Now our ecological environment on the earth is already very poor, mainly after the industrial revolution. We only pay attention to improving production while neglecting the protection of the environment. Because of the large amount of greenhouse gas emissions, a large number of forests have been cut down, resulting in melting of the Arctic ice sheets, rising sea levels, and an abnormal global climate. In recent years, the problem of desertification has intensified in China, and many cities have frequently been hit by sandstorms. This is simply the pursuit of economic overgrazing, forest and vegetation destruction. The problem of environmental pollution has become more and more serious, causing great harm to human health, and the incidence of some diseases has greatly increased. As a traditional printing industry, the main sources of environmental pollution: ink, fountain solution, film and non-fixable liquid, plastic film, oily glazing materials. With the rising demand for environmental protection, environmental protection as an eternal topic to maintain the living environment of humanity has gradually become an incumbent responsibility for the printing industry, especially the packaging and printing industry. To solve the problem of environmental pollution in the packaging and printing industry, there must be a comprehensive solution. As consumer awareness of environmental protection increases, consumers are more concerned about the product itself when selecting a product and are more focused on product packaging. Along with this trend, with the major output products as the packaging of printed products, green production and environmental protection are like a huge banner, and have become an integral part of their core competitiveness. In all aspects of printing, various raw materials and accessories are very important. Which of the printing and packaging products produced by a printing company can be in direct contact with food, which are degradable, and what factors influence the environment during the production process? These are the things that we each printing worker must think about. problem.
First, printing materials - thermal transfer paper
From the perspective of environmental impact, packaging materials are an important factor directly affecting the environment, so the choice of packaging materials should comply with the requirements of green environmental protection. The evolution of consumer demand for paper (ordinary packaging--high-end packaging) can intuitively reflect the changing trend of packaging materials (white cardboard - gold and silver cardboard). In the selection of raw materials, the vacuum aluminum-plated paper and composite gold-silver cardboard in gold and silver cardboard have good smoothness, high smoothness, bright color, beautiful appearance, strong visual impact, moisture resistance, and significant anti-oxidation effect, etc. The characteristics greatly satisfy the visual effects and use effects, and improve the grade of printing and packaging products. However, from an environmental point of view, the use of materials that are not easily degradable, such as metal luster and high-luminosity aluminum foil composites or PET-coated cardboard, can easily cause environmental pollution and inevitably bring about an environmental crisis. Combining the final realization of product packaging, the current obvious advantages of printing environmental protection are: traditional four-color plain paper printing, white card printing metal ink and large-area bronzing technology, and vacuum aluminum plating materials to replace composite aluminum foil printing. The use of recycled paper for packaging and printing is also a future trend. However, in practical applications, the use of recycled paper has low paper strength, insufficient ink drying, easy scratching, insufficient paper whiteness, and poor abrasion resistance, which limits its application to some extent. range. Although the printability of recycled paper is not comparable to traditional pulp paper, its potential is huge from an environmental point of view. Changing the physical properties of paper can also receive very good results, such as the use of dyeing, embossing, and other methods to improve the uniqueness and novelty of the product. With the deepening of people's environmental awareness, printing companies should pay more attention to improving the environmental performance of packaging and printing, and choose energy-saving, low-cost, non-toxic, non-polluting, reusable, easily dissolved, multi-functional, pollution-free packaging and printing materials.
Second, thermal transfer ink
In the printing industry, ink is indispensable and its amount of use is large, but the harm to human health and the environment is the most serious. Printing inks consist of pigments, binders, solvents, and adjuvants. At the ink application level, the volatilization of VOC (volatile organic compounds) in the ink will cause a serious greenhouse effect, form photochemical smog, and also damage the human nervous system. In addition, heavy metal elements such as pliers, chromium, and mercury in ink pigments also cause certain harm if the ink containing heavy metals is used for food packaging or printing of articles in close contact with the human body. In order to reduce the damage of the ink to the environment, the trend of using environmentally friendly ink becomes more and more obvious. For example: water-based ink, uv ink, soy ink and other new environmentally friendly ink. The representative of the new environmentally-friendly ink is vegetable ink. At present, the common ink for offset printing is soybean ink, and the vegetable oil extracted by soybean is non-mineral oil. These inks based on vegetable oil are in line with environmental protection requirements and are also the trend of environmental protection in the future. Special attention should be paid to the content of heavy metal elements such as pliers, chromium, and mercury on the printed packaging of the export. The ROHS Directive stipulated by the European Commission stipulates that starting on July 1, 2006, new electronic equipment products (including product packaging materials) sold on the EU market shall be free of lead (Pb), cadmium (Cd), and mercury (Hg). Six kinds of harmful substances, such as hexavalent chromium (Cr+6), polybrominated biphenyl (PBB) and polybrominated diphenyl ether (PBDE), clearly specify lead (Pb), mercury (Hg), hexavalent chromium (Cr+6), and The maximum allowable content of polybrominated biphenyl (PBB) and polybrominated diphenyl ether (PBDE) is 0.1%, and the maximum allowable content of cadmium (Cd) is 0.01%.
