Sticker Remover Methods

There is no easy way.

Try a razor blade.

A thin coat of mayonnaise let it sit overnight, the oil does it.

Good idea. How do you control the ants?

Why? It's the ten thousand mandibles that actually chew the labels off.

Maybe goats would be better than ants. In a pinch you could eat them.

In a real pinch couldn't you eat the ants?

Hi Lyn,

Stay with your ants, they work hard and all the time, it's their function.

Again, all the best at this time, Gil.

Lyn,

Do you have a fridge? When you have ants in your fridge, you can complain. Otherwise, any oil can act, and can be more efficient if you mix oil with equal amount, one grop of each, of your favourite detergent. I cannot mention any brand names but you have one for sure.

Wish you happy end-year holidays, Gil.

I would try steam. There are little steam generators with hoses and nozzles for removing wrinkles from clothing. Some stickers are paper, some plastic, but the heat from the steam may soften the various glues used, so a quick wipe with a rag may remove the residue after the label is lifted. A flat nozzle should be able to apply the steam, and then scrape off the label.

Hi Mike,

Watch your fingers with steam, and also many plastics are sensitive to heat. Stay at room temperature and suggest something that is not dangerous.

Wish you and all yours the best for the end-year holidays, Gil.

The problem here is, " huge quantity of plastic", it has to be fast and cheap. Probably a bazillion different types of "plastic" to deal with, too.

I'm not sure how readily available it is in your neck of the woods but in Oz we use Eucalyptus Oil to remove the glue residue from just about everything.

The good thing about using this product is that its natural and will help relieve symptoms of the common cold.

Eucalyptus oil is also available in a spray can.

The Eucalyptus oil softens the glue allowing easier removal.

Failing that you could try kerosene or shellite.

Hi Bak,

Try PINE OIL and DETERGENT together but watch for ants as discussed earlier.

Wish you happy end-year holidays, Gil.

Have you tried 'Goo Gone'? It's a citrus-oil based liquid in a pump sprayer. I've used it for years, generally with a lot of success. They also make a plastic scraper that you can use to help. Most any oil will work, by the way -- olive oil, vegetable oil whatever you have that is handy and cheap, though 'Goo Gone' seems to work the best.

Yes, Goo Gone works great. I purchase it in a spary bottle.

Spray a light coat over the label. Let it set/soak a few hours and "presto" the label peels off with great ease.

um.... WD40?

Hey that was My answer. I work for a decal company wd40 seem to be the best way so far. Nothing is fast and WD seems to work its way under the glue and loosen it up. just about everything short of a razor blade take a while.

Depending on the sticker try 2 things 1 Hairdryer, some stickers are heat sensitive and will easily peel off with slight heating. 2 A product called "orange clean" available just about everywhere in OZ, its a spray that dissolves the backing residue.

Or you could use a blow drier on the sticker before you remove it. 1 minute on the hottest setting will allow most stickers to peel off with no residue. If there is some left, wipe it with a warm, wet wash cloth while it's still liquid.

The answer was between two of them, we use decals on our products, if they come in for service and they are not legible we replace them, same with our stickers. The hair dryer is the first part, we use our heat guns and a plain plastic scraper, warm all of it first then starting at one end run the scraper under and the heat gun over, the residue is easily removed by eucalyptus oil for gums and isopropylene for any other glues. once you get the hang of you heat level it is easy. If you are simply recycling then the stickers are ok anyway, the gum will be destroyed during the process as with al plastic bottles and the paper is another recycling product. if you are simply regrinding then yes iso is the best as the oil redidue from euc oil will interfere with the remelt and finish

Thinking of your specific needs I would try to use a simple 8" or larger cotton buffing wheel.

I would assume that larger diameter and wider wheels would serve you well, as would experimenting with type of fabric.

Very fast removal with little manual effort should be no problem.. to long and you will remove the plastic...

perhaps a tunnel constructed and lined with the edge of buffing wheels protruding inward would do most of the job without intervention?

..keep me posted..

I am the President of the 'Sticker Removers of the World".

Apply gentle dry heat from a commercial hair dryer or heat gun set on 'soft heat'

and simply peel the sticker off when the adhesive softens. DON"T BURN IT.

If there's any residual adhesive on the substrate a spray of WD40 or eucalyptus oil and it'll easily wipe off.

See? Easy!

Cheers,

Stu.

Hi, thank you for your advise. We have tried the same way, but we used hot water to gently boiled them, found the sponge with tape is removed.

Contact me privately to send the cheque.

Let me know early so I can organise all these other guys to the party.

Cheers,

Stu,

One solution is to use a "heat gun/heat pistol" to get the glue loosened. However as long as the base material is plastic, I will suggest that you should be very careful regarding the applied temperature.

Another method is to add humidity in some form or another. An easy way of doing this is to fill a glass with very warm tap water, hold it up against the glued or taped area and leave it for xx minutes. This will introduce humidity to the area and should make the glue/tape release more easily.

I have tried the latter method at home, and the result has been that the double sided tape has loosened very easy, leaving no marks that indicates that there has been anything applied in the area.

Hope this is of some help, good luck...

I wet the sticker with solvent then scrap with a razor blade scraper. As this is to be recycled, the stronger the solvent the faster the removal. I use alcohol or acetone.

Hi DG,

Solvent as mentioned are toxic, flammable, and attack most of plastics. Stay as said earlier with PINE OIL and DETERGENT at your choice, wait, and scrub for easy result.

Wish you the best for the upcoming holidays, Gil.

Try "GOO GONE". Don't know if it will hurt the plastic. Can be bought at most big box stores.

