The cleaning of the barcode labels should be part of the process in the label production factory. These labels should be precision cleaned and vacuum packed in the cleanroom before shipping to the end-user.
At the end-user cleanroom, the gross cleaning can be done on the labels in roll form by using the ionizer air gun blowing. It may not be practical and productive for the end user to do a thorough cleaning on the labels. The ionizers need to be install at the process where the labels/liners are being roll out from the plastic core to reduce the tribocharging static voltage.
The nature of the insulative materials (label, liner & core) and the rolling mechanism is the key for the high built up of static voltage (in tens of thousand volts) on the label surface. These voltages could easily attract loose particles and fibers from the environment air and hold onto the label surfaces.
The common method to reduce the surface particulate contamination is to discharge the bonding voltages by the ionization and then to remove it with the air blowing.
Also, it is important for the material such as the facestock/label, liners and cores to be cleanroom approved. These would normally be 100% synthetics and not the paper based material.
