What is the Recycled - What does recycled mean??

Recycled refers to items or materials that are being used again in their original form or adapted usually for a different purpose OR contain material s that have been produced by recycling other items For example recycled gift tags could refer to Christmas cards that have been cut down to form gift tags so their original form has been adapted for a different purpose OR to gift tags made from recycled paper for example paper that was originally used to make newspapers and has been recycled It should be noted that the term recycled is applied to items that are entirely or partially made from recycled materials Recycled materials themselves may be made from 100 recycled materials or a lower percentage The percentage of recycled material will vary from product to product Manufacturers may indicate the exact recycled content of their products or use symbols or logos to indicate that their products meet the minimum content and manufacturing requirements of a particular international or local standard determined by a relevant organisation At Label Planet we have a range of Recycled Labels which have a paper face material that is made using pulp from 100 recycled fibres

Glossary

Recyclable - What does recyclable mean?

Definition of RECYCLABLE:

A recyclable object can be recycled; it can be used again (either in its existing form OR it can be broken down so its materials can be used again to create new objects).

For a label to be truly recyclable, every material used to make that label should be recyclable. However, in a typical label construction, some materials are recyclable while others are not. The layers in a label construction include a face material (with or without coatings), an adhesive, and a backing sheet. As a general rule:

Most backing sheets cannot be put into general recycling as they are siliconised - i.e. use silicone as their release coating, which allows the labels to separate from the backing sheet. Siliconised sheets can only be recycled by specialist processes.
Coatings and adhesives are usually okay to go through general recycling as such a small amount is used and will usually be removed by the recycling process.
Most labels are made with paper materials or synthetic plastic materials. Paper labels are generally fine to go into general recycling processes. Synthetic materials are a bit more complicated - like other plastic items. Different recycling centres have different rules about different plastics so it really depends on the recycling rules in the particular area where an item is being recycled.

At Label Planet, we advise that our paper labels are recyclable and that our synthetic labels are unlikely to be recyclable in general recycling services. We also supply a range of recycled paper labels; these labels are both recycled and recyclable! I.e. they are made with materials that have been recycled and can be recycled themselves.

Please note: this advice excludes our backing sheets, which are siliconised and cannot be placed in general recycling.

A selection of items that are recyclable; these items, or the materials used to make these items, can be recycled or used again.

Here is the Harvard-style citation to use if you would like to reference this definition of the word recyclable:
Label Planet (2023) What does recyclable mean? | Recyclable Definition. Available at: https://www.labelplanet.co.uk/glossary/recyclable/ (Accessed: January 1, 2024).

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