Love (The Earth) and Print! No VOC's with us!
Climate change debates are hot topics worldwide, the fear of damaging our environment beyond repair looms on many a mind. Many technologies were built practically but simply had no foresight into the damage they'd contribute long-term, and the Print Industry has concerns to address.
Volatile organic compounds (VOCs) are organic chemicals that have a high vapor pressure at ordinary room temperature.
Traditionally, printers will use 'Offset Powder in conventional litho offset printing. The VOCs in the ink evaporate and leave behind a colour and takes a mild amount of time to do so. There is a danger that the ink could bleed through each sheet of paper so it is common practise to use offset powder to spray a fine layer of air between the paper for protection.
Whilst it is a process that seems to work, it is layered with problematic issues.
The powder itself, gets everywhere . A print shop often gets covered with it, all over the machines, the floors and being breathed in by any on-site personnel.
Have we got a solution? Yes! UV Curing Inks!
We switched to the greener option years ago. UV curing inks don't have any harmful VOCs and don't dry by the conventional oxidation processes. Removing those harmful solvents from our print shop is undoubtedly better for everyone and it even has positive business benefits too.
Whilst most printers are still using the offset powders, dirtying water in the process - we're using UV light to cook/dry our inks and we're able to use a water-less press. This process works much, much faster meaning that ink is instantly dried when coming off the press - thus removing the waiting/drying stage and need for offset powder.
How far have we come?
"According to EPA's National Emissions Inventories (NEI), the domestic printing industry ranks
fifth in volatile organic compounds (VOC’s) emissions among major industries. To put this
ranking in perspective, consider that the automobile industry ranks sixth, behind printing."
- Printing Inks and the Environment, J. Miller, 2008
The white paper published by J.Miller in 2008 had many worrying statistics regarding the print industry and hopefully opened the eyes of many, to viable solutions. UV printing is considered a green technology, safe for the environment and leaving an almost zero carbon footprint
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