The Datamax Thinking Blog

Educating, collaborating, and sparking ideas for maximizing the technology that matters.


Reduce Production Costs With Sustainable Printing

In the printing industry production costs can be ridiculous, much like all other industries and ultimately fail throughout the development because of different advances in technology and production efficiency. It has become apparent to business owners now more than ever that sustainability is the key to the success of a product or a product process.

Sustainable printing in the printing industry is the most significant part of these product processes. Historically, printing is done by a powerful heating source bake ink onto the paper. This method is very ineffective due to the high levels of heat needed in order for it to produce the print, also the release of volatile organic compounds are harmful when they are release indo the environment. This in return makes it difficult for companies to get EPA certified.

Most ink for printers now a day is one of three compound mixture; petroleum, vegetable and soy based inks. The regulations currently have petroleum mixtures stay below a 30 percent release of volatile organic compounds, which is why a lot of petroleum mixtures mix with a vegetable and soy base. Yes, using 100 percent soy and/or vegetable based ink is much more environmentally friendly, but a higher heat is required to dry the ink and the quality of the print is not as good.

Efforts are being made to create a plant and/or vegetable based ink source, with no volatile organic compounds and little drying time. If successful the future of printing will be substantially different taking a big leap for sustainable printing.

To learn more about various printer inks and their environmental impact, contact Datamax Arkansas today.