Environment - Consumables

Wide format digital printer manufacturer MUTOH & wide format media manufacturer GRAFITYP announced that they have obtained an Indoor Air Comfort Certificate (IAC) for the Grafityp Ecological non-PVC self-adhesive film (GEF-ES) printed with Mutoh Universal Mild Solvent (UMS) inks. This product certificate issued by Eurofins, an independent test organisation and world market leader for Volatile Organic Chemical (VOC) product emission testing, guarantees full compliance with all regulations on VOC emissions into indoor air that exist in any EU Member state. Certification involved test chamber testing of printed film with maximum possible ink coverage, VOC measurement for some 200 VOCs after 3 & 28 days as well as an in-depth third party audit of the production sites.

“This product certificate demonstrates Mutoh’s commitment in offering digital printers and inks that provide environmental protection and sustainability”, says Stephan Heintjens, Mutoh Belgium’s Product Development Manager. “Our UMS inks have been specifically formulated to offer a unique and innovative blend of high quality durable colour pigments, a new mix of resins and, last but not least, a new combination of milder and non-aggressive solvents”.

“This IAC certificate will offer ValueJet series printer owners as well as print buyers full peace of mind in regards to long-term consumer protection after installation of the final digitally printed products, as well as full compliance with green building programs and ecological regulations for indoor air quality,” Heintjens concludes.

“At Grafityp we are delighted with this important environmental acknowledgement”, says Harald Jumelet, Grafityp’s Sales & Marketing Manager. “This pan-European IAC product certificate assures that wide format prints made on our Grafityp Ecological Film printed with Mutoh UMS inks will contribute to the comfort and well-being of building inhabitants. It will assist building owners, brand owners, planners, indoor decorators and architects to select low polluting products and to achieve good Indoor Air Quality”, concludes Jumelet.

“Several Member States of the EU require a documentation of product emissions of VOCs. CE marking of construction products and wall coverings including digitally printed self-adhesive non-PVC film is expected to follow soon”, says Reinhard Oppl, Head of Eurofins’ Certification body. “Our Indoor Air Comfort Certification Program aims at providing one global label for Europe. Tests are based on the ISO 16000 series standards and are performed in accordance with the harmonised CEN/TS 16516 horizontal testing method for VOC emissions” continues Oppl.

”The Indoor Air Comfort product certification implies compliance with emission requirements of all applicable specifications issued by authorities in the EU Member States covering Belgian regulation, French regulation class A, German regulation AgBB, upcoming Lithianian regulation and E1 classification (recommended for production of home furniture and wooden floorings). After issuing the certificate, we are also following up with repeated audits to ensure continuous low emission values”, concludes Oppl.

About Mutoh’s UMS inks

The UMS inks offer an outdoor UV resistance of up to three years without lamination. They offer an unrivalled colour gamut and a unique gloss preservation. The CMYK ink set covers 83 % of the Pantone C® colour chart. The inks are fixed and dried at temperatures below 50°C and are suited for both high quality and high speed printing. More info : http://www.mutoh.eu/en-us/products/optionsinks/inks.aspx 

About Grafityp’s GEF-ES ecological film

GEF-ES, the latest development within Grafityp’s COLIBRI range, is an environmentally friendly PVC-free film with a thickness of 135 microns. The film comes with a high quality print coating, which has been developed especially for solvent (eco-mild-hard) inks. With this new eco film Grafityp meets the ever growing demand for alternative environmentally friendly solutions. Combined with the COLIBRI laminates, the film is a unique environmentally friendly solution for all kinds of large format printing applications. More info : http://www.grafityp.com/printmediaUK.html 

About Eurofins

With over 17,000 staff in around 200 laboratories across 36 countries, Eurofins Scientific is the world leader in food and biopharma product testing, and on several other fields. The Danish branch Eurofins Product Testing A/S is the world leader in VOC testing and operates the "Indoor Air Comfort" certification program for products with low VOC emissions into indoor air. More info : www.eurofins.com/iac-certified 

Following over 12 months of development work with the University of Sheffield, Northern Flags has announced the completion of the printing, treatment and installation of a ground breaking 20m x 10m banner on the University of Sheffield’s Alfred Denny Building that turns textiles into a catalytic surface that purifies the air around it.

The banner has been manufactured using pioneering catalytic technology developed by the University’s Pro-Vice Chancellor for the Faculty of Science, Professor Tony Ryan and features the world’s first Catalytic poem written by the University’s Professor of Poetry, Simon Armitage.

After a series of comprehensive tests, the 20 metre high banner has been printed utilising dye sublimation techniques on a specially selected fabric to allow the absorption of catalytic chemicals.  The banner contains microscopic pollution-eating particles of titanium dioxide, which, after coming into contact with nitrogen oxides in the atmosphere, react with these pollutants to purify the air. It’s the ultimate ‘Green Banner’ as it effectively cleans the air while it is being displayed and it is fully recyclable after use.

