Environmental and Quality Concerns about The Flexo Prepress
the Label Printers is not alone when it comes to environmental concerns. Though digital platemaking is less taxing on the environment than traditional platemaking methods, it is not perfect. But converters have voiced their concerns, and suppliers have responded with solutions.
“This industry is always looking for better ways to leave less impact on the environment without sacrificing quality,” says Jessica Harkins, technologies manager at Anderson & Vreeland, Arlington Heights, IL, USA. “In the past few years we have seen this to be true with the interest and increased use of water-wash plates and alternative eco-friendly solvents.”
Terri Stewart, marketing manager at Flint Group Flexographic Products, Charlotte, NC, USA, says one of the company’s focuses is to increase processing efficiency through equipment automation and reduced waste of consumables. “With that in mind, our range of nylosolv plate washout solutions are formulated to be efficient and environmentally-friendly for safe and fast processing of photopolymer printing plates,” she says. “In 2008, we commissioned and published an independent Eco-Efficiency3 analysis that demonstrated that by proper distillation and reuse of washout solution, the impact to the GWP (global warming potential) of solvent platemaking is nearly equal to or less than the GWP of thermal platemaking.
“Most recently, 2011 marked the North American debut of Flint Group Flexographic Products’ Plate Waste Recovery Service, whereby 100 percent of all used and unused plate material, coversheets and cushion tape is collected and converted from waste into energy,” she says. According to Heather Barrett, director of marketing at MacDermid Printing Solutions, Atlanta, GA, USA, “Sustainability is an issue in packaging that’s here to stay, especially as more and more retailers and consumer packaged goods manufacturers push on their suppliers to help them meet their sustainability goals.”
A label made using Esko Studio Visualizer. MacDermid, Barrett says, has taken several steps to ensure that their customers meet those goals. “We are continuously seeking to develop technologies with smaller environmental footprints. For example, we recently developed an EFC (Environmental Footprint Calculator) that enabled us to use LCA (Life Cycle Assessment) data to model different types of platemaking: solvent, thermal and liquid. This tool showed us that thermal platemaking, via MacDermid’s LAVA Plate Processor, and liquid platemaking were much more environmentally friendly than traditional solvent sheet platemaking. We are continuing to innovate in these categories by developing additional applications for our thermal and liquid plate processors.”
Larry Moore, director of Esko software services in North America, says that the push for sustainability has challenged people to produce labels more efficiently. That efficiency, he says, starts at the design level. “Being able to create virtual 3D mock-ups and to communicate and collaborate with customers across the web eliminates hard copy proofs and prototypes, along with shipping costs,” he says. “Design tools — particularly structural design — help make packaging more appropriate to the products they are holding rather than using a generic box that is loose and not as protective of the product as it should be. The drive to make the package more functionally efficient also makes it more environmentally efficient.”
From Internet
16 April, 2012
