Sustainability and Offset Inks: The Latest Trends and Issues

According to a recent study by the European Printing Inks Association (EuPIA), the share of offset printing inks is less than 2% of the overall eco footprint of the printed paper material or paper packaging on which they are used. Yet inks attract a great deal of discussion in terms of the overall sustainability of print. This includes the sourcing of the raw materials that make up the inks, the environmental impact of those materials, the ability to remove inks from printed materials and packaging for recycling (de-inkability), and the impact they may have on the production work environment, as well as their food-contact safety. In researching this article, we spoke with two ink companies – Sun Chemical in the United States and hubergroup, which is headquartered in Europe but also operates in the U.S. – as well as associations EuPIA and NAPIM, in Europe and North America, respectively. Our goal was to understand the latest sustainability trends and issues facing ink manufacturers and their supply chain partners. 

Because of global trade and the movement of products and packaging from one region to another, we felt it was important to look into regulations in both Europe and the U.S., since raw materials and finished goods that are imported and/or exported can fall under the regulatory compliance rules for both the source and destination regions. We did not examine regulations in other parts of the world, including Africa, Asia and South America, for purposes of this article. 

Sustainability Defined

Let’s start by defining sustainability for the commercial printing and packaging industry as outlined by the companies we interviewed.

“Sustainability is a broad term for our industry, especially because we are so integrated at different levels, from consumer goods companies to printers to ourselves as manufacturers and to suppliers," said Tony Renzi, Sun Chemical’s vice president of product management North America – packaging inks. "We look at it as to how we can deliver sustainable solutions for printing inks that satisfy the needs of printers and give brands and retailers a sustainability story for their products. The key is, these solutions must be delivered at cost neutrality. Everyone talks about sustainability, but no one wants to pay for it. Our challenge is delivering these sustainable solutions for the market on a cost neutral basis.”

“When you talk about sustainable inks, the most important thing to consider is that sustainability also means safety," said Martin Kanert, executive manager of Brussels-based EuPIA. "In Europe, we are very proud that for the last 20 years we have had the EuPIA Exclusion Policy. By default, members do not use materials that are known to be carcinogenic or toxic. If substances are reclassified and thus fulfill the exclusion criteria, then members are committed to replacing these substances so their products remain safe. This is one of the pillars of sustainability, not only the environment, but the human health aspect as well.”

NAPIM’s Director of Regulatory Affairs and Technology George Fuchs cautioned about blanket assumptions that bio-derived substances are actually that much more sustainable or have less adverse environmental impact than petroleum-based components when you look at the entire life cycle. However, he noted that the association has supported the use of vegetable-based components in ink systems.

“Bio-renewable materials are those that can renew themselves in a human time frame,” he said, “and certainly the health and safety aspects of these components are less adverse than petroleum-based ingredients.”

To support reduced environmental impact of printing inks, NAPI launched its BioRenewable Content (BRC) program in early 2009. 

“Companies can send to us their formulations, and we review them to make sure they seem accurate," Fuchs said. "Then we certify the level of bio derived materials they contain.”

This provides an independent third-party assessment that can be promulgated across the supply chain to educate stakeholders on sustainability factors for printing inks.

Hubergroup had the most vigorous approach, a 250-year-old family-owned company that has obtained a cradle-to-cradle certification for its entire manufacturing process. While not everyone agrees about the value of this certification, it has become a core principle at hubergroup.

“Sustainability is in our corporate DNA," said Bernd Groh, the company’s global product and portfolio manager. "Every year we are more sustainable in our manufacturing operation, our use of energy, the way we treat our employees and the number of sustainability projects we have underway. We batch our own pigments in India, where we have our own water treatment facility to return 96% of the water we use back to its source. Additionally, we also collect about 300 tons of waste water per year from our European customers to purify. We are also working to improve the de-inkability of sheetfed UV inks to be able to give back usable paper fiber to the paper industry, reclaiming as much of the ink residue for re-use as possible.”

In the "Cradle-to-Cradle" model, as opposed to the more commonly known "Cradle-to-Grave," waste materials in an old product become the "food" for a new product, by either composting or reprocessing them. It creates a circular economy that goes beyond conventional sustainability efforts. It is a design concept inspired by nature, in which products are created according to the principles of an ideal circular economy. This differentiates "Cradle to Cradle" from conventional recycling and the concept of eco-efficiency. It is about eco-effectiveness and goes beyond conventional sustainability tools and approaches, which primarily show the negative influence of humans on the environment.

 “In order to recertify,” Groh said, “you must continue to set an even higher bar for sustainability moving forward and achieve those goals.”

Regulations Vary from Region to Region

Everyone agreed that there are no consistent global regulations governing offset printing inks. 

“It would be nice if our industry was like a railroad where everyone had the same width tracks, but there are so many different press manufacturers that each have their own nuances, regulations vary from region to region and nothing is really standardized," Renzi said. "As a result, developments tend to occur around the equipment, use and application, which is why things are so different from area to area.”

In Europe, REACH is probably the most prevalent regulation. It applies to all chemicals, and it places responsibility on industry to manage the risks that chemicals may pose to public health and the environment. It requires manufacturers and importers to register substances and supply data on the properties of the chemicals they produce, and to provide their supply chains with all of the information they need to safely use those chemicals. But even REACH doesn’t streamline regulations for Europe.

