Although everyone knows that environmentally friendly ink is the future development trend, but for what is truly environmentally friendly ink, people clearly have not reached a consensus.

Although we have not been able to define an accurate definition of "green ink" so far, one thing is certain: the increasing demand for environmentally friendly products from printing houses and their customers has also prompted ink manufacturers to start Development of various environmentally friendly products.

But this is not an easy task, and some people think that although ink can make your prints more vivid and more environmentally friendly, it is the printing process that really works.

Kenny Boyd, an environmental services consultant at Fujifilm Xerike, pointed out: "People have a different understanding of environmentally friendly inks. Some people often ask whether a product is sustainable, but they are not Know what this 'sustainability' really means. This is the problem, and the best way to protect the environment is to start from the big picture. "

1. Environmental protection options

So, today, when environmental protection voices are getting higher and higher, how have anti-counterfeit ink manufacturers responded? Sun Chemical has already indicated that it will be used in its anti-counterfeiting ink products. John Adkin, the production director of the company ’s sheetfed and UV-curable products (responsible for Europe and Africa), said: “People must make a choice between the use of mineral oil and vegetable oil, which we have developed Products that use these two raw materials have come out, but by exchanging newspapers with customers and end users, we decided to choose crop materials that are more environmentally responsible. "

Fujifilm Xerico claims that they have also developed a series of UV inks with environmental advantages. The company has a solid background in the field of screen printing and has made tremendous progress in the digital field, especially in the large-format printing market. on.

Tudor Morgan, the company's European image marketing manager, explained: "With the rise of inkjet technology, UV inks have also attracted more and more attention. This is a very stable product wine The packaging can be 100% cured and does not emit VOC, so it can better meet customer requirements for product health and safety. "

David Grey, general manager of Classic Colour, believes that water-free ink is also a good environmental choice. Consistent with Sun Chemical, Mr. Gray also believes that soybean ink is less harmful to the environment than mineral ink, and the advantage of water-free ink is that it does not need to use any solution, so users can achieve color balance faster when printing on the machine. It is also easier to perform deinking.

This also fully proves that environmentally friendly ink will not only have a positive impact on the entire brushing process, but also promote a company's green environmental protection process.

2. Environmental protection ring

Yakins believes that inks should give full play to their important role in the environmental loop of a printing company, from production to recycling. Appropriate ink can reduce the energy consumption in the printing process: the newly emerged quick-drying ink not only avoids the large amount of energy required by the drying unit, but also meets the requirements of the traditional four-color printing process for ink.

Akins explained: "If you compare four-color printing with spot color printing, you will find that the former does not need to be cleaned during the transfer process."

In order to calculate the carbon footprint of the ink during the printing process, Sun Chemical and Bertelsmann ’s subsidiary in France conducted a survey and found that the carbon emissions of the ink accounted for about the total carbon emissions of the printing process. About 5%.

This is a very meaningful project, which allows us to know exactly how much ink can affect the environmental protection of the entire printing process.

Sun Chemical believes that for an environmentally friendly ink to be truly green, it must have as many environmental features as possible. For example, although some inks can get rid of the dependence on VOC, but can not be recycled food packaging, it can not be called green ink.

Taking watermark inks as an example, because they are mostly water-based and do not contain VOC, they have obvious environmental advantages, but at the same time, flexo products cannot be 100% recycled. So CTP, before you choose an ink product, you must fully understand it to avoid being overly general.

Environmental protection is only one problem that ink manufacturers need to overcome in the process of developing green ink. Another problem that cannot be ignored is cost.

For example, no ink does have certain environmental advantages, but its cost is also higher than other inks. As Gray of Classic Colours puts it: "Not everyone will choose water-free ink standards and certification, because of its high requirements on the process and the relatively large costs involved. However, many modern printing machines are equipped with With temperature control and waterless printing function, it greatly facilitates the user's choice. "[Next]

Three, clear choice

The emergence of vegetable ink also raises the question of whether it is ethical to use anti-household crops as raw materials for production. Sun Chemical's Akins also admitted that this is a potential problem, but he also believes that the printing industry's choice is very clear. He said: "You can get raw materials from mineral oil or vegetable oil, you can also produce high-quality ink paperback wireless binding binding line installed quantity survey, but also to ensure their safety. We have selected soybeans and Seeds are used as raw materials for the production of ink, and these raw materials will not be used less and less like mineral oil. "

The limitation of UV ink is that it cannot be attached to certain substrates. Plastic is an example of this. Fujifilm Xerike's Boyd also admitted: "UV ink is the best environmental protection option, but it can not achieve the ideal ink coverage."

Ink manufacturers have encountered some stability problems in the process of developing new products, but now they have basically overcome Fuji Xerox, and Fuji Xerox has also found some problems related to UV inkjet inks.

In addition, the life cycle of the product, the problem of waste, the health and safety of equipment operators and the atmospheric environment are also issues that ink manufacturers are always concerned about.

In some cases, abandoning the chemical composition means that ink and ink manufacturers will suffer short-term sales. Morgan added: "Some chemical ingredients have not been banned by the European Union, but because our company has always paid more attention to environmental issues, we have decided not to use these chemicals. Customers want to find a trusted partner, and hope that we can Provide them with quality service and technical support. Environmental performance is a problem we always consider in the development of all products. "

Four, there are many opinions

There are many views around "green ink", which is enough to make everyone feel a headache. Boyd of Fujifilm Xerike said: "I can imagine how difficult it is for printers to implement government policies and regulations. They have to consider both health and safety issues and find ways to improve energy use. Rate and reduce waste. All their decisions are based on customer needs. "

Boyd recommends that when choosing environmentally friendly inks, we must shop around and ask for the opinions of others as much as possible. Every printing company is now facing certain environmental pressure, which is determined by the market and customer needs.

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