Forgoing labels on packaging can help with processing used plastic, aluminum and glass containers for recycling. But there are barriers to this becoming ubiquitous across all material types, and for all brands.

Marika Knorr, head of sustainability and communication at CCL Label, pointed to branding issues that result from removing labels.

“The label usually sells the bottle,” she said via email. “If all bottles shifted to label-less bottles it would be hard to tell the products and brands apart.”

From January to March this year, Coca-Cola trialed 500ml rPET Sprite bottles without labels. In this pilot, labels were temporarily removed from bottles of Sprite and Sprite Zero sold in select U.K. stores. In place of the usual label, an embossed logo appeared on one side of the bottle, with laser-engraved product and nutritional information on the reverse side. The two varieties of the soft drink could be told apart based on bottle cap color.

Coca-Cola has run label-less pilots before, but this was the first combining these technologies for single-unit bottles sold in-store.

Bottles without labels are easier to recycle, thanks to cutting out one removal step from the typical recycling process. Plus, label-less bottles use less packaging material overall. According to Coca-Cola, removing the recyclable plastic labels would equate to a saving 2.8 kilograms of CO2 equivalent for every 1,000 label-less bottles produced.

“Although the design change may sound simple, this is a big shift from a marketing perspective,” Javier Meza, vice president of marketing with Coca-Cola Europe, said in the January announcement. “This trial could contribute to longer-term changes to the way brands communicate with their consumers.”

Aside from the laser-engraved Sprite bottle, there are other shifts toward label-less plastic bottles.

TotalEnergies Corbion, produces PLA with 20% and 30% allocated recycled content, is working with Korean bottled water producer Sansu to develop an embossed water bottle made of Luminy PLA bioplastics to help speed up the adoption of recycled PLA as feedstock.

“The recycling process typically starts with collection, followed by sorting and cleaning to ensure only PLA material enters the recycling stream,” said ChowPin Tan, vice president, sales and business development APAC & India at TotalEnergies Corbion, via email. “Labels, often made from different materials containing substances like inks and glue, must be removed during recycling.”

With label-less bottles, the company hopes to streamline the recycling process. Launching embossed bottles requires TotalEnergies Corbion to design molds that meet both aesthetic and technical specifications.

“Once the mold design is finalized, manufacturing steps are relatively unchanged, except for the reduction in labeling steps,” Tan said.

While the company intends to release its embossed bottles in Korea first, it also plans to explore introducing them to additional clients in other markets in the future.

There are other paths to more easily recycle PET which don’t involve forgoing labels altogether. CCL is among the label manufacturers working to solve for ease of recyclability by offering stretch sleeves that easily separate from PET bottles during the sink/float process at recycling facilities.

“Clean separation means higher-quality PET flakes for closed loop bottle-to-bottle recycling,” Knorr said.

She added that a label often contains important information that is required by law. “Engraving [instead] makes that information very unreadable — especially for older people or consumers with impaired eyesight.”

As more brands look to the possibilities of going label-less, Knorr believes that the visual impact of a product will continue to be important. And in the past, it has been the label that sells a bottle. 

“Brand colors and designs… have become iconic and make the product recognizable for the consumers at the point of sale,” she said.

Beyond embossed plastic bottles, other alternatives to conventional labels exist in the beverage industry, including some with striking visual results. 

For glass bottles, Saverglass offers direct-to-object printing, working with premium wine and spirits brands that are looking for advanced customization. The company helps clients to increase their shelf appeal with visually impactful packaging that eschews conventional labels. Instead it uses direct decoration, by printing right onto the bottle.

For now, some of these options remain out of the reach of some brands, due to a higher price point compared with conventional labels. However, Stephane Stanton-Brand, sales director with Saverglass for the East Coast regions of the U.S. and Canada, pointed out that inks can be cheaper for premium brands’ high-end decoration than for a high-end label.

Traditional printing uses enamel and heavy metals, but Saverglass has found what it describes as more environmentally sound solutions. The team now tries to use organic ink as often as they can.

“It’s better for the workforce because they’re not exposed to heavy metals,” said Stanton-Brand.

Plus, the organic inks use less energy.

“A bottle that is printed using enamel inks will need to be cured at a much higher level of temperature than a bottle that is printed [with] organic inks,” said Stanton-Brand, adding that there’s also an energy differential.

Meanwhile, the beer industry has seen an influx in shrink sleeves over the years.

Canworks is collaborating with the Earth to Beer project, which challenges craft brewers to create a packaged beer that is better for the planet. Formed in 2021, Canworks uses digital printing to print directly onto aluminum cans for beverages including beer, soda and energy drinks. This eliminates the need for the plastic shrink sleeves that hinder can recycling.

Canworks co-founder Marshall Thompson said that since aluminum can be recycled repeatedly without degradation, it’s an ideal candidate to be diverted from disposal. 

He said that the cost of digital printing on cans is comparable with the pricing for shrink sleeves. He added that digital printing is flexible enough to make fast changes: a big benefit for brands working to satisfy regulations that are in a state of flux, such as in the cannabis space.

“They just have to email us a new PDF,” he said. “We work a lot with the THC and hemp space. That regulatory environment is changing weekly.”