UPM Raflatac

UPM Raflatac Ocean Action

Your label choice has the power to fight back ocean bound plastic pollution.
 

The ocean plastic crisis is real. It requires consumers', brands', and humanity's attention. Today, only around 10% of plastic waste gets recycled globally, while the rest ends up in landfills, incineration, or leaks to nature or oceans*. The world desperately needs more ways to reuse post-consumer plastic waste.

Our solution is Ocean Action label, made from ocean bound plastic through mass balance approach.

 

Your packaging label can help stop the ocean bound plastic leak at the source

Ocean bound plastic is plastic waste defined as "at risk of ending up in the ocean," and it is estimated to generate 80% of plastic marine litter*. UPM Raflatac is the first company to offer a product that uses ocean bound plastic as a label material, with an aim to create a demand for reclaiming plastic waste before it pollutes our oceans. The Ocean Action label, made from ocean bound plastic, is available in white and clear ISCC PLUS certified C-PCR film (mass balance approach).

The facts are striking*

    • An immense amount of plastic pollution is discarded into our oceans daily.
    • It adds up to nearly 13 million tons of plastic yearly, and the amount rises by over 5% every year.
    • To put it in perspective, that is one garbage truck full of plastic waste every minute.
    • If the current rate continues, there will be more plastic than fish in the oceans by 2050.
    • We have a possibility to cut the ocean bound plastic leak at the source.
 
 
 

With the ocean covering roughly 71 percent of Earth’s surface, protecting the ocean plays a crucial role in protecting all ecosystems, nature, and the entire planet.

 
How inappropriate to call this Planet Earth when it is quite clearly Ocean.
Arthur C. Clarke
 

By choosing the Ocean Action label, your product can be part of the solution for saving our oceans. Take action for planet ocean. Be the changemaker. Stop the leak.

 
 

What is ocean bound plastic?

Ocean bound plastic is abandoned plastic waste of all sizes located within 50km from shore in communities or areas where waste management is inexistent or very inefficient. Plastic waste is not collected correctly and abandoned in the environment from where it can be transported to the ocean by rain, wind, tides, river flow, or floods. Ocean bound plastic is waste that would otherwise damage the ocean, harm sea life, and even eventually end up on our plates through marine food chains.

 

Why choose the Ocean Action label, made from ocean bound plastic waste?

    • Due to chemical recycling, it has identical properties to standard PP film.
    • The label is an effortless drop-in solution, requiring no additional process adjustments.
    • Suitable for demanding applications, such as food and cosmetics
    • Allows brands to have a higher percentage of recycled material in their packaging while avoiding the use of virgin fossil raw materials.
    • A valuable action towards clearing ocean pollution by reducing ocean bound plastic waste.
    • The Ocean bound plastic label is offered as White and Clear Top Coated PP films.
    • The label is ISCC certified using the mass balance approach.
 

Production of ocean bound plastic labels
– from Asian shores to store shelves

Ocean bound plastic labels are made of chemically recycled plastic. Chemical recycling enables the recycling of poor-quality plastics that would otherwise end up in landfills. It is a valuable process for giving plastic waste a new life, with qualities identical to virgin plastic.

 

Collaboration for circularity

Collaboration across the value chain is possibly the single most important action that can make a circular economy a reality. With the help of tools such as the Material Circularity Indicator (MCI), developed jointly by the Ellen MacArthur Foundation and Granta Design, it's possible to demonstrate that with the help of this label, your packaging has the potential to close the loop.

Collaborative innovations such as this pave the way for a cleaner, more livable planet.

 
 

Ready to order?

We sell rolls and sheets to label printers worldwide. Find out how to order our label materials below. 

Not a printer? Our face materials, adhesives and liners are selected to match your brand's labeling needs before being assembled into label products. Talk to our experts to receive tailored advice on the right combination of label materials for you. We can also help by recommending these materials to your printer.  
 

 
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Talk to our experts to receive advice about the right label materials for you

Send an inquiry
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Are you a printer? Find out how to order rolls and sheets

How to order
 
 
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Learn more about sustainable labels

Sustainable packaging
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Replacing virgin fossil-based film material with renewable wood-based one is now possible

UPM Raflatac Forest Film™
 
 
 

Join the
Changemakers

The world needs more sustainable labeling solutions. Every choice made by producers and brands alike has the power to change the future of our planet.

Be the Changemaker - make the switch, close the loop.

Switch to sustainable labeling solutions

 
 

*Sources:
Ellen McArthur Foundation: The New plastics economy: Rethinking the future of plastics (EMF, McKinsey, World Economic Forum)
Jambeck: Plastic waste input from land to the ocean (Science)