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Pharmaceuticals
PAPER SAFETY LABELS FOR RECYCLING
2024-07-23
Products that are counterfeit or which have been tampered with cause large economic damage. One way to guarantee the authenticity and integrity of goods are safety labels, which for example are glued across the opening edge of a packaging. If someone attempts to break the seal, the label leaves a pattern. The usual labels are made of plastic and are often problematic for the recycling process. For cardboard packaging for example, there are paper safety labels which meet all requirements with regard to safety and traceability, but also with regard to a circular economy.
Packaging that is fit for recycling and made from renewable resources is much in demand. Label manufacturer Securikett has now developed a closing technology based on paper, which meets all safety features of the well-known VOID seal (on removal, it leaves writing or a pattern behind on the packaging) and nevertheless can be recycled together with waste paper. The new multifunctional paper safety label features a combination of several different tampering indicators.
“The newest member of our ‘It’s Paper’ family features a pronounced opening effect next to a remarkable hologram for authentication. The label owes this special safety plus to temperature indicators and its integrated WashVOID feature.”Vanessa Mitterer, head of research and development at Securikett.
If someone tries to use a liquid to remove the label from the packaging, this triggers the WashVOID feature and reveals the text “Tampered”. If someone tries to remove the label using heat, the label turns partially orange. Too much cold causes the cold colour to react and parts of the label turn blue.
“Our safety labels can be adapted with regard to size, shape, colour and the design of the opening effect. For example not only characters and text, but also company logos can be integrated into the effect. The label also offers the option of bespoke customisation of the heat and cold indication.” says Vanessa Mitterer. 100 percent of the label can be recycled together with the packaging, where it remains stuck due to the integrated peel-off protection.
The company also equips its sustainable label with digital product safety and has equipped PaperVoid labels with an integrated QR code. This is unique to each label and acts as an electronic information carrier which can be individually supplied with different product information. Other than proof of first opening, producers also are able to use the label to directly communicate further information about the product to customers. The codes are generated in-house at Securikett.
Last year, this new development was honoured with a WorldStar Packaging Award and a FINAT Award. Whatever technique forgers may apply, this label has an answer, so the jury. Printed in 13 colours in flexo and digital print, with three different printing inks and two printing machines, this security system has no equal.
ECOLOGICALLY SUSTAINABLE SAFETY PRODUCTS
The first Securikett paper labels were already marketed in mid-2021. In the meantime, the portfolio of the label manufacturer with technology and production site in Austria has grown to a broad spectrum of ecologically sustainable safety products from safety adhesive strips to translucent pharmaceutical seals to serial labels. Already last year, a paper label with tear-open tab was added to the “It’s Paper” family. “This tear-open tab does not need adhesives and allows customers to easily and comfortably remove the label without needing any tools such as a knife or scissors. The word “Open” in combination with arrow symbols invites consumers to remove the label at the tear-open tab”, Vanessa Mitterer explains. With regard to an improved circular economy, peel-off protection was also integrated into the label. “This keeps the label from being completely removed from the packaging and allows both components, packaging and label, to be recycled together.”
The “It’s Paper” series is manufactured from sustainable raw materials using 100 percent green electricity from renewable sources. “Our newest products can be modified to match each corporate design. These individual options for design not only affect the outside look of the label, but also the opening effect. The so-called VOID effect, which becomes visible on removal of the label, can be custom designed using logos or texts. This way not only do we offer all-round protection to the product, we also achieve an impressive wow effect on the consumer side”, explains Werner Horn, founder of Securikett.
PAPER-TECHNOLOGY FOUNDATION TESTS ABILITY TO BE RECYCLED
The company Kurz from southern Germany, which produces decorative and functional coatings, also has paper safety labels among their product range. Already in 2022, the company, together with the foundation for paper technology Papiertechnische Stiftung (PTS) and the association Ingede e.V., has had the recyclability of paper and cardboard packagings bearing the company’s own brand of Trustconcept safety labels tested. During the tests at PTS, the focus was on how well the material would be suited for manufacture of high-quality recycling paper that does not contain visible contaminations or traces of adhesives. The non-profit association Ingede focused their tests on how well the glue which is used for the safety labels can be removed. The result of both studies: The safety labels have no influence on the recyclability of paper and cardboard packaging.
Among the sustainable safety labels by Kurz is the Eco Label Premium, a wood-free label similar to paper with a soft-touch feel, 80 percent of which are made from a waste product that occurs in the quarrying of marble. For the Eco Paper Label light, Kurz reduced the use of material to the necessary minimum, and the Eco Paper Label PCR is made from 99 percent post-consumer recycled fibres.
These Eco Labels protect products from forgery with the Kurz Trustseal Protect thin-layer-technology and are just as good as traditional labels with regard to design and safety: They not only allow unique authentication of a product, they also offer digital identification or, for example, seamless supply chain management using a QR code.
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