This invention concerns improvements in and relates to recyclable plastics materials, in particular to recyclable hangers made from plastics materials.
A wide variety of hanger shapes and sizes are currently available, the hangers being made from a variety of materials, with however the majority of hangers being formed from polystyrene (PS). Garment hangers are used in the clothing trade as a method of transporting garments from a factory to a retail outlet and as a method of displaying the garments within the retail outlets. Very often hangers are also used to display various features of the garment, such as size and/or cost to the prospective consumer. In addition, hangers can also be used to display the numeric code or bar code of the garment. This enables a retailer to quickly access the numeric code or bar code rather than spending time locating the garment label attached to the inside of the garment when dealing with queries in respect of said garment. Generally this information is displayed on a label which is then attached to the hanger, by adhesive means.
Once a hanger has been used, it is either;
Increasingly, dumping waste materials into landfill sites is becoming more difficult, and there is increasing pressure not to send waste to these sites. Cleaning hangers for reuse is a labour intensive operation and in most cases is uneconomical. When cleaning the hangers for reuse, each hanger must be sorted into the various types and the adhesive labels removed. The hangers are then cleaned and repackaged into cartons for shipment back to the factory and/or the retail outlets.
Recycling hangers into its raw material is also a labour intensive operation. The component parts of the hanger such as a metal hook (if present) must be removed. If the metal hook is not removed, the metal will damage the recycling equipment and contaminate the raw material. Likewise the adhesive label must also be removed. Adhesive labels are usually composed of paper or materials that are not compatible with PS. If the label is not removed prior to recycling, the label will contaminate the raw material. Removing labels is a time consuming operation, often an unsuccessful operation as many labels often leave a residue on the hanger, which renders the hanger unacceptable for recycling. Furthermore once a label has been removed it is necessary to then dispose of the label.
It is an object of the present invention to seek to alleviate the aforementioned problems.
EP-A-0 910 976 (WILLPUETZ KUNSTSTOFFVERARBEITU) 28 April 1999 discloses a polystyrene hanger. EP-A-0 563 510 (ZWECKFORM ETIKETTIERTECHNIK) discloses a polystyrene label for adhering to a polystyrene object. EP-A-1 191 076 describes a fluorescent varnish for applying to different materials and PATENT ABSTRACTS OF JAPAN vol. 1997, no. 02, 28 February 1997 (1997-02-28) & JP 08 269407 A (SATO YOSHIHIRO), discloses a recyclable plastics material including a polystyrene compatible label, which is attachable to an object using a pressure sensitive adhesive.
The present invention provides an object made from recyclable polystyrene or polystyrene compatible material including a polystyrene compatible label, characterised in that the polystyrene compatible label is attachable to the object using a polystyrene compatible adhesive such as a high tack hot melt rubber adhesive or a high tack modified acrylic adhesive.
Advantageously, the object is in the form of a hanger, where the hanger can be formed in the various shapes and sizes required for display and transportation of different sized and/or types of garments. It is preferable for the hook of the hanger to be formed from polystyrene or a polystyrene compatible material. Ideally the hook will be either a fixed attachment or a pivoting attachment. The hook may be made from polystyrene or metal. However, if the hook used is a metal hook, the hanger will only need to undergo a hook removal process prior to recycling.
Preferably the label is formed from polystyrene. Advantageously print can be applied to the label by letterpress, flexographic or screen processes. Any other suitable method of applying print to the label known to a person skilled in the art may also be used. Optionally, once the print has been applied to the label, a fluorescent varnish can be applied, enabling a specific radiant colour luminance when the printed matter is exposed to Ultra Violet (UV) light.
Conveniently, the label can also be attached to polystyrene products. Ideally, where the object is a polystyrene film for use as packaging in the food industry with the label being supplied either blank or pre-printed for thermal transfer or direct thermal print applications. This allows variable information to be applied at the point of manufacture or sale. An example of information applied is barcode information, best before data and so forth.
The primary advantage of the invention is that the label does not have to be removed from the object formed from polystyrene or a polystyrene compatible material, for example the hanger or the polystyrene product prior to the object or film being recycled.
The invention will now be described more particularly with reference to the accompanying drawings in which are shown a number of embodiments in accordance with the invention:
Referring to Figure 1, there is shown a first embodiment of a hanger 1, with component parts comprising a main rail hook 20, arms 30 and minor garment hooks 40. The hanger 1 and the component parts of hanger 1 are formed from either general purpose PS, high impact PS or a blend of general purpose PS and high impact PS. The PS compatible label is positioned at area 50.
In this preferred embodiment the label is formed from a 66 micron satin white non-topcoated (or pretreated topcoated) PS with either a high tack hot melt rubber adhesive or a high tack modified acrylic adhesive being used to attach the label to the hanger. The non-topcoated polystyrene product provides a printable surface, which has prior corona treatment. Print is then applied to this surface using either letterpress, flexographic or screen processes. Either a water based flexo ink or a UV curing flexo ink are suitable for printing onto synthetic materials. Any other suitable ink type or method of applying print to the label known to a person skilled in the art may also be used. Optionally, once the print has been applied to the label, a UV invisible fluorescent varnish can be applied, enabling a specific radiant colour luminesce when the printed matter is exposed to UV light but will remain invisible in conventional indoor light or day light.
The inks and varnishes used in printing and protecting the label are also polystyrene compatible and contain carefully selected raw materials which will cause as little skin irritation and odour as possible.
Further embodiments of hangers 2 to 16 respectively are shown in Figures 2 to 16. Each of the further embodiments are variations of the basic design of the hanger 1 shown in figure 1.
It is to be understood that the invention is not limited to the specific details described above, which are given by way of example only, and that various modifications and alterations are possible without departing from the scope of the invention as defined in the appended claims.