In a world where cost and performance often trump eco credentials, how can you achieve all three?
We’ve put together a few pointers to help technical, quality and operations managers balance label performance with sustainability objectives. Looking at the lifecycle of your label makes it easier to identify small tweaks that will make a big difference.
Step 1: How to Begin Your Label Performance Audit
First, take a walk around your operation and simply observe your operational labels and tags in use. Talk to your team and ask:
- Are our labels and tags performing as we’d like? Do they simply do their job unnoticed? Or are small niggles, like non-adhesion, illegibility, printers jamming or label delamination causing operational downtime and errors?
- Could our labels and tags be made smaller without affecting their legibility?
- Do our operational labels seem to be over specified? For example, are they only in place for a very short time yet appear to be extremely robust.
Step 2: Review Your Label Application Area
Part of the label lifecycle sometimes ignored is the management of label waste at the point of application. This is especially relevant when reviewing adhesive label backing paper waste. Recyclability of backing papers can be troublesome, though new innovations are emerging in the market all the time.
Talk to your waste management provider to see what they have in place for managing your label waste. Alternatively, engage with your label supplier to see what environmentally friendly options are available.
Consider the possibility of switching from adhesive labels to tags. That could be a real win for the environment, efficiency and your waste management costs.
Step 3: Examine Your Label Disposal Procedures
What happens to your operational labels and tags when they reach the end of their lives? By their very nature traceability labels, despatch tags or allergen labels, are generally used within your operation so it’s good to explore what happens once they have done their job.
Analysing your label disposal process will give you clues as to how to improve things. For example, exploring recyclable tag materials and ensuring your waste management procedures cater for used tags is a great step forward. Alternatively, have you thought about using water removable labels that ultimately break down into biodegradable particles?
Step 4: Evaluate Your Label Specification
Having collected visual evidence about how your operational labels are working in-situ, compare your findings with your label specifications.
Importantly, look for clues that your labels are made from synthetic materials when perhaps paper would suffice. New, sustainable label substrates are available that could work for you.
If you don’t have the time or resource to examine your specs, you can contact our team, who are happy to help.
If your label specs have been in place for years, it’s worth checking that they reflect your current operational set up. There could also be opportunities to reengineer your labels to make them more economical to produce.
In summary, tracking your operational labels and tags through their entire lifecycle is a great way to generate ideas for improvements. Whether your objectives are cost reduction, efficiency improvement, improved sustainability, or all three, it’s a brilliant starting point.
If you’d like our help conducing your own label audit to identify savings, efficiency improvements and eco-credentials, please get in touch and ask for a Green Label audit. There’s no obligation, just practical help and advice, and we promise it will be time well spent.
Image courtesy of Freepik