The Saudi Arabian petrochemical giant Sabic (Riyadh; www.sabic.com) is partnering with three in-mould labelling (IML) specialists, Taghleef Industries (Dubai; www.ti-films.com), Karydakis IML (Athens; www.karydakis.gr), and Kotronis Packaging (Efpalio, Greece; www.kotronis.gr), to promote certified renewable polypropylene from the resin maker’s Trucircle portfolio.

Thin-wall food containers and their labels are said to be made with mass balance-certified renewable feedstock derived from second-generation sources not competing with food or feed production. 

According to Sabic, the advantage of the single-step IML technology, which was spotlighted at the recent Labexpo show in Brussels, is that it allows a seamless part decoration to be made directly in the injection mould, with the label becoming an integral component of the packaging. 

The label material for the containers is a biaxially oriented polypropylene (BOPP) film produced by Taghleef, which uses a Sabic-certified renewable resin tailored to the process. In addition to creating attractive and cost-effective decorative solutions, the Saudi group says the dedicated label film types and high-definition printing technology allow the packaging to be recycled in existing rigid PP recycling streams. 

Taghleef produces transparent, white, and metalised PP label films, all of which it says can be made from polymers derived from bio-based feedstock and easily customised to meet specific needs.

In the current collaboration, Taghleef supplies the final BOPP label film to Karydakis, a specialist in optimised printing techniques, ink formulations, and conversion technologies tailored to PP-based, in-mould labels.