Ravenwood launches calculator to measure silicone content in linerless labels

Ravenwood Packaging has launched a Silicone Weight Calculator designed to help packaging producers and users quantify the amount of silicone contained in linerless labels.

The online tool arrives as the packaging industry faces increasing scrutiny of material composition and recyclability under regulations including the Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation (PPWR) and Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR).

Using label dimensions, material weight, silicone coating weight and the number of silicone lines, the calculator determines the weight of silicone on an individual label and expresses it as a percentage of the label’s overall weight.

According to Ravenwood, its traditional wrap-around linerless formats – including C, D, slideable and full-wrap formats – achieve a green classification when assessed using the calculator.

In one example provided by the company, a 64.77mm-long linerless label weighing 3.69g and featuring three 16mm silicone lines at a coating weight of 1.5 gsm contains 0.00466g of silicone. That represents 0.126% of the label’s total weight, below the 0.3% threshold for green classification under the applicable RAM methodology.

“We wanted to take the uncertainty out of the calculation and give the industry a practical tool that can be used to assess our sustainable labels,” says Dan Coe, director at Ravenwood. “The results demonstrate that the silicone release coating used in our linerless formats represents a very small proportion of the overall label weight.”

Ravenwood says providing measurable data on individual packaging components will become increasingly important as regulatory requirements evolve and companies evaluate packaging structures for recyclability and compliance.

The Silicone Weight Calculator joins Ravenwood’s existing CO₂ Savings Calculator, which compares the potential carbon savings of linerless labels with self-adhesive alternatives.