Third, thermal transfer printing
In the packaging and printing industry, the actual effect of printing is closely related to the chosen printing method. According to the current status of the industry, the choice of printing methods will have a direct or indirect impact on the environment. In the four major printing methods: flat, convex, concave, and other, the bottleneck of environmental applications for plastic (plano) printing is ink and fountain solution. In addition to the use of environment-friendly offset printing inks, the current trend is to try waterless offset printing. The conventional offset fountain solution contains volatile isopropanol and other toxic organics that are inhaled by the human body for a long time and can affect the functions of the kidney and lungs. Waterless offset printing uses non-solvent inks on the one hand and ink-repellent on the other. Silicone resin-coated printing plates can remove the coating in the graphic part to absorb the ink and realize the graphic transfer. Therefore, the fountain solution is not required to achieve the ink-water balance. The bottleneck of gravure printing and screen printing (environmental printing) environmental protection applications is ink; relatively flat, concave, and other three printing methods, flexographic printing in other printing has obvious advantages in environmental protection applications: it uses water-based ink, does not contain toxic Organic matter is exactly in line with the green development trend of modern packaging printing. The biggest feature of water-based inks is the significant reduction in VOC emissions, which reduces air pollution and improves the working environment in the pressroom.
Fourth, the printing process
In the whole printing process, the choice of printing method has a great impact on the environment, but in addition to the environmental impact factors caused by raw materials and auxiliary materials in the actual work, the various improvements in the production process can also receive certain effect. In the printing process, untreated dampening waste liquids, car washes, varnish waste, cleaning fluids, waste liquids, waste ink cans and other liquids and solids are also subject to random emissions (treatment). Environmental hazards. In response to this situation, enterprises must carry out environmental transformation in a planned and systematic manner according to conventional methods, such as building waste liquid filtration systems (including sedimentation, filtration, and centrifugation), and establishing methods for centralized recycling of waste products to reduce environmental impacts. Impact. This mainly depends on the strength of the company's environmental awareness and the size of the corporate social responsibility.
Fifth, post-press processing
In the post-printing process, the use of film, glue, and product protection are equally important. For example, the film is difficult to degrade due to the fact that the film covering the surface of the printed matter is as difficult as other plastic products. On the one hand, white contamination is easily caused, and on the other hand, the coated paper cannot be recycled again. In response to this situation, the promotion and use of a brand new printing (transfer film) technology has received very good environmental effects. The key to pad printing (transfer film) technology is the production of pad printing film, which utilizes the principle of optical vision to form a holographic film-like effect on the surface of printed matter through pressure and a bonding agent during the contact between the pad printing film and the printed matter. The transfer film can be repeatedly used, the effect of the printed product can be comparable to the effect of the film, and the printed product can be waterproof, degradable and conducive to environmental protection. In glazing, water-based gloss oil is used to ensure that the printed product is non-toxic and tasteless.
Sixth, internal system
Introduce international mature systems to standardize corporate behavior and enhance the company's comprehensive management and control capabilities. For example, the ISO14000S environmental management system, in which ISO14001 is the basic standard of the environmental management series of standards, is the basis for the establishment and implementation of an environmental management system and certification of the enterprise. Its basic idea is to prevent and reduce environmental impacts and continuously improve environmental management. The printing industry should learn from and use the ISO14001 environmental management system to continuously improve the environment and prevent pollution.
First, printing materials - thermal transfer paper
From the perspective of environmental impact, packaging materials are an important factor directly affecting the environment, so the choice of packaging materials should comply with the requirements of green environmental protection. The evolution of consumer demand for paper (ordinary packaging--high-end packaging) can intuitively reflect the changing trend of packaging materials (white cardboard - gold and silver cardboard). In the selection of raw materials, the vacuum aluminum-plated paper and composite gold-silver cardboard in gold and silver cardboard have good smoothness, high smoothness, bright color, beautiful appearance, strong visual impact, moisture resistance, and significant anti-oxidation effect, etc. The characteristics greatly satisfy the visual effects and use effects, and improve the grade of printing and packaging products. However, from an environmental point of view, the use of materials that are not easily degradable, such as metal luster and high-luminosity aluminum foil composites or PET-coated cardboard, can easily cause environmental pollution and inevitably bring about an environmental crisis. Combining the final realization of product packaging, the current obvious advantages of printing environmental protection are: traditional four-color plain paper printing, white card printing metal ink and large-area bronzing technology, and vacuum aluminum plating materials to replace composite aluminum foil printing. The use of recycled paper for packaging and printing is also a future trend. However, in practical applications, the use of recycled paper has low paper strength, insufficient ink drying, easy scratching, insufficient paper whiteness, and poor abrasion resistance, which limits its application to some extent. range. Although the printability of recycled paper is not comparable to traditional pulp paper, its potential is huge from an environmental point of view. Changing the physical properties of paper can also receive very good results, such as the use of dyeing, embossing, and other methods to improve the uniqueness and novelty of the product. With the deepening of people's environmental awareness, printing companies should pay more attention to improving the environmental performance of packaging and printing, and choose energy-saving, low-cost, non-toxic, non-polluting, reusable, easily dissolved, multi-functional, pollution-free packaging and printing materials.
Second, thermal transfer ink
In the printing industry, ink is indispensable and its amount of use is large, but the harm to human health and the environment is the most serious. Printing inks consist of pigments, binders, solvents, and adjuvants. At the ink application level, the volatilization of VOC (volatile organic compounds) in the ink will cause a serious greenhouse effect, form photochemical smog, and also damage the human nervous system. In addition, heavy metal elements such as pliers, chromium, and mercury in ink pigments also cause certain harm if the ink containing heavy metals is used for food packaging or printing of articles in close contact with the human body. In order to reduce the damage of the ink to the environment, the trend of using environmentally friendly ink becomes more and more obvious. For example: water-based ink, uv ink, soy ink and other new environmentally friendly ink. The representative of the new environmentally-friendly ink is vegetable ink. At present, the common ink for offset printing is soybean ink, and the vegetable oil extracted by soybean is non-mineral oil. These inks based on vegetable oil are in line with environmental protection requirements and are also the trend of environmental protection in the future. Special attention should be paid to the content of heavy metal elements such as pliers, chromium, and mercury on the printed packaging of the export. The ROHS Directive stipulated by the European Commission stipulates that starting on July 1, 2006, new electronic equipment products (including product packaging materials) sold on the EU market shall be free of lead (Pb), cadmium (Cd), and mercury (Hg). Six kinds of harmful substances, such as hexavalent chromium (Cr+6), polybrominated biphenyl (PBB) and polybrominated diphenyl ether (PBDE), clearly specify lead (Pb), mercury (Hg), hexavalent chromium (Cr+6), and The maximum allowable content of polybrominated biphenyl (PBB) and polybrominated diphenyl ether (PBDE) is 0.1%, and the maximum allowable content of cadmium (Cd) is 0.01%.
Third, thermal transfer printing
In the packaging and printing industry, the actual effect of printing is closely related to the chosen printing method. According to the current status of the industry, the choice of printing methods will have a direct or indirect impact on the environment. In the four major printing methods: flat, convex, concave, and other, the bottleneck of environmental applications for plastic (plano) printing is ink and fountain solution. In addition to the use of environment-friendly offset printing inks, the current trend is to try waterless offset printing. The conventional offset fountain solution contains volatile isopropanol and other toxic organics that are inhaled by the human body for a long time and can affect the functions of the kidney and lungs. Waterless offset printing uses non-solvent inks on the one hand and ink-repellent on the other. Silicone resin-coated printing plates can remove the coating in the graphic part to absorb the ink and realize the graphic transfer. Therefore, the fountain solution is not required to achieve the ink-water balance. The bottleneck of gravure printing and screen printing (environmental printing) environmental protection applications is ink; relatively flat, concave, and other three printing methods, flexographic printing in other printing has obvious advantages in environmental protection applications: it uses water-based ink, does not contain toxic Organic matter is exactly in line with the green development trend of modern packaging printing. The biggest feature of water-based inks is the significant reduction in VOC emissions, which reduces air pollution and improves the working environment in the pressroom.
Fourth, the printing process
In the whole printing process, the choice of printing method has a great impact on the environment, but in addition to the environmental impact factors caused by raw materials and auxiliary materials in the actual work, the various improvements in the production process can also receive certain effect. In the printing process, untreated dampening waste liquids, car washes, varnish waste, cleaning fluids, waste liquids, waste ink cans and other liquids and solids are also subject to random emissions (treatment). Environmental hazards. In response to this situation, enterprises must carry out environmental transformation in a planned and systematic manner according to conventional methods, such as building waste liquid filtration systems (including sedimentation, filtration, and centrifugation), and establishing methods for centralized recycling of waste products to reduce environmental impacts. Impact. This mainly depends on the strength of the company's environmental awareness and the size of the corporate social responsibility.
Fifth, post-press processing
In the post-printing process, the use of film, glue, and product protection are equally important. For example, the film is difficult to degrade due to the fact that the film covering the surface of the printed matter is as difficult as other plastic products. On the one hand, white contamination is easily caused, and on the other hand, the coated paper cannot be recycled again. In response to this situation, the promotion and use of a brand new printing (transfer film) technology has received very good environmental effects. The key to pad printing (transfer film) technology is the production of pad printing film, which utilizes the principle of optical vision to form a holographic film-like effect on the surface of printed matter through pressure and a bonding agent during the contact between the pad printing film and the printed matter. The transfer film can be repeatedly used, the effect of the printed product can be comparable to the effect of the film, and the printed product can be waterproof, degradable and conducive to environmental protection. In glazing, water-based gloss oil is used to ensure that the printed product is non-toxic and tasteless.
Sixth, internal system
Introduce international mature systems to standardize corporate behavior and enhance the company's comprehensive management and control capabilities. For example, the ISO14000S environmental management system, in which ISO14001 is the basic standard of the environmental management series of standards, is the basis for the establishment and implementation of an environmental management system and certification of the enterprise. Its basic idea is to prevent and reduce environmental impacts and continuously improve environmental management. The printing industry should learn from and use the ISO14001 environmental management system to continuously improve the environment and prevent pollution.