Iain Clasper, Managing Director of Northern Flags, comments, "This has been an exciting project to be involved with over the past 15 months and has capitalised on our group’s ability to work with clients on innovative projects. We are excited about this development as this now gives us the opportunity to work with our clients to roll out this type of treatment on their external marketing banners.  It's a great innovation and will enable clients to clean the air around buildings and forecourts, ensuring that their fabric based promotional flags and banners are eco-friendly during their use as well as being recyclable after the campaigns have been completed.”

Historically, retailers’ obsolete visual merchandising signage has just been thrown into the landfill. But thanks to DuPont’s LifeCycle Based Solutions program, retailers can recycle entire Tyvek and Vivia displays with ease, enhancing the materials’ appeal to sustainability-minded big brands and their supply chain printing partners.

“The DuPont LifeCycle Based Solutions for Tyvek is part of our ongoing initiative to offer sustainable material options, which meet our corporate responsibility goals. It also aligns with the tenets of the Sustainable Green Printing Partnership (SGP), a certification body that DuPont has actively supported since its inception in 2008,” comments Annette Kim, North America Marketing Manager for Tyvek at DuPont Protection Technologies. SGP Certification requires that printing facilities undergo a thorough audit of their operations in order to satisfy its criteria for sustainability. “We support SGP Certified facilities by favoring them in our print procurement practice,” states Kim. “We are also proud to support their sustainability journey by developing innovative products to their use and to advocate to their clients.”

One SGP Certified print facility in particular, Portland-based Infinity Images, has received positive client feedback as a result of the recycling options of the Tyvek Vivia product line. Infinity Images constantly seeks ways to enrich its solutions to clients while embracing a sustainability-driven business model. Tyvek Vivia allows Infinity Images to accomplish just that for some of the world’s most recognizable brands, including adidas.

“Tyvek Vivia is an awesome product for window campaigns when we need two sided banners or when a customer is looking for something that is recyclable,” states Jason Mockley, Senior Project Manager, Infinity Images. “The clients are happy with the print quality of the banners and are excited to address waste concerns by using the Tyvek mailback program to extend the life of the banner material when the campaign ends, instead of just throwing them away. It’s a good, win-win product that is easier to sell because of that story,” notes Mockley.

By sourcing sustainable substrates and print manufacturing processes from an SGP Certified print facility like Infinity Images, adidas is realising its supply chain goals as part of its Environmental Strategy 2015. As a result, the sporting goods giant is reducing its carbon footprint while advancing its sustainability leadership.

“In addition to being a strong and versatile material, Tyvek Vivia has been designed with sustainability in mind. It’s PVC-free, which is of utmost importance to SGP Certified printers,” notes Kim. “It doesn’t contain any phthalates, binders, heavy metals, or compounds that are found on lists of toxic chemicals.” DuPont’s Tyvek is used as wide format material across the country; the high-density polyethylene is a popular choice for banners and signs due to its durability and lightweight strength, requiring less material than vinyl to accomplish the same task.

To complete the lifecycle of the Tyvek products, DuPont partnered with Waste Management to create a convenient recycling kit and program. Waste Management recycles the banners and reprocesses them into resin, which is then repurposed for a variety of uses.

Waste Management also gathers valuable data pertaining to the Tyvek recycling program by scanning a barcode on the recycling kit envelope. The material owner can then receive a certificate that details how much Tyvek® is recycled. “The recycled material tracking is a unique feature of the program and is valuable to SGP Certified printers. It provides documentation of their sustainability best practices and helps monitor their continuous improvement progress, which can easily be incorporated into their annual reports,” Kim notes.

Print facilities and their clients using Tyvek can sign up for the program at recycletyvek.wm.com to receive a recycling kit. The standard kit includes an expandable Tyvek envelope capable of holding 250 square feet of Tyvek material. Custom recycling kits are available upon request.

HP today announced that HP Latex Inks and HP A50 Inkjet Web Press Inks are the first water-based inkjet inks to achieve the Sustainable Product Certification from UL Environment, a business unit of Underwriters Laboratories (UL).  UL is a global independent safety science company. Its Environment business works to advance global sustainability, environmental health and safety by supporting the development of environmentally preferable products, services and organisations.

Certification under the UL Environmental Standard for Sustainability for Printing Inks (UL 2801) demonstrates that an ink meets a range of stringent criteria related to human health and environmental considerations. Originally created for offset, letterpress, flexographic and gravure printing inks, this standard now includes criteria to certify water-based inkjet inks, screen printing inks and UV-curable inks.

"We applaud HP for pursuing and becoming the industry's first printer manufacturer to achieve certification under the UL 2801 standard," said Sara Greenstein, president, UL Environment. "For every step a company takes toward greening its products and processes, the marketplace advances its overall sustainability practices."

HP is currently showcasing the HP Designjet L26500 Printer with certified HP Latex Inks at the inaugural EcoPrint Show in Berlin.

"As more consumers and companies seek environmentally conscious printing options, print service providers are looking for new ways to demonstrate their commitment to sustainability," said Christopher Morgan, senior vice president, Graphics Solutions Business, HP. "With two HP water-based inks meeting the UL sustainability standard, we are helping our customers gain a competitive edge with a certification that is recognised and trusted worldwide."

More information about the UL Environment program and the UL 2801 sustainability certification for printing inks is available at http://www.ul.com/environment.

Dufaylite has been awarded the Point-of-Purchase Advertising International (POPAI) Sustainability Standard benchmark for going ‘above and beyond the current industry average’ in its environmental practices.  Following a detailed audit, Dufaylite, which produces a range of low carbon substrates including eco-friendly Ultra Board, received a glowing report. The areas of best practice praised by the adjudicator were Dufaylite’s ‘exemplary’ evidence of sustainable design and supply chain management.

The two stage assessment evaluates companies’ environmental efforts in seven key modules: Design, Plant & Premises, Materials & Processes, Corporate, Supply Chain, Logistics and End of Life. Dufaylite successfully completed each category, passing the audit as a whole.

POPAI’s sustainability manager, Jennifer Wilson, says: “Dufaylite has embraced the POPAI Sustainability Standard and the spirit in which it was intended, ensuring its successful implementation within the business. With this in mind, Dufaylite has mirrored the core ethos of quality and integrity within its environmental practices, something that many companies find difficult to achieve.”

Tony Moscrop, Dufaylite’s chief executive officer, adds, “We are thrilled to have been awarded this terrific green accreditation for our ongoing commitment to sustainable practice. Operating as greenly as possible, not just in creating our products, but in all aspects of our business is of prime importance to us and I am delighted that our efforts have been formally acknowledged in the glowing report we have received.”

Dufaylite Group is the sole UK manufacturer of recycled paper honeycomb – a 100% recyclable, robust and versatile core material that has become an innovation in the signage industry and is used in many industrial applications. Major suppliers to the retail and manufacturing industries, Dufaylite now exports to Europe, Australia and the US.

A new POP display board, BCP Fluted Packaging Ltd.'s Ditto Formcore, that incorporates a completely recyclable laminated structure is set to 'revolutionise' the way in which retailers specify in-store signage.  The new media has been developed to provide a compromise-free alternative to existing PS foam, PU foam, corrugated and solid display boards. Ditto possesses similar high bulk, lightweight characteristics of foam centred boards but with none of their performance or environmental issues.

Ditto's innovative, patented laminated structure is produced utilising a unique manufacturing process and consists of two embossed layers formed symmetrically and laminated to coated board. Its balanced open multi-directional structure performs well in-store even in challenging atmospheric conditions including chilled sections. Ditto delivers a high level of stability and flatness that other substrates cannot match and BCP believes it will be the first paper based display board to be considered for permanent internal signage and not just promotional campaigns.

Ditto is biodegradable and its high quality white paper construction means that it will attract the best post-consumer waste price where segregated for recycling.  In terms of material content when measured against a foam centred board disposed of through landfill,  Ditto is in the region of 7.5 per cent revenue positive.

High quality graphics are achievable either by screen-printing, where Ditto's stability assists tight registration on multi-colour work, or digitally. As well as being suitable for litho-laminated displays, BCP is able to offer a broad range of alternative liners including patterned or holographic film and foil. For additional impact, retailers can specify their corporate colour for board centres, subject to volume. Ditto  is suitable for guillotining, die-cutting and creasing without the need for special tooling or techniques, and can be formed to create unique shapes and structures.

BCP has invested significantly in developing the manufacturing technology that is at the heart of the new board. The process has been specifically designed to maximise production throughput while delivering the highest standards of quality and consistency. This means that Ditto can be obtained via BCP's distribution partners Proctor Paper & Board and its subsidiary businesses Buchanan Paper & Board and A&R Board easily and quickly for in-store campaigns with the tightest production timescale.

Brian Jones, BCP's proprietor and Chairman, said that the development and launch of Ditto represented a real breakthrough for the retail in-store signage sector.  "The range of substrates currently available is considerable, but there are simply too many performance and environmental compromises that the retailer has to make - which is why we have developed Ditto. PS and PU foam boards are being used less and less these days because of their environmental impact but the fact that they still command significant market share is a clear indication that no all-round single paper based solution has been available until now. Foam centred board is notoriously unstable and is prone to warp once printed or whilst hanging in store due to changes in humidity. Corrugated and solid display boards may be recyclable but corrugated is prone to twist and suffers from flute show-through whilst solid boards lack rigidity and stability.  We predict that there will be real enthusiasm for Ditto as retailers recognise the significant benefits it has to offer both in performance and in terms of environmental objectives. Ditto is truly the market's first compromise-free signage option."

Ditto can be obtained via BCP's distribution partners Proctor Paper & Board - http://www.proctors.biz/page974/lang1/Ditto-Formcore - and its subsidiary businesses Buchanan Paper & Board and A&R Board.  For more information, please visit www.bcpflute.com