Printing products: the sustainable transition

The world's leading manufacturer of cutting-edge inks, varnishes, pigments, adhesives and other materials, Sun Chemical offers a wide range of cutting-edge solutions designed to improve the sustainability of packaging printing processes and reduce their impact on the environment.

The guidelines along which Sun Chemical (a member of DIC Group) is moving to achieve environmental compatibility objectives are well described in its latest Sustainability Report, which highlights the effort in R&D both in relation to the products themselves and to the production processes, with obvious positive effects on the environment.

In summary, the initiatives promoted consist of the use of bio renewable raw material carbons (BRC) of vegetable origin and/or post-consumer in the composition of the products - both fully and partially but significantly - and/or in improving their recyclability. The advantages resulting from this approach are many: reduction of greenhouse gas emissions in production processes, release from dependence on fossil resources, containment of polluting, non-degradable waste destined for landfill or that could be dispersed in the environment.

From research to market

Cited in its latest Sustainability Report, we cite some of the solutions that exemplify Sun Chemical's contribution to a "sustainable transition".

Aqua Green. Inks with a high level of biorenewable content across many of its product ranges. Sun Chemical’s AquaGreen water-based flexo inks are an example of a biorenewable ink being used on McDonald’s packaging.The levels of BRC in an ink, coating or adhesive can be measured using carbon isotope ratio analysis. This method gives clear results as to the BRC and conforms to the ASTM D6866-18 Method B standard.

Repulpable paper cup coatings. They can replace the polyethylene plastic inner liner of the paper cup and significantly improve recyclability.Paper cups with the Sun Chemical repulpable coating can be disposed into a standard paperboard waste stream, and the paper fibers can then be easily recycled.

Compostability certified inks. Composting is a particularly good end-of-life option in cases where food packaging is likely to be contaminated with food and where the food waste cannot easily be separated from the packaging.

SunLam™ Deseaming Adhesive. This is a shrink label adhesive that allows the label to be detached and separated from the bottle during the PET container recycling process in order to prevent contamination of recycled PET (rPET) by printed labels and therefore by the color resulting from the printing ink. This operation makes it possible to obtain colorless recycled PET (rPET) flakes, increasing its value and thus promoting circular economy.

Direct-food-contact inks. These safe inks allow brand owners the freedom of printed paper straws with a wide gamut of colors. Paper straws do not represent the same level of hazard for the environment as plastic straws in situations where they are not properly disposed of.