“We wish all the regulations were the same across the European Union (EU). Much of the legislation that affects us, mainly in the area of safety, health and the environment, comes from the EU," Kanert said. "REACH, for example, is immediately applicable in all EU states. But EU directives are addressed to member states, and they then set the framework for their own national legislation. Member states can go beyond the directives, and there are many examples that they do.” 

There is a similar situation in the U.S., with some level of federal government regulation, but with individual states free to add their own requirements as well. Fuchs cited a white paper designed to inform ink manufacturers, printers and consumers of printed products about some of the issues associated with ink formulation and minimizing ink’s environmental impact, noting that at the time of publication in 2008, there was no regulatory or industry consensus that defined how to measure and minimize the environmental impact of manufactured products; that situation remains pretty much the same a decade later.

Reducing the Environmental Impact of Offset Printing Inks

In looking at the composition of offset printing inks relative to sustainability, there are several considerations.

According to the NAPIM white paper, this includes the use of bio-derived renewable raw materials, the amount of volatile organic compounds (VOCs), presence of hazardous air pollutants (HAPs), heavy metal content and toxic/carcinogenic ingredients. Printing ink manufacturers must take these environmental factors into account, while also providing a product that meets both the performance expectations on the printing press and the end use requirements of the printed product. 

Both associations and both ink manufacturers we spoke with take their responsibilities seriously with respect to the sustainability and safety aspects of their offset printing inks, and we assume that most, if not all, other ink manufacturers in North America and Europe do the same.

Everyone emphasized the use of bio-derived renewable materials to replace petroleum-based products, and significant progress has been made in this regard. We often hear about soy-based inks, but in fact, almost any plant material can be used.

“We are increasingly looking into bio-renewable source materials, as we did with our AquaGreen series," Renzi said. "We are also looking at our current systems and working with different labs to test their compostability – how well they degrade. We have also been looking at how we can reuse materials like recycled polyester or polystyrene, reusing those resins rather than putting them in the landfill. We are also working on developing inks that will come off of labels, including the plastic sleeves on bottles that are produced using flexo or offset printing with UV inks, enabling bottle recycling to be cleaner.”

Finding the Right Balance

Renzi also pointed out, as did others, that coatings is another area of focus. In addition to making sure sustainable inks deliver adequate performance, Sun Chemical is also working on coatings that will have an impact on sustainability.

“We are working on some direct food contact coating solutions,” he said. “For example, we are looking at coatings that will give paper straws the same rigidity as plastic, helping to eliminate plastic straws, as well as other coatings that are acceptable for direct food contact that will help increase the rigidity or performance of paper to make it more reusable.”

Low Migration: Is It a Thing?

The other topic of discussion was unwanted migration of ink components into food and other products from packaging.

Renzi noted that there is increasing interest in higher purity, lower migration, lower odor inks and coatings that can still give you the properties or rigidity of a laminated structure, but with one single layer.

“We screen a lot of raw materials, including pigments, to see how we can drive down non-intentional migration of substances," he said. "We can use blocking products to prevent migration, but you can also get set-off migration as the printed materials are stacked. The best approach would be to get to these higher purity raw materials so you don’t have to worry about migration.”

Final Thoughts

“As citizens of the world, we need to be a user, not a consumer," Groh said. "Do you know when your ‘overdue day’ is? That’s the day in a year on which you have consumed as much material as it would take the earth to produce in a year. The ideal date is December 31. I worry about how we are polluting our land and sea. We are more than happy to cooperate with our competitors so we all achieve a better ‘overdue day,’ since we believe this will speed up the process toward a more sustainable world. I would like to have a healthy earth for my kids and grandkids.”

At Sun Chemical, there are four facets that comprise its sustainability initiatives:

1. Development of eco-friendly products
2. Creation of products designed to improve the eco-efficiency of processes
3. Formulation of products that comply with regulations and protect consumers
4. Responsible manufacturing and good manufacturing practices

“We aren’t at 100% bio-renewable content yet, but we are working toward that," Renzi said. "We still need to use some conventional materials to impart some of the necessary properties. But that’s the goal. Brand owners and end users want to get to 100% bio-renewable in their packaging. Right now we are at about 50%, and considering that we only started three or four years ago, we have moved quickly. I believe within three to five years, we should be there – or nearly there. In that timeframe, I believe there will be a lot more choices – perhaps a genetically modified plant that isn’t eaten but helps get us to more bio-renewable content. If everyone is working toward that goal, including raw materials suppliers, it will go faster.”

Trade associations also have a significant role to play including encouraging more sustainable practices among members and providing educational opportunities. For example, NAPIM conducted a summer course in July at Clemson’s Sonoco Institute on ink formulation and will host a technical conference in the fall focused on sustainability from a regulatory and business perspective. The association also maintains an extensive library of printing ink related publications bulletins, books, conference presentations and brochures covering business, market, technical and regulatory information. The organization also publishes an annual State of the Industry report, which provides current information on the state of the printing ink manufacturing industry. NAPIM tracks, on a monthly basis, imports and exports of all types of printing inks.

In Europe, EuPIA also provides a wealth of information, including an annual conference (next scheduled for Budapest, March 26-27, 2020). There is information about sustainability, chemical regulation, safe handling and use and more, including market statistics.

Supporting these associations is a critical element of building a more sustainable printing and packaging industry.