GREER, S.C. (Nov. 8, 1:45 p.m. ET) — Mitsubishi Polyester Film Inc. received the 2012 TLMI Environmental Leadership Award from the Tag and Label Manufacturers Institute, a trade association for the label and packaging industry.
Greer-based Mitsubishi Polyester Film was picked for its Reprocess Sustainable Liner Recovery Program, a closed-loop recycling program for polyester release liners.
TLMI judges said the system was superior to the fate that currently befalls spent liner: landfill or shipment to China for recycling into low-end products.
Mitsubishi Polyester Film uses the spent liners to make new liners with up to 25 percent post-industrial recycled content.
“It is the first time a company has created a closed-loop sustainable recycling process for polyester release liners,” said Marshall Ledbetter, program leader for the project.
Mitsubishi said it has recovered several million pounds of spent liner material, reducing overall carbon dioxide emissions by the equivalent of removing 720 cars off of the road.
