An Industry-Wide Headache
Everyone, it seems, loves inkjet technology. It’s efficient, easy on the budget and there’s certainly no denying the benefits of inkjet when it comes to personalization. Bottom line: inkjet-enabled solutions offer one of the rare growth sectors for an industry grappling with decline in many traditional products. So, the realization that inkjet-printed paper isn’t the most recycling-friendly is cause for some concern. Green, after all, is where it’s at in today’s marketplace. To have to explain one of your most value-added offerings might fly in the face of end-users’ green initiatives, well...that’s a problem. The topic sparked some lively debate during Graph Expo, held Oct. 26-29 at McCormick Place in Chicago and also at DRUPA, May 29-June 11 at the Trade Fair Center in Düsseldorf.
The good news is, experts and specialists from within the highly solution-oriented printing and paper manufacturing industries are already on the case. Following is a brief look at some of the issues and how they are being addressed.
The Munich, Germany-based International Association of the Deinking Industry, (INGEDE) consists of 40 mostly European mills. Particularly within the past year, the organization has voiced concern that water-based inks from the next generation of inkjet web presses pose challenges to the paper recycling process. The fear is high-speed inkjet web presses deposit water-based inkjet inks into porous stocks which soak up the inks like sponges. Subsequently, the inks can’t be successfully removed during recycling, and then bleed into the pulp during the repulping process, causing the pulp to darken. Recycling mills seem to be coping with casual production of inkjet prints from households and offices, maintained INGEDE. “But, the high-volume, high-speed webs change the scenario,” said the group’s spokesman, Axel Fischer.
Introducing the pulp into the recycling stream, even in small amounts, could have severe consequences for graphic paper recycling. The organization even suggested inkjet-printed products be labeled as “Not Recyclable.” However, at a recent European roundtable of paper industry representatives and digital print experts, inkjet manufacturers formally joined the talks for the first time. Said Fischer, “INGEDE hopes this helps in the long run to direct further development towards better deinkable systems.”
Fischer went on to say dry toners perform very well in the paper recycling process which was originally developed for the removal of offset and gravure inks. “A series of tests by different European research institutes on behalf of INGEDE has confirmed these findings. When designing a print product, publisher[s] and marketing agents need to take recycling into account,” he commented.
Inkjet Press Manufacturers Respond
Think about it, most pages today, and therefore most paper collected for recycling, comes from the graphic arts industry. Currently, the majority of it is still being manufactured by analog processes, such as offset lithography, gravure and flexography. But digital processes collectively account for the fastest-growing sector of the graphic arts market, which means higher volumes of digitally printed paper will be flowed into the recycling stream.
A major benefit of digital—its ability to eliminate the waste from overproduction and make ready processes associated with analog processes—could be overshadowed by deinking issues. The process of separating ink or toner from printed media is a necessary step in paper recycling, so there’s a definite impact on emerging technologies, like the HP inkjet web press and other competing solutions.
Not surprising, four leading high-volume inkjet press manufacturers created the Digital Print De-Inking Alliance (DPDA) in September to support inkjet recyclability research. DPDA members currently include HP, Palo Alto, Calif.; InfoPrint Solutions Company, Boulder, Colo.; Kodak’s Graphic Communications Group, Rochester, N.Y.; and Océ N.V., whose international headquarters are in the Netherlands. Technical representatives from each company have been meeting regularly to focus on deinking inkjet prints, as well as deinking other print technologies.
HP is working with leaders in the paper industry—including the Centre Technique du Paper in France, Paper Technology Specialist in Germany and Western Michigan University in the United States—to understand the chemistry and physics of deinking and fully assess deinking and recycling options. Digital printing does create opportunities to significantly reduce waste and inventory and benefit the environment.
DPDA pointed out many paper recyclers are successfully using digitally printed papers in their process today, but stressed the need for industry standards worldwide, and testing methods to compare recycling efficiency between different print technologies and recycling processes.
Based on encouraging results to date, HP has concluded that feasible recyclability and deinking solutions exist today or can be developed for all of HP’s digital printing technologies. For instance, HP Indigo LEP and deinking HP Indigo presses use HP ElectroInk, a proprietary liquid ink. Papers printed with HP ElectroInk version 4.0 are recyclable, based on typical two-loop deinking processes. Two loop deinking generally refers to two cycles through a set of deinking unit operations with a flotation step in each cycle. It’s commonly used in graphic arts grade pulp. The company stated there’s been an improvement in deinking performance compared to older generation ElectroInk, based on innovations from its Indigo division.
So, what does all of this mean for distributors whose customers are beefing up green initiatives? They will need to follow developments and keep themselves and end-users informed. It’s just one more way distributors can prove their value. PPR