Printing With Vegetable-Based Printing Inks

Volatile Organic Compounds (VOC’s) are toxic gases emitted from paints, cleaning supplies, building materials and thousands of other products and chemicals. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) defines a VOC as any organic compound that participates in a photoreaction and considers them greenhouse gases. The health effects from breathing VOC’s can range from headaches and dizziness to damage to the central nervous system.

One of the ways Print Tech has reduced the risk of VOC exposure to employees and customers is by using vegetable-based printing inks. Vegetable oils such as soy, linseed and safflower are used as the base for the pigment so it will transfer evenly from press to plate to paper.

The standard had been petroleum-based inks until the 1970’s oil crisis, when the Newspaper Association of America started to look for alternate ways to make ink that were more cost efficient and reliable. With the development of vegetable inks came the reduction of VOC’s and other advantages, including increased ink degradability and the need for less ink to be used, thereby reducing both ink and printer cleanup costs.

Print Tech is FSC (Forest Stewardship Council) Certified and is always looking for ways to reduce our environmental footprint. (Slideshow)