- IFCO, the world's largest supplier of transport packaging for fresh produce, puts two HERMA label adhesive materials on its customers' recommendation list.
- The labels adhere securely to returnable transport boxes (RPCs) even in cool, humid environments and can be washed off without leaving any residue after each use.
- HERMA has developed the 62P adhesive especially for this purpose.
Making sustainability even better: to accelerate and optimise the cycle of its returnable systems, IFCO, the world's largest supplier of transport packaging for fresh produce, now recommends two HERMA label adhesive materials to its customers. Thanks to the specially developed adhesive 62P, the corresponding labels fulfil two actually contradictory properties particularly well: they adhere securely in a cool, humid environment and can be washed off again later without leaving any residue. "We recommend labels with HERMA adhesive materials because our test showed that they completely peel off in our washing process. This eliminates the need for additional cleaning work and our customers receive trays that are free of foreign labels," explains Thomas Albrecht, Vice President Service Center Operations at IFCO. "This is particularly important because heavily stuck crates either require complex treatment or must be sorted out". IFCO's customers include farmers and food producers
from over 50 countries. IFCO offers sustainable reusable plastic containers (RPCs) for the safe and hygienic transport of its products such as fresh fruit and vegetables, bananas, meat, fish, seafood, eggs and bakery products. The RPCs are awarded to customers who load their food into the crates while still in the field and transport it to the customer. After the products are processed, the RPCs are returned to IFCO, where they are thoroughly cleaned in the washing plant and then reused. To ensure that the reusable boxes are labelled appropriately, IFCO recommends that its customers choose from a range of adhesive materials for the labels, which are subject to strict criteria. Strong adhesion is required because the crates are exposed to demanding climatic conditions - for example, when loading in the field in a cold and humid environment. At the same time, the labels must be easily removable during the washing process and must not leave any residue. HERMA has combined the solution to these two requirements in the pressure-sensitive adhesive 62P, which was specially developed for this purpose in the company's own laboratory.
A label in the washing bay
The 62P has proven its practical suitability in combination with the
label materials HERMAextracoat (grade 242) and HERMAtherm G BPA-free (grade 907), which are now on the IFCO recommendation list. In the cleaning process, the HERMA labels are removed from the trays using hot water, high pressure and highly effective cleaning agents. Adhesive 62P remains completely on the label, which is removed with the dirty water. This means that no adhesive residues remain on the crates. In order to develop the ideal adhesive, several site visits at IFCO were necessary to first record the entire process. The conditions were then simulated in the HERMA laboratory in Filderstadt. A procedure that is now paying off: "Being on the IFCO recommendation list is proof that our innovations are also convincing in practice", says HERMA's head of development Dr. Ulli Nägele. "We are delighted to be able to further improve an ecologically extremely sensible reusable system with innovative adhesive materials.
