diff --git a/include/hydra/frontend/mesh_delta_clustering.h b/include/hydra/frontend/mesh_delta_clustering.h
index abc1a06c..99df4ea2 100644
--- a/include/hydra/frontend/mesh_delta_clustering.h
+++ b/include/hydra/frontend/mesh_delta_clustering.h
@@ -29,8 +29,7 @@ std::string printLabels(const LabelSet& labels);
 
 LabelIndices getLabelIndices(const LabelSet& desired_labels,
                              const kimera_pgmo::MeshDelta& delta,
-                             const std::unordered_set<size_t>* invalid = nullptr,
-                             bool instance_id = false);
+                             const std::unordered_set<size_t>* invalid = nullptr);
 
 Clusters findClusters(const ClusteringConfig& config,
                       const kimera_pgmo::MeshDelta& delta,
diff --git a/include/hydra/frontend/surface_place_extractor.h b/include/hydra/frontend/surface_place_extractor.h
index 9ea909c0..0493ea12 100644
--- a/include/hydra/frontend/surface_place_extractor.h
+++ b/include/hydra/frontend/surface_place_extractor.h
@@ -67,7 +67,6 @@ class SurfacePlaceExtractor {
     double place_overlap_threshold = 0.1;
     double place_max_neighbor_z_diff = 0.5;
     double connection_ellipse_scale_factor = 1;
-    bool instance_id = false;
     std::vector<Sink::Factory> sinks;
   } const config;
 
diff --git a/src/frontend/mesh_delta_clustering.cpp b/src/frontend/mesh_delta_clustering.cpp
index 2d801822..845c86d8 100644
--- a/src/frontend/mesh_delta_clustering.cpp
+++ b/src/frontend/mesh_delta_clustering.cpp
@@ -39,8 +39,7 @@ std::string printLabels(const std::set<uint32_t>& labels) {
 
 LabelIndices getLabelIndices(const std::set<uint32_t>& desired_labels,
                              const kimera_pgmo::MeshDelta& delta,
-                             const std::unordered_set<size_t>* invalid,
-                             bool instance_id) {
+                             const std::unordered_set<size_t>* invalid) {
   LabelIndices label_indices;
   if (!kimera_pgmo::traits::get_vertex_properties(delta).has_label) {
     LOG(WARNING) << "[Delta Clustering] Mesh missing labels!";
@@ -54,11 +53,7 @@ LabelIndices getLabelIndices(const std::set<uint32_t>& desired_labels,
     }
 
     const auto& v = delta.getVertex(i);
-    const auto raw_label = v.traits.label;
-    const auto label = (instance_id && raw_label > 0xFFFF)
-                           ? static_cast<uint32_t>(raw_label >> 16)
-                           : raw_label;
-
+    const auto label = v.traits.label;
     seen_labels.insert(label);
     if (!desired_labels.count(label)) {
       continue;
diff --git a/src/frontend/surface_place_extractor.cpp b/src/frontend/surface_place_extractor.cpp
index 9c6a9332..cd6cab67 100644
--- a/src/frontend/surface_place_extractor.cpp
+++ b/src/frontend/surface_place_extractor.cpp
@@ -121,7 +121,6 @@ void declare_config(SurfacePlaceExtractor::Config& config) {
   field(config.place_overlap_threshold, "place_overlap_threshold");
   field(config.place_max_neighbor_z_diff, "place_max_neighbor_z_diff");
   field(config.connection_ellipse_scale_factor, "connection_ellipse_scale_factor");
-  field(config.instance_id, "instance_id");
   field(config.sinks, "sinks");
 }
 
@@ -143,8 +142,7 @@ void SurfacePlaceExtractor::detect(const ActiveWindowOutput& msg,
   MLOG(2) << "n original active indices: " << delta.getNumActiveVertices();
   const auto frozen =
       getFrozenSet(config, msg.timestamp_ns, offsets, active_places_, to_remove_);
-  const auto label_indices =
-      clustering::getLabelIndices(labels_, delta, &frozen, config.instance_id);
+  const auto label_indices = clustering::getLabelIndices(labels_, delta, &frozen);
   if (label_indices.empty()) {
     MLOG(2) << "no vertices found matching desired labels";
     return;