Foil and Label Waste Recycling

Foil and Label Waste Recycling

Mark Hall, co-founder of BusinessWaste.co.uk

Foil printing is a special printing process that uses heat, pressure, and metallic paper (foil) to create shiny designs. It can be applied to various materials, including card, paper, and labels. Many professional printers and manufacturers use foiling, and you can even purchase thermal foil printers to use at home.

The process of foiling also produces specific waste materials, including printer reels and sheets of thin printing foil and plastic. If coverage doesn’t span a printing sheet, then it can result in waste, for example. Such waste should be managed professionally and responsibly to avoid it going to landfill or being incinerated, as is often the case.

At Business Waste we work with a route that recycles and turns waste materials from foil printing and label manufacturing into new recycled products, rather than sending it for incineration. Call 0800 211 8390 or contact us online today for a free quote or to discuss the collection of any foil printing waste.

What is foil printing waste?

Hot and cold foiling and label manufacturing can create waste. This is often any excess and unused foil, thin polymer films used during the process, and the reels that these materials come on. Mistakes during hot or cold foil printing processes can also generate waste, such as offcuts or wasted material due to a design error.

Waste can also arise from the material being printed on, whether it’s card, carton board, or plastic. Using rolls sized to your print job can help minimise waste from hot or cold foiling. However, some level of waste generation is inevitable with foil printing. At Business Waste we can collect and recycle any type of waste from foil printing, including:

Aluminium foil

Polymer film

Printer reels

Polymer label waste

Paper label waste

Cardboard and carton board

How is foil printing waste recycled?

Waste foil is recyclable but unfortunately, many places send waste from foiling for incineration. At Business Waste, we have a route for recycling that turns polymer-based label waste and foil printing waste into new recycled products.

These products are made from 70% premium polymer (PP) and 30% lower-grade polymers (such as PET). Any paper-based labels are removed and sent to paper recycling processors. Here the waste from paper labels is shredded, blended, and turned into recycled paper of various grades.

The general process for foil printing waste recycling follows these steps:

Firstly, the containers full of waste printer reels are removed and an empty replacement IBC is delivered.

The waste is transported to a material recovery facility where it’s weighed, and a waste transfer note is produced.

All the waste materials are unloaded and segregated – any paper is sent to paper processors for recycling separately.

The waste material goes through a reel-splitting process and then it’s shredded to a specification of 40mm.

This shredded material is manually checked to remove any potential contaminants.

The shredded material is then processed into a polymer pellet.

Finally, the polymer pellet goes through an agglomeration process in a grid format to create new recycled products.

https://www.businesswaste.co.uk/your-waste/foil-and-label-recycling/

01904 207 120

customers@businesswaste.co.uk