+® 7000 (B92A) |
| DAK Americas LLC | Resin | Array™ EBM 5862 |
| Eastman Chemical Company | Resin | Aspira™ One |
| Eastman Chemical Company | Resin | Eastar™ polyester E8001 |
| Indorama Ventures | Resin | PolyClear® EBM PET 5505 |
| Indorama Ventures | Resin | PolyClear® EBM PET 5507 |
| Mitsubishi Chemical | Resin | BK 6180 |
| Wellman, Inc. | Resin | PermaClear® Ti842 |
| Sun Chemical Corp. | Adhesives | SunLam™ ADHA100 |