I've used evrything from goo-b-gone to lighter fluid...but iy always depends on the type of glue used. Some of them are just tooooo sticky! I have part of a decal on my vehicle that refuses to come loose even with heat and what seems like every substance known! It will come off when I refinish it I think!

(One of my rants is the stickers that seem to get placed right over the information I need - like the serial numbers or directions!)

Buy second hand hot plate and set temperature to 40 to 50 oC. Keep label side touching hot plate for 15 second and then take sticker out. This is one of easy way to remove.

It is also done by having room at 45 to 50 oC and storing all plastic in the room and as you take out remove sticker. This is little costly way to do the business and other one is cheap and comfortable to employee

How about dish soap and water?

Hi Just,

Don't start to promote big corporations' products. Stay with oil (pine is my preference) and some detergent (NO NAME product preferred).

All the best but don't forget to use your fingernail to completely eliminate the famous labels, Gil.

This is purely conjecture here on my part, and it is divined from some of the other excellent suggestions (albeit for SMALL quantities) given here.

You want to process an industrial amount of plastic, so it needs to be fast. Not sure of your budget here, so feel free to upgrade used to new if you wish, but I would:

Find a good used heat shrink tunnel from an auction house. They are used very commonly for shrinking the lid rings on tubs and the wrappers on cases of cans and bottles. They generate a LOT of heat, so you will have to either modify the thermostats, or the size, or the rate of passage. Put a conveyor going into them that you can use to place the plastic parts on (preferrably sticker up) as close to a single file line as possible. Give them a quick appropriate heating, then pull them off the discharge conveyor and immediately take them to a large buffing wheel as mentioned above. It should take everything off immediately and quick as a whip. Move on to the next part.

Not sure about recycling plastic, but is it a problem if you get some melting of some items? The stickers will curl out and NOT shrink, or they will immediately turn into a small ball of crunchy plastic depending on materials of construction and coatings. Either way they will mostly separate themselves from the plastic in most cases. The buffing wheel will remove the glue residue and the stubborn ones. If minor melting is not a problem, then it should be very easy to come up with an appropriate heat setting for all products. If it is a problem, some pre-sorting or lots of patience on the fine-tuning may by required to get the needed results.

Good luck, and keep doing God's work - turning garbage into useful stuff and taking a load off the landfills!

Ever hear of Simple Green - don't know how much removal you're talking about or what condition it's in...rolls? flat pieces? Simple Green can remove all kinds of things - I have a buddy who uses it at his marina for all sorts of applications...

Good luck!

Hi another Guest,

This is not our problem. The question was: How to eliminate stickers from plastic? We don'r have information about the type of plastic or the sticker or the number of them.

Let enjoy the end-year holidays, Gil.

I use lighter fluid (best is Ronsonol, but many other brands will work) to remove pressure-sensitive tape from even delicate surfaces like books. Works like a charm. If you need large quantities, I think the generic term is "light petroleum naphtha."

Regards

Go to

WD-40

Hi Haje,

Did you invested some money in the WD-40? Don't advertise! I suggest to use some solvent CAS#64742-53-6. Ah, you have their MSDS? So, you are well informed? Good! Now, we can suggest less flammable, dangerous, and toxic products.

Water, soap, and some oil. My preference is turning to PINE OIL. Small forest or close, isn't it? All the best for testing, Gil.

Soak the materials in a citrus-based solvent bath. Within a few hours the solvent will consume the glue with minimal effect on the plastic.

I lay a wet cloth or a sponge on them for an hour or so.ds

There is a product here in the USA called GOOP. I have used this to remover sticker and the glues from car bumpers, old furniture, house walls, and yes even stickers and the glue from plastic automotive parts. Some of these stickers are very old and dried out and it still works!

heat gun is the best tool to the work.

WD-40

Hi You can use many household products like, rub it with peanut butter, lighter gas, WD-40, and for margarine shortening, mayonnaise, apply it on and let stand few minutes and rub off. Gaetan

Has the original poster solved the problem, or do we need to suggest WD-40, heat, and Orange based products some more?????

We can be more helpful if we know the problem better, or at least know that it is solved...

Regards.

No regrets from posters- becoming a Norm of CR4 members.

Poster should read all replies & acknowledge whether suite or otherwise.

Members deserve the reply "Resolved" at any stage so that someone else may also get a benefit.

I have seen a single post which has ever come to an end of solution or at least not notified.

Had some chance of get reminder in mail after a year or more when I subscribed not to get that late reminders.

Well I think you don't look hard enough or are only involved in threads where the OP is alienated

As for the poster you are responding to: perhaps the OP is busy sourcing the stuff and running trials?

There is not much point in nagging for "instant gratification" when actual work needs to be done to find or confirm solutions.

Sorry !

Hi Haje,

You are right that we don't have any realistic solution. In between sentences: Did you tried my suggestion? You see, this is the problem. We talk and we never believe on others' suggestions and never try them.

So, what's the next suggestion to get to the end of a blog with some solution? This is my question, Gil.

a good quality dishsoap will work also or if possible motor oil. what type of plastic is it and in what form sheet. containers. ect ?

Depends on the type of glue, some require solvents to break down some just water, I use hot water and soap on water based glues and acetone on others....You might be able to blast them off with a high temperature pressure washer...

http://powerwashersales.com/portable-hot-high-pressure-washers/

Drop them in a barrel of old cooking oil. You should be able to get plenty from your local fast food place. People forget that oils are solvents. Shove enough plastic in there that the ones on the bottom are thoroughly soaked. Labels should come right off in about 24 hours.

Slightly smelly but no risk of burns and non toxic.