Siegwerk launches UV offset inks with high bio-renewable content for non-food paper and board

24 May 2022 --- Siegwerk is launching a UV offset ink series with high bio-renewable content for non-food paper and board applications. The new Sicura Litho Pack Eco series provides an environmentally sustainable alternative to standard UV inks. 

The series’ formulation consists of more than 40% of renewable and vegetable-based components, showing four times higher share of bio-renewable content than the average standard UV ink.

Furthermore, the series is free of TMPTA, Benzophenone and CMR CAT. 1 and CMR Cat. 2 components. It is a low odor ink series specially designed for all kinds of paper and board substrates.

High color strength
Siegwerk says the series shows excellent ink performance and high color strength. Next to high dot gain sharpness and excellent flowability, the new UV offset range offers a very stable ink and water balance even during long runs and good film flexibility for post-processing. 

The product range contains four-color process inks according to ISO, Pantone colors, base inks, special colors as well as flexo OPV.

Siegwerk is a leading global provider of printing inks and coatings for packaging applications and labels.“With Sicura Litho Pack Eco we deliver once again on our commitment to drive the change towards a circular economy by supporting the development of circular packaging with innovative and eco-friendly inks and coatings,” says Mustafa Guler, VP for BU Sheetfed EMEA at Siegwerk.

“With 40% bio-renewable content, it is not only comparable to certain conventional oil-based inks, but it also represents a new eco-friendly alternative for UV offset printing. Its formulation is particularly designed for recycling and therefore for not impacting the recyclability of paper and board substrates at all.”

Test runs underway
Test runs on the series’ “deinkability” are currently underway to further determine its potential to also improve the recycling of UV-printed paper and board packaging. According to Siegwerk, increasing the bio-renewable content in inks can support the defossilization when sensibly used. Bio-renewable materials also come with challenges, for example, regarding sustainable sourcing and the preferred end-life concept of packaging.

That’s why the company only works on bio-renewable inks and coatings that support a circular end-life solution like recycling. “We generally support the ambitions to increase bio-renewable content where possible and in line with the three levers of a circular economy – reduce, reuse and recycle,” adds Guler.

“Not all raw materials can be replaced by bio-renewable one’s going forward. However, increasing the amount of these materials in our solutions plays a significant role in meeting our goals and close a gap where there are inevitable material losses and leakage.”There is no standard definition of “bio-renewable raw material” so Siegwerk has developed its own.

Defining “bio-renewable”
Although it is widely discussed that bio-renewable resources could have the potential to complement a circular economy as a non-fossil raw material source, there is neither a standard definition of the term “bio-renewable raw material” nor a universal consensus on how to calculate bio-renewable content in printing inks.

Siegwerk has decided to establish its own definition, taking into consideration current scientific and political discussions and arguments. According to the company’s experts, especially raw materials either of vegetable, animal or microbial origin that underwent material utilization for the production of chemicals, basic materials and other bio-based products are of interest to be used in ink formulations.

Water or materials embedded in geological formations are, in turn, explicitly not considered as being bio-renewable. “When calculating the bio-renewable content of our inks, we focus on the actual share of raw materials with bio-renewable origin that is present in the respective ink formulation, taking all constituents into consideration,” explains Alina Marm, head of global sustainability and circular economy at Siegwerk.

“Thereby, our calculation refers to the sum of all components present in a raw material, also taking into account substances and solvents – except water – that are excluded in the methods commonly used so far, such as ASTM D6866, EN 16640 and NAPIM.”

Edited by Joshua Poole