CCL Label, one of the world leaders in speciality labels and Henkel have won the AWA (Alexander Watson Associates) Award for the Best in Class Sustainable Design for Henkel’s Vernel brand fabric softener bottle.

The design was applauded for emphasizing recyclability and adhering to EPBP guidelines. The container, constructed from 100 per cent recycled PET bottle materials and a low-density polyolefin sleeve, has been designed for easy sorting and recycling.

To improve the recyclability of the PET bottle bodies of its fabric softeners, Henkel partnered with CCL, which has developed a new generation of floatable polyolefin material for shrink sleeves called EcoFloat.

This low-density material can be separated from PET bottle components during the sink-float separation process at recycling facilities. While the heavier bottle material sinks to the bottom of the water baths, the lightweight sleeve material floats to the top, even with fully printed designs.

This enables a clean separation of the PET and the label material, which is necessary to gain high-quality PET recyclate.

Henkel head of global R&D for packaging for fabric enhancers Abdullah Mahmood said, “The bottle body of our fabric softeners in Europe already consists of 100 per cent recycled PET. Using the new sleeve material, they are now also designed for recycling. 

“Many consumers don’t remove the sleeve before discarding the bottle, which mostly means the bottle cannot be recycled either. We have now found a solution to enable the recycling of our bottle bodies in this case.”

CL Label account manager for Henkel Lukas Nachbaur added, “The collaboration with Henkel is an excellent example of what can be achieved by matching the product decoration with the primary packaging – making it a perfect fit for design for recycling. 

“When Henkel was looking for the most sustainable solution for their Vernel bottle – we recommended EcoFloat because it supports the recycling process of the PET bottle in every way.“