3 key trends impacting the release liner industry today

Following her attendance at the recent AWA Global Release Liner Summit 2025, Núria Renom reflects on some of the latest developments in our industry and anticipates what issues will move center-stage in the near future.

The AWA Global Release Liner Summit 2025 held in Chicago March 19–21 was a great opportunity to meet industry insiders and specialists to discuss what’s happening in the world of release liners. Of course, sustainability remains a major driver across the entire value chain and through the whole lifecycle of release liner products. The rise of AI also presents new opportunities for the release liner segment, especially in product development.

Trend #1: An even greater focus on sustainability

In recent years, the importance of sustainability has grown around the world. When it comes to release liners in particular, three major topics were highlighted at the Global AWA release summit:

Minimizing the carbon footprint of production
Using recycled materials in manufacturing
Recycling release liners after use

At UPM, we have found it very important to have a value chain approach to boosting sustainability. It’s a way of bringing together multiple the strengths and expertise of all stakeholders. Co-creation is also an important approach in developing innovative materials that drive not only sustainability but efficiency too.

Our starting point is a fundamental belief that our products should be both safe to use and designed for recycling. I believe that ensuring – and boosting – the recyclability of labelling materials is an important theme we can work together on as an industry.

While CELAB (the organization promoting a Circular Economy for Labels) has been promoting used release liner and matrix recycling in Europe for several years, similar initiatives have not gained traction in other regions. Now, however, cooperation between CELAB North America and TLMI (the Tag and Label Manufacturing Institute) is helping to address the imbalance through its Liner Recycling Initiative (LRI) in the USA. The key sticking point which seems to be holding recycling back is the volume of used liners being collected. So we fervently encourage all companies to support CELAB’s ambitions to increase recycling rates of liner waste both here in Europe and in the USA.

Trend #2: The rise of “downgauging”

We are also seeing a strong trend towards downgauging in glassines – again, especially in Europe although there are now signs that the USA is also beginning to follow. It’s clear to everyone that today’s release liners are significantly thinner than they used to be. In the past, the standard grade was 65gsm, but today it is at least 10gsm lower. Despite being substantially thinner, however, the liners need to still maintain all the strength and performance required for high-speed label production.

This poses several challenges for manufacturers. First, it places increased demands on die cutting as well as the silicone technologies that provide improved anchorage. Lighter release liners will also require reactive technology such as UPM Forte.

We are also seeing a strong trend towards downgauging in glassines – especially in Europe although there are signs that the USA is also beginning to follow.

We strongly believe that, just as with sustainability issues in general, value chain cooperation is vital to ensure high performance of materials. That’s why UPM is working with silicone manufacturers and die-cutters to ensure our release liners are compatible with all the latest developments.

Trend #3: The impact of further digitalization and AI

As a producer of specialty papers with highly demanding specifications, “Industry 4.0” actually presents a lot of opportunities by helping us deliver consistent quality from roll to roll. It can also assist in the way we monitor our quality in real-time and ensure consistency on a global scale from mill to mill. How? Well, as my colleague Mikko Rissanen, shared in the panel discussion at the AWA summit, AI-powered vision systems could in the future inspect the surface of release liners for defects such as bubbles, wrinkles or uneven coatings. This would help ensure even higher quality production while reducing the need for manual inspection.

Right across the value chain, AI offers opportunities to analyze vast amounts of data on existing materials and material compatibility. For example it could be used to measure performance of existing liners or help identify new formulations to improve release characteristics, durability and environmental performance. AI could also be used to simulate and predict release liner performance under different temperature and humidity conditions or predict how different materials and coatings might impact adhesion properties.

AI-powered vision systems could inspect the surface of release liners for defects such as bubbles, wrinkles or uneven coatings. This would help ensure even higher quality production.

Above all, new technologies like these are currently driving a new wave of innovation in our industry. They will help us design liners that perform optimally with various adhesives in order to streamline the development of next generation, high performance liners.

3 key trends impacting the release liner industry today

Núria Renom

Trend #1: An even greater focus on sustainability

Trend #2: The rise of “downgauging”

Trend #3: The impact of further digitalization and AI

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