Labeling is failing, not just aesthetically or functionally, but systemically. Across the most widely used plastics in the world, polyolefin thermoplastics like HDPE, PP, TPO, and TPV, traditional labels peel, fall off, or are never able to adhere at all. These materials make up 66% of the plastics used in industries producing long-life products: reusable packaging, automotive dunnage, medical waste bins, battery housings, outdoor recreation, and beyond.
Manufacturers, recyclers, and brand owners are united in one unintended crisis: when the label fails, so does the integrity of the entire system. The consequences are multiplying—traceability collapses, regulatory fines mount, user safety is compromised, and asset loss becomes untraceable. Replacing labels is costly and ineffective, and new ones will likely fail again (Image 1).
The root of the problem is not with the product. It’s the surface. These plastics are low surface energy (LSE), meaning, they naturally resist adhesion (Image 2). Despite this well-known fact, the market continues to push adhesives, heat-activated methods, and surface treatment systems as viable solutions. But those approaches only work temporarily, if at all. Once exposed to UV, cleaning agents, weathering, or mechanical wear, those labels break down. Even labels that initially pass lab tests can't survive the full life of the product in real-world conditions.
That’s not just a labeling failure, it’s a cost multiplier. Each failure brings unseen costs: labor, downtime, rework, misidentification, loss of compliance, and growing waste. Whether it’s a food transport container, automotive dunnage, medical waste cart, or a returnable transport item (RTI), failure of the label results in failure of the entire system.
But the cost goes further. Failed labels are a leading cause of recycling contamination, which breaks the circular economy promise. Today’s plastic products, designed for decades of reuse, are discarded because of incompatible labels that must be scraped, burned, or chemically separated before recycling. What began as a traceability issue becomes an environmental one.
Polyfuze Graphics® Corporation developed a labeling technology that doesn’t stick, it fuses. Polymer Fusion Labeling permanently welds to polyolefin-based plastic through a fusion process that doesn’t require adhesives, coatings, secondary pre-treating or bonding methods. It becomes part of the plastic itself. Proven to last beyond 20–30 years, Polymer Fusion Labels permanency are immune to degradation from extreme weathering, UV exposure, solvents, chemicals and cleaning agents (Image 3).
With over 300 million labels in the field, Polyfuze technology is already enabling traceability, safety, branding, and compliance across sectors. Case studies from medical, automotive, and reusable packaging industries confirm real-world durability, regulatory compliance, and end-of-life recyclability.
As industries pivot toward sustainability, traceability, and circularity, the label should not be the weak link. The $107B reusable packaging industry is just one example, where compatibility, permanence, and recyclability must now be unified into one solution. Polymer Fusion isn’t a better label. It’s a new category, and the only one built to last.
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About the Entrant
- Name:Matthew Stevenson
- Type of entry:individual
- Software used for this entry:No