Ink is a necessary item in the printing industry and is the largest source of pollution currently. The world's annual ink production has reached 300,000 tons, and the annual global organic compounds (VOC) pollution emissions caused by ink have reached hundreds of thousands of tons. In traditional printing processes, a large amount of lead, chromium, mercury, etc. containing heavy metals and other substances are widely used. Solvents of volatile and highly toxic organic compounds not only cause environmental pollution but also damage the health of printing workers. These organic volatiles can form a more serious greenhouse effect than those at high altitudes. Under sunlight, they will form oxides and photochemical smog, seriously polluting the atmospheric environment and affecting people's health.
Except for the printing industry, in board game manufacturing, inks are used in all coated accessory processes, such as plastic accessories, heat-transfer printed wood accessories, painted dice, Sundrop technology of miniature, etc. Environmental protection is challenging board game manufacturing companies.
As traditional inks continue to develop towards VOCs-free, mineral oil-free vegetable oil-based, and LED-UV inks. Printing materials such as low VOCs, no mineral oil, highly bio-based, degradable, water-based, customized, small batch, and automated have become the mainstream pursued by the packaging industry prospect.
Currently, in board game production, the widely used eco-friendly inks are mainly vegetable oil-based inks, including water-based inks, UV inks, soy inks, etc.:
I. Water-based ink does not contain aromatic hydrocarbon solvents, that is to say, it does not contain mineral oil, and the content of volatile organic compounds (VOC) is also greatly reduced. There is almost no organic solvent remaining on the surface of the printed matter, which is less harmful to human health.
II. UV ink does not contain volatile organic compounds, but its drying is achieved by ultraviolet light.
III. The vegetable oil extracted from soybeans is non-mineral oil. This ink does not contain volatile organic compounds that pollute the atmosphere and is odorless and non-toxic.
Since VOC emissions can seriously pollute the environment, vegetable oil-based offset inks are becoming more and more popular. Soybean ink is the main variety of vegetable oil-based offset printing ink, which gradually replaces ordinary offset printing ink and is widely used in commercial fields. The main characteristics are as follows:
Excellent environmental performance. Soybean ink uses vegetable oil instead of petroleum, which effectively reduces the use of fossil raw materials and the stress on earth's resources; it requires less volatile organic substances and can effectively reduce air pollution. At the same time, the pigment degradation rate is 4 times that of standard gasoline ink.
Low cost. Soy ink is purer than petroleum ink and requires less pigment, which can reduce ink costs. At the same time, soy ink has higher ductility, which can reduce ink usage and further reduce printing costs. Although the average price of soy ink is higher than that of gasoline ink, soy ink is more economical in terms of pigment use, volatile organic compound use, and printing machine cleaning costs.
Friction-resistant and heat-resistant. Soy ink is not easy to rub off, so the readers can tailor experiences to their habits and do not have to worry about their hands getting stained. It has a high boiling point will not volatilize and stick to the paper when the laser printer or copier is heated, and will not contaminate machine parts.
Favorable inking properties. Soybean ink dries slowly but has good transferability, good inkability in solid areas, and uniform ink color in bright areas. Ordinary offset printing ink is easy to break off near the paper surface, but soybean ink does not. which increases the amount of ink transfer.
Favorable laser resistance. Soybean ink will not volatilize and stick to the paper when heated by a laser printer or copier. It will not contaminate printing machine parts and reduce costs and losses.
Favourable coloring. The raw material of soybean ink is edible oil such as salad oil. After refining and processing, it has high fluidity, colorability, and transparency, is not easy to fade, and can produce high-quality prints. UV-mixed soy ink for waterless printing has excellent recycling performance and does not require powder spraying. It can print high-quality prints and improve the operating environment.
Mineral-free ink and soy ink provide the main solutions for Eastar's eco-friendly production. If you want to know more about eco-friendly board game production solutions, please check our official website for information.
