On Soy Inks

The debate over soy vs. oil. vs. rubber (and vs. acrylic, don't forget) rages on: last week the discussion about the pros and cons of each variety was being hotly debated on the Photopolymer Listserv, where an astute member referred us to this great post from the Spark Stationery blog. You can read the full post here, but here are the highlights, quoted directly from their post:

* When we looked into the actual composition of various inks, it turns out that soy inks are not vastly different. If not soy oil, most oil-based inks use linseed oil, which has been used for centuries in oil paint, etc. It also is plant based, and time proven. The breakdown of the ink is something like 20-30% oils (of either kind), 10-20% pigments, around 40% resins, and some other things such as drier or varnish.
* In the very small quantities we use, there is no significant difference in VOCs emitted, or other environmental standards. Soy ink shows these advantages in large print runs such as newspapers, national mailings, and so forth.
* The soy ink that is readily available to us is sort of “soupy,” and requires adding modifiers to reach the desired stiffness. Thinner inks make the printing appear sloppy as they “squeeze out” under impression.
* The drive for soy inks came from a marketing council of soybean growers. When a printer of our size proclaims their use of soy ink, we wonder if it is more of a marketing tool than a concrete environmental difference. If the soy oil replaced volatile solvents like toluene or benzene it would be a clear advantage, but linseed has worked well for ages and has no ill effects that we know of.
* We mix all of our inks by hand so even though we are a commercial letterpress shop we only have a can or maybe two of just the pantone mixing inks instead of buying a new can of a single PMS each time someone orders a new color. Common print jobs typically use a small amount of ink – about the size of a quarter. This helps us to be better to the environment instead of having a bunch of ink that might not ever get used sitting around.
* We've also decided to start making the switch to rubber-based inks because of their anti-skimming properties. This keeps more of the ink more usable over time.

Good, green news from Van Son Inks

Van Son, manufacturer of our favorite rubber base printing ink, has introduced a zero VOC, vegetable-based printing ink, called VS Zero. It contains neither petroleum solvents nor mineral oil, and should be available soon (Van Son's site is currently down . . . ). It'll be another way not only to protect you and yours, but also to make your shop even greener. Read more about VS Zero here.

Is Lettra recycled?

We love Lettra--and not only because of its tree-freeness. What goes into that cotton stock? This info comes from Dave Kidwell, Crane's Mid-Atlantic Region Manager, regarding the "recycled" content of Crane's Lettra.

There are two sources for cotton that Crane's uses to make all of its 100% cotton "Commercial" (not to be confused with Currency) papers: 1) Trimmings and 2) Linters

1) Trimmings are the left-over scrap from the textile industry after, say, a 100% cotton undershirt has been stamped out.
2) Linters are the small group of fibers that are connected to the cotton seed which are removed after ginning. The cotton seeds are sold to be pressed for cotton seed oil--we are able to remove those small fibers from the seed and use those for paper making.

In either case, these are materials that would otherwise make their way into the landfills. Since they technically never passed though a consumer's hands, they cannot be considered "Post Consumer" under government guidelines. They are, however, reclaimed materials and under any "rational" thinking would be considered "recycled." Our brethren in the wood paper market caused a stir back in the beginning of the "recycled" movement when they would run up huge inventories of offset and such papers. They would then take the overage and use it as "broke" stock in which they would turn it back into pulp to be used for other paper. (A common practice throughout the paper industry). What they did though is then call the paper from this "broke" stock "recycled," which caused the Government to step in and say that it must first pass through a consumer's hands.

Sounds green to me . . .