Impress digital printing inks hold The International Association of the Deinking Industry, INGEDE Certificate.
Printing digitally has many benefits such as versatility, speed, speciality inks, personalisation, and much more. Recycling the paper it’s printed on saves resources and is great for the environment. But let’s think about this… what happens when it comes to the recycling process… can the ink be easily separated from the paper?
To keep the paper recyclable, the ink needs to be removed but some inks can be separated more easily than others. So, it’s important to select deinkable ink when you print to avoid contaminating the recycling batch.
WHAT IS DEINKING?
Deinking is the removal of printing ink from the recovered paper during the paper recycling process.
The process…
Having reached the paper mill, paper for recycling is ‘slushed’ into pulp. The large non-fibrous contaminants are removed (for example staples, plastic, glass etc.)
The printing inks then need to be removed to increase the whiteness and purity. During this stage, the ink is removed in a flotation process where air is blown into the solution. The ink adheres to bubbles of air and rises to the surface from where it is separated.
After the ink is removed, the fibre may be bleached, usually with hydrogen peroxide. (Hydrogen Peroxide has recently become more commonly used than Chlorine for the bleaching process. It is good to check your paper is ECF [Elementary Chlorine Free] or TFC [Totally Chlorine Free] to avoid the use of Chlorine which has poor environmental performance!)
The pulp is then ready to be made into paper.
If the ink is not able to be removed at the deinking stage, the batch of pulp will be contaminated and will not be fit for purpose. It is therefore important that your printer’s inks are certified for DEINKABILITY!
Depending on the grade of paper being produced, quantities of virgin pulp from sustainable sources may be added. The addition of virgin pulp (FSC® certified) can help to support sustainable European forestry. It’s great to see the European Forests are actually expanding as a result of the work with paper and furniture industries. Not all papers have virgin pulp added, some papers, typically newsprint and corrugated materials can be made from 100% recycled paper.
IMPRESS DIGITAL INKS ARE DEINKABLE
Impress are proud that our digital ink holds the INGEDE certificate of deinkability. INGEDE is an association of leading European paper manufacturers promoting the utilisation of recovered graphic paper (e.g. newsprint, magazines and office paper) and improving the conditions for extended use of recovered paper.
YOUR NEXT PRINT PROJECT
We all have choices to make when commissioning print projects. Sometimes there are just too many decisions; what paper, what colour, what shape, what size, the list goes on! The affect on the environment is crucially important too and sometimes overlooked. But, this shouldn’t be hard… after all, most of us want to help mitigate environmental impact and do our bit to slow the rate of climate change.
Impress are here to help and make it easy for our clients to make informed choices about sustainable print.
Remember, paper is sustainable we just need to take care of what we put on it!
#LovePaper | #Recyclable | #Deinkable