Sticky labels can have several negative environmental impacts due to their material composition, adhesive properties, and waste management challenges. Here are some key reasons why sticky labels can be bad for the environment:

1. Material Composition:

• Plastic-based Labels: Many sticky labels are made from plastic or contain plastic coatings, which are derived from non-renewable petroleum resources. These plastics can take hundreds of years to degrade in the environment.
• Chemical Additives: Labels often contain chemical additives, dyes, and coatings that can be harmful to the environment and human health.

2. Adhesive Issues:

• Non-biodegradable Adhesives The adhesives used in sticky labels are often not biodegradable. This means that when labels are discarded, the adhesives persist in the environment, potentially harming wildlife and ecosystems.
• Contamination in Recycling: Adhesives can contaminate recycling streams. When sticky labels are attached to recyclable materials like paper or plastic, the adhesive residues can complicate the recycling process, reducing the quality of recycled products and increasing processing costs.

3. Waste Management:

• Single-use Nature: Sticky labels are typically single-use products. Once they fulfill their purpose, they are discarded, contributing to the growing problem of single-use waste.
• Difficult to Recycle: The combination of different materials (paper, plastic, adhesive) in sticky labels makes them difficult to recycle. As a result, they often end up in landfills or incinerators.
• Release of Microplastics: As sticky labels degrade, especially those made of plastic, they can release microplastics into the environment. These microplastics can contaminate soil and water bodies, posing a threat to wildlife and human health.

4. Environmental Pollution:

• Production and Disposal: The production of sticky labels involves the use of energy and resources, contributing to environmental pollution. The disposal of these labels, especially when not managed properly, leads to environmental pollution, including the release of greenhouse gases if incinerated.

5. Impact on Wildlife:

• Ingestion and Entanglement: Wildlife can mistake sticky labels and their fragments for food or become entangled in them. This can lead to injury, illness, or death for many animals.

How to Label Sustainably

Labels are key to how we market our products and although labeling is not always unsustainable its work looking for alternatives to traditional labelling when you can.

To mitigate these impacts, alternatives such as printing your labels directly to your product negates the use for any sticky label. At Kuishi we print direct to our glass  products using organic ceramic inks which are environmentally friendly. They are then fired to a high temperature are hard wearing finish that will last for years. We also print on plastic using traditional screen printing methods. 

You can also mitigate these impacts, alternatives such as using biodegradable labels, eco-friendly adhesives, Additionally, reducing the use of sticky labels and improving waste management practices can help lessen their environmental footprint.