Bio-Renewable Ink Helps to Minimize Environmental Impact

We have frequently featured environmentally friendly paper in our newsletter’s “Green” column, yet ink is becoming more “green” oriented, too.

In an effort to evaluate and minimize printing inks’ environmental impact, the National Association of Printing Ink Manufacturers (NAPIM) in New Jersey offers a voluntary certification and labeling program to ink manufacturers. The program is designed to consistently measure, register, and communicate the Bio- Derived Renewable Resource Content (BRC) index of an ink as delivered to the printer.

“The BRC index is an important and quantifi able value that can be used in conjunction with the already established guidelines for safety, Volatile Organic Compound (VOC) content, hazardous air pollutants (HAPs), presence of heavy metals, and the toxicity of raw materials,” according to NAPIM’s website.

For offset sheetfed printing inks, like those which are used at HPI, the potential BRC index range is 30-80 (although 70 tends to be the highest value except for overprint varnish, which can register at 80-90).

The index value indicates the percentage of bio-derived renewable content by weight in ink formulation. The most commonly known bio-derived renewable material is soy oil, but there are actually a dozen or more bio-derived renewable raw materials that can be used to formulate green-friendly printing inks. HPI uses four-color process inks manufactured by NAPIM member Hostmann- Steinberg, one of 14 ink manufacturers currently participating in NAPIM’s voluntary BRC program. Hostmann-Steinberg’s inks are certifi ed with a BRC index of 60-70, at the higher end of the spectrum.

So, the next time you print a four-color project with us here at HPI, let us know if you would like the BRC logo displayed discreetly or otherwise on your publication, indicating that it was printed with biorenewable ink. For more information about Hostmann- Steinberg, visit the company’s website at: www.hostmann-steinberg.net/ For more information about NAPIM, visit the association online at: www.napim.org/

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