UPM Raflatac offers innovative, sustainable labeling solutions

As one of the world’s leading suppliers of label materials, UPM Raflatac is founded on the idea of sustainability. Its commitment to responsible sourcing and sustainable operations provides it with the basis for designing and offering sustainable solutions to customers and brand owners.

It focuses on designing smarter labels for a smarter future beyond fossils with sustainable and innovative packaging solutions, helping the packaging industry and brand owners switch to more sustainable alternatives and close the packaging material loop.

The next thing is to match the label to the substrate that it is going onto, and then apply the reduce, recycle, renew, and reuse approach.

An example of this approach is the RAFNXT+ label, which optimizes the use of raw materials and gets its wood fibers from sustainably managed forests.

This results in lower energy and water consumption, and decreases waste through the value chain. This is the first label material verified by Carbon Trust as being effective in helping with climate change mitigation.

UPM Raflatac labels are used on Eco-wipes wet wipes packaging. Photo courtesy of Shutterstock

UPM Raflatac Forest Film, a 100-percent renewable alternative to plastics, can replace traditional fossil-based options as it is identical to them in quality and performance.

Made from 100 percent wood, it utilises UPM BioVerno naphtha, developed by UPM Biofuels to give new life to residues from the pulp process.

UPM Raflatac also develops wash-off solutions, which enable a label to separate cleanly from a PET container during the recycling process, and labels with more recycled content that are suitable and safe for various end uses.

UPM Raflatac develops sustainability services to better meet the future needs of customers. Photo by UPM Raflatac

An example of this is the wet wipe solution UPM Raflatac provides in Vietnam in partnership with Ecowipes and Max Cool. Ecowipes pioneers the production of wet wipes in a modern production line, and uses UPM Raflatac labelling, resulting in an environmentally sustainable and cost-efficient solution. Ecowipes and Max Cool have both achieved their sustainability targets and strengthened their premium brand perception with the improved visual appearance of their wet wipes packs, besides contributing to easy and convenient functionality.

"We envision a future where sustainable labels are created for sustainable products, driving future-proof consumption. Our enthusiasm for continuous innovation drives us to develop smartly designed, sustainable products through reducing the need for virgin fossil-based raw materials, changing to renewable or recycled materials, making our products thinner and lighter, improving the recyclability and reusability of the packaging, and at the same time maintaining excellent product performance", said Thanh Nguyen, UPM Raflatac Vietnam Country Manager.

Thanh Nguyen, UPM Raflatac Vietnam Country Manager. Photo by UPM Raflatac

UPM Raflatac leads in sustainable labeling through innovative self-adhesive labeling materials and services, offering high-quality paper and film label stock for branding and promotion, informational labels, and labels with functionality.

The company operates a global network of factories, distribution terminals and sales offices. It employs around 3,000 people and had sales of EUR 1.7 billion (US$1.9 billion) in 2021.

UPM Raflatac is part of UPM. For more information, please see www.upmraflatac.com.