Three packages of transparent tesa tape with blue dispensers are displayed. Each package includes three rolls of tesa tape and features brand labeling. The background is covered with shredded white material.

Not all PCRs are alike

Sustainability

Straw today, gold tomorrow? In fairy tales, that’s no surprise. But in the industrial world, it’s best not to rely on hocus-pocus. Here, tangible inventions and developments are needed to replace one material with another, better one. Take, for example, the goal of conjuring up more sustainable packaging for the famous tesa tape. The trick: used and recycled consumer plastic waste (PET-PCR).

What may have been a PET plastic bottle just a short while ago now serves as packaging to protect the famous adhesive tape and around 350 other tesa consumer products. Millions of hobbyists and DIY enthusiasts won’t notice a difference. While plastic derived from the fossil fuel petroleum (PET Standard) was used to manufacture the transparent sleeves until the summer of 2022, 100% recycled plastic is now being used – the complete transition has since been completed. The crystal-clear appearance has been retained, and the protective sleeves have even become thinner. This also reduces material usage by 20%. As before, however, the more sustainable blister sleeves – in their familiar high quality – not only make all the adhesive solutions on the store shelf look neat, but above all protect them from dirt and damage.

19 million blister covers are manufactured every year from recycled plastic at the tesa plant in Offenburg; they come in various sizes and shapes for around 350 different types of articles.

Numerous experiments had to be conducted to develop the custom material blend made from post-consumer recycled (PCR) materials. After all, not all PCR materials are the same –the team tested various plastic recyclates with varying proportions of processed material from consumer plastic waste and bottle flakes to achieve the greatest possible colorlessness.


Find out more about tesa’s sustainability strategy

We do: Rethink materials

tesa has set itself the goal of significantly increasing product sustainability and is working on this every day. Over the next few years, for example, we will be developing many new products that make a sustainable contribution to our top product ranges in the automotive, electrical, and construction industries, as well as for our consumers in the office and home. In doing so, we are focusing on the reduction of non-recycled fossil plastics and will increasingly use recycled and bio-based materials. 

Read more about the targets of this action area
Last updated on 3 Nov 2026