Fonterra's label recycling initiative

Recycleable labels are the latest innovation in Fonterra's drive to reduce the amount of waste the company sends to landfill.

Fonterra's national eco-efficiency program manager, Spring Humpheys, says the company has been working closely with suppliers Walker Datavision (WDV) to develop a label that can be recycled along with the plastic wrap that goes around pallets of goods. "In the past, we used thermal transfer paper labels. However, we couldn't put them through the same recycling process we use for the film; in fact if a label did go through it caused a chemical reaction that made the end product unuseable," he says.

"WDV, with whom we have a well-established relationship, carried out a battery of tests in order to develop a label that is both recyclable and works well from a printing perspective, and they have come up with a material that fits our needs perfectly."

Fonterra's eco-efficiency program has now been running just over a year and has clocked up a number of notable successes - including a 75% reduction in waste to landfill over 12 months at the company's Maungaturoto operation.