Enable recycling

Light-blocking
shrink sleeves

As brands strive to create 100% recyclable packaging, the planet needs solutions that work with existing systems and don’t just delay plastic’s journey to the landfill. Our recyclable light-blocking shrink sleeve solution is designed with recycling in mind, enabling brands to transition to recyclable clear PET packaging without sacrificing aesthetics, performance, or product integrity.

Transition to recyclable, clear PET

Eliminating problematic plastics in markets like dairy, beverage, and nutraceuticals has been difficult. To protect these light-sensitive products from spoilage, nutrient loss, and flavor change, many brands continue to use white or colored PET packaging. 

Our patented recyclable shrink sleeve solution, GreenLabel™ BlockOut, enables brands who need light-blocking packaging to move from problematic plastic packaging to clear PET. Clear PET offers a significantly lower carbon footprint, can be recycled multiple times, and is more broadly accepted by recycling systems.

How does it work?

We apply our patented¹ light-blocking coating to the recyclable PET shrink sleeve and print your design with our GreenLabel™ recycling-compatible inks. Then, you apply the shrink sleeves to your container as usual.

When your packaging is collected for recycling, our solution correctly sorts as clear PET and does not contaminate the recycling stream. Our proprietary inks and coatings come off the shrink sleeve, creating a clean material that recyclers can process alongside the bottle flake. This valuable material can then be made into new PET packaging, keeping valuable resources in the loop.

  • Correctly sorts as PET packaging
  • Does not contaminate the recycling stream
  • Blocks up to 99% of light — from 200nm to 900nm


¹ U.S. Patent No.: 11,961,422

BlockOut FAQs

Our recyclable light-blocking shrink sleeves are printed on our rotogravure presses up to fourteen colors. To learn more about rotogravure printing, check out this blog post.

Our GreenLabel™ BlockOut shrink sleeve solution is designed to be fully compatible with existing U.S. recycling processes, ensuring it does not contaminate the recycling stream.

We have successfully conducted multiple commercial-scale trials to ensure the correct sortation and recyclability of this light-blocking shrink sleeve.

Our patented light-blocking shrink sleeve blocks up to 99% of light, from 200nm to 900nm. This can be scaled down to suit your product’s needs.

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