Signite by Actega: Grant Schutte on the future of sustainable labelling — The Noel D'Cunha Sunday Column

At the Actega booth at Labelexpo, there is a quiet buzz around a single word printed in clean, modern type: Sig-nite. While other stands focused on speed or colour gamut, Actega’s story begins with subtraction. Grant Schutte, vice president of Actega North America Technologies, explains it simply: “Signite is about doing more with less.”

The statement captures the essence of a technology that looks deceptively simple but upends the decades-old log-ic of pressure-sensitive labelling. Instead of printing on a face stock, die-cutting it, and throwing away the waste matrix, Signite prints directly onto a carrier film using a carefully engineered combination of coatings, inks and adhesives. The printed design is then transferred onto the container surface. Once transferred, what remains is a clean, ultra-thin label that appears almost printed directly on the substrate.

“The idea was to remove every unnecessary layer,” says Schutte. “We wanted to keep the quality of a traditional label but remove the waste that nobody sees but everyone pays for.”

Rethinking the label itself
In a conventional pressure-sensitive label, a printer applies ink to a printable face stock, laminates it with adhesive and liner, and then die-cuts the design. The unused areas are stripped away as matrix waste. Signite eliminates that entire middle layer.

It starts with a BOPP carrier film, which serves as the temporary support. Onto this, Actega applies a printable, releasable varnish layer, followed by inks for flexo or digital press, and finally a pressure-sensitive adhesive. The printed construction is then transferred directly onto the bottle or container.

Once applied, the carrier film peels away cleanly, leaving only the printed image adhered on the surface. The re-sult is an ultra-thin label between twenty-five and thirty-five microns thick. “It behaves like a print rather than a sticker,” says Schutte. “You only see the graphics with large reduction in clear label areas..”

He points out that this method eliminates roughly 60% of the material typically used in a standard eighty-micron label. “Every square metre of label area saved represents material that never had to be made, transported or thrown away,” he says.
 
Built-in sustainability 
In an industry where sustainability improvements often mean higher costs, Signite’s value proposition stands out. According to Actega’s independent life-cycle assessment, Signite reduces CO₂ equivalent emissions by twenty-eight per cent compared with a conventional PS labels and 32% less than shrink sleeves.

On a print production floor, the difference is visible. “You no longer have piles of matrix waste waiting to be hauled away,” Schutte explains. “Everything that used to go into landfill or needs to be recycled is simply not generated.” The thinner construction also means that converters can fit up to forty per cent more labels on a roll. That means fewer roll changes, reduced freight, and less storage space.

“It is one of the few sustainability stories that pays for itself,” says Schutte. “You save material and energy with-out sacrificing performance or paying more. That is the kind of solution the industry has been waiting for.”
 
Minimal change, maximum impact
Despite its radical design, Signite fits surprisingly well into existing workflows. Printers can run the material on most modern narrow-web presses with minimal modification. “If you already run a high-quality flexo press from Gallus, Mark Andy or Nilpeter, you can print Signite,” Schutte says.

The key requirement is sensor calibration for clear-on-clear printing since both varnish and adhesive layers are transparent, and layer registration is critical. Otherwise, the process mirrors traditional label production. Printers simply add two extra stations, one for varnish and one for adhesive, and maintain normal registration.

Application, however, is where the real shift occurs. Traditional pressure-sensitive labels rely on peeling and flagging to transfer from liner to container. Signite, being so thin, needs different application approach. To ad-dress this, Actega partnered with Macro Labelling, part of the Sidel and Tetra Pak group. The company already builds modular applicators for both wet glue and self-adhesive labels.

“For most brand owners using Macro equipment, adopting Signite is as easy as adding another module,” says Schutte. “You do not need to replace your primary machine. You just add a module that handles the transfer.”
 The result is a hybrid system where the printing remains similar to conventional printing and  the application a variation on pressure sensitive labeling but with similar efficiencies and less transferred material. .
 
Design freedom and the no-label look
Beyond sustainability, Signite’s biggest creative advantage lies in its design flexibility. Because Signite labels can be created only where graphics are desired, designers have the freedom to create multiple floating or disconnect-ed elements. The result can be labels impossible to achieve with conventional pressure-sensitive printing and ap-plication techniques.

“You can create designs that a die could never cut,” says Schutte. “For premium brands that want a clean, no-label appearance, this is ideal.”

This flexibility is particularly attractive to brands in cosmetics, beverages, and personal care. These sectors value visual differentiation, and Signite delivers it without the production cost of direct-to-container printing.

The carrier film itself influences the visual finish. A matte carrier produces a soft-touch surface, while a glossy carrier creates high sheen. Holographic carriers can be used for decorative or security applications. Metallic ef-fects are also possible through the use of metallic inks, and Actega plans to integrate its Ecoleaf technology for fully sustainable metallic transfer in future versions.

“The goal is to give brands creative freedom without the environmental cost,” Schutte says.
 
Material compatibility and recyclability
For a technology that touches both design and production, recyclability remains the decisive test. Schutte is quick to address it. “Recycling is a complex and very regional issue and so it is difficult to make blanket statements but our goal is to make sure Signite never interferes with recycling,” he says.

For one-way glass, the label burns off cleanly in the furnace with two-thirds less carbon output than convention-al labels. For returnable glass bottles, Signite shows the promise of detaching easily in standard caustic wash sys-tems. “In initial tests with our equipment partnerand a large beverage customer we confirmed that the wash-off rate matches the industry standard in their systems,” Schutte adds.

On aluminium cans, Signite also outperforms traditional shrink sleeves. “Shrink-sleeve labels have caused chal-lenges in can recycling because of the organic load they introduce,” he explains. “Signite’s lower material weight helps reduce this issue.” ultra-

PET bottles are more complicated because of regional regulation and infrastructure differences. While Signite introduces much less material into the recycling process and separates easily under usual wash conditions and does not bleed into the wash water, it breaks up and does not float as traditional label stock does and so this brings the need to filter it differently from the wash water. Considering the push for significant improvements in sustainability overall and the need to reassess recycling guidelines in general we see this as an excellent opportuni-ty to have truly transformative solutions such as Signite included in the new guidelines for recycling.  

“Our philosophy is simple,” says Schutte. “A sustainable label should not only be made responsibly but should also allow the container to be recycled easily. Signite is designed with that goal in mind.”
 
Economic efficiency
Despite its advanced chemistry, Signite is not more expensive to produce. The removal of face stock and matrix waste offsets the additional coating and varnish layers. Printers spend less on material and disposal, while brand owners gain more labels per roll and lower logistics costs.

“The total system cost is lower,” says Schutte. “You are using fewer resources, shipping fewer rolls, and generat-ing less waste. Sustainability does not have to come with a price tag.”
  
Ease of adoption
For skilled converters, who are prepared to learn the subtle differences between printing Signite and traditional high-quality PS Labels the learning curve is short. Pre-press technicians only need to add new layers for varnish and adhesive. Press operators require minimal retraining. “If you can print multi-layer labels, you can print Sig-nite,” Schutte says.

Actega supports converters through detailed process documentation and training. Its development centre in the United States uses a Mark Andy P7 press for qualification and testing. “We use our own production as a refer-ence, so we can help customers achieve consistent results quickly,” he explains.

Applicator integration is equally straightforward. For round, straight-wall containers, Signite run on either linear or rotary machines adapted for Signite labels. For irregular shapes, the Makro rotary units are used to control each container during transfer. “There is no major slowdown,” says Schutte. “In fact, because there are fewer roll changes, you often end up running faster overall.”

Durability and performance
Once transferred, Signite behaves like a traditional label. The surface is fully cured and scratch-resistant. Its ro-bustness depends on the chosen varnish for the end-use environment and container type. For bottles that are case-packed or shrink-wrapped, Actega fine-tunes the adhesive and varnish combination to ensure performance.

Schutte emphasises that Signite is not an experimental concept but a commercial-ready system. “We already have customers using it for premium beverage labels and health drink cans in the United States,” he says. “These are demanding applications that need durability and visual consistency.”
  
Changing industry mindset
Every disruptive technology faces skepticism, and Schutte acknowledges that adoption is as much about psychol-ogy as engineering. “Converters and brands have used pressure-sensitive labels for decades,” he says. “They know how it behaves, they know the economics. We are asking them to think differently—to see a label not as a printed substrate but as a printed design that transfers to the container.”

To help bridge this mental gap, Actega works closely with converters and brand owners through pilot pro-grammes. “Once people see Signite running, the hesitation disappears,” he says. “They realise it is not complex, just smarter.”

The company’s (collaborations?)with press manufacturers and applicator suppliers also help reassure customers that the technology is ready for industrial scale. “We do not introduce concepts that live only in the lab,” Schutte says. “Everything we launch must work on a production floor.”
 
Expanding into new markets
Signite is currently gaining traction in North America, Europe and South Africa, particularly in glass  packaging. We will progressively explore other regions such as South America and Asia. 

“India is a very exciting market because the array and market size of packaging highly appropriate for Signite,” he says. “We have already received interest from printers and brand owners, especially in the premium spirits segment. The market there values both quality and sustainability, and Signite delivers both.”

However, Actega plans to enter gradually. “We are not going to launch until we have the right regional partners and applicator infrastructure in place,” Schutte explains. “When we do enter, we will do it properly, with full technical and service support.”

Southeast Asia is also on the horizon. “These are sophisticated markets with ambitious brands,” he says. “Sus-tainability is no longer a trend but a requirement, and technologies like Signite can help the industry meet those goals without compromise.”
 
A look ahead
Looking at the broader picture, Schutte sees Signite as part of a much larger evolution in packaging design and manufacturing. “Printing technology is moving toward precision and efficiency,” he says. “We are learning to de-posit exactly what we need, where we need it. That is the future.”