An edible and compostable label that can reduce the environmental effect of agri-food packaging, improve organic waste management, and provide new assurances of safety and traceability across the supply chain. This is the outcome of the APPEAL - Agrifood Protected by Printable Edible Authenticating Label project, which was funded by the Italian Fund for Applied Sciences (FISA) of the Ministry of University and Research and coordinated by the Polytechnic University of Milan in collaboration with seven scientific and industrial partners, including the Melinda Consortium. The Milanese university hosted the webinar "Beyond the Label: Research, Sustainability, and Innovation", which presented the breakthrough. The event highlighted a rapidly expanding sector: with the growth of e-commerce, the development of large-scale retail trade, and the growing need for digital traceability, the global labeling market is currently worth around $50 billion and is expected to grow by more than 5% per year over the next decade. In this scenario, the edible label is a concrete solution to today's biggest environmental challenges: climate change, growing waste, and the need to expedite the transition to circular production methods. One of the key goals is to provide a successful response to the contamination of the organic fraction meant for composting, which has more than tripled in Italy over the last two decades, topping 7.5 million tons, according to ISPRA data. APPEAL's breakthrough also opens up new opportunities for the circular bioeconomy, a sector worth around €3 trillion in Europe, with Italy leading the way, creating over €400 billion in value and employing more than 2 million people. The Polytechnic University of Milan's Department of Energy research team has created a new generation of edible labels manufactured from plant-based materials and matrices based on polysaccharides and pectin, which are also recovered from apple processing leftovers. Considerable effort has been put into the development of edible films, water-based food glues, and inks suitable for food-grade printing, all with the goal of ensuring information safety, stability, and legibility. In addition to environmental benefits, the project emphasizes important health implications. Accidental consumption of traditional labels is far more common than expected: estimates suggest that Italians consume between 9 and 22 million of them each year. The label is also designed with three levels of security and differentiated access to information throughout the supply chain: consumers can read public data via smartphone and verify the label's authenticity using simple UV flashlights using the mobile app's features, while operators can access advanced and confidential information via dedicated optical instruments. This approach improves authenticity, traceability, and the fight against counterfeiters.