Renewable and bioderived inks could be