"Specializing
in Full Service Printing and Promotional Products since 1981."
Weisenbach Recycled Products
437 Holtzman Avenue
Columbus, Ohio 43205 USA |
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Switching to Soy Inks |
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for commercial offset printing |
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First published in QPP Magazine, February 2000, “Press Time” monthly column by Dan Weisenbach, president, Weisenbach Specialty Printing Inc. / Recycled Products www.RecycledProducts.com
Switching to Soy Ink? What Are You Waiting For?
I called my production manager, Dave Lonsdale into my office because I had an idea for a big change in the pressroom. Figuring that he would be reluctant to change his tried and true methods (you know how printers are), I described my plan carefully and with great authority. “We are going to make the change to soy inks” I said. “And we’re going to make it work because I know it can be done.”
Dave sat silently for a moment, waiting for my enthusiasm to fade, and then he said “we’ve been using soy inks for about three months now.”
That conversation took place over [twenty] years ago. In 1989, we switched to using soybean oil based inks and recycled papers for nearly all of the jobs we produced. Our primary reason was to support our marketing efforts to become known as an “environmentally friendly” printer. However, the additional benefits became more valuable to us in the long run.
Indoor air quality.
Volatile organic compounds (VOCs) are basically the fumes emitted into the air from inks, solvents, cleaners etc. as they are used or while they dry. Petroleum based inks release a much greater amount of VOCs than soy inks. The EPA guidelines that regulate the pollution causing VOCs do not normally apply to small printers.
So why care?
Your employees will be healthier and possibly more productive. You may experience a sharp decline of mysterious headaches suffered by your staff. Customers will make comments like “your shop doesn’t have the same odor as other printers” and “it doesn’t smell like you do any printing here.”
Saves money.
Although we initially paid a premium price for soy ink, we immediately noticed the value of increased mileage. It quickly became apparent that we could carry a thinner film of ink on the rollers and still achieve the same color density on the printed sheet. We found that laying down a fine layer of well-milled ink actually saved money by increasing the number of impressions we achieved per pound. Also, soy inks seem to be easier to control on the press. More consistency of image quality translates into less spoilage on each job. You may have heard that soy inks don’t dry very well. That would be true if the operator ran them as if they were petroleum or rubber-based inks. If you cut back on your ink usage and properly modify your fountain solution, you should find that soy inks dry as well as traditional inks on most substrates, including coated papers!
Happy customers.
You may already be using soy ink if you print letterheads, newsletter shells, or other documents designed to run through a laser printer or copier. Offset printing inks sold as “laser-safe” are likely to contain soybean oil because it has a much higher boiling point than petroleum. Soy inks are naturally able to withstand the high heat of the fusing units of toner imaging devices.
Once you make the switch to soy inks, impress your clients and prospects with your authorized use of the “SoySeal” trademark from the American Soybean Association. Who knows, you might even bring in some more customers?
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Dan Weisenbach is president of Weisenbach Specialty Printing, Inc. (dba: Weisenbach Recycled Products) – They specialize in printing with soy inks on recycled paper. Weisenbach offers business stationery (letterheads & envelopes), carbonless business forms, brochures, catalog sheets, note pads, postcards, custom packaging, hang tags, note cards, bookmarks, hand fans, and many other custom printed items. As an affiliate member of the 100% Recycled Paperboard Alliance, Weisenbach prints many items on custom manufactured 100% recycled paperboard. Visit www.Weisenbach.com and www.RecycledProducts.com
Weisenbach was amongst the first companies officially authorized to use the Soy Seal™ logo.
More Soy Ink Information:
Vegetable oil-based inks tend to yield brighter colors than petroleum-based inks. Soy ink is primarily used in lithographic offset printing processes, including newspapers, books, and magazines. However, soy inks can also be used for packaging, business forms, and other commercial printing applications. Soy inks have not yet been developed for gravure, tampographic, or screen printing. The National Soy Ink Information Center estimates that if all oil-based inks used by the printing industry were derived from soybean oil, it would require 457 million pounds of soybean oil, equivalent to 41.5 million bushels. This represents only about 1.8% of U.S. Soybean production.
Environmental regulations and incentives have helped drive the creation of “agri-based” inks. The 1994 Vegetable Ink Printing Act mandated that printers with government contracts give preference to vegetable oil-based inks over volatile petroleum-based inks whenever possible. This was an effort to reduce emissions from volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and hazardous air pollutants (HAPs) as mandated under the 1990 Amendments to the Clean Air Act signed by President George H. W. Bush. The original Clean Air Act was signed in 1970 by President Richard M. Nixon. 1970 was also the year of the first celebration of Earth Day.
Petroleum-based inks contain 30-35% VOCs, while soybean oil-based inks typically range from only 0-5% VOCs. New processes also had to be developed to make the de-inking and recycling of paper easier, and soy-based inks perform better in conjunction with modern de-inking procedures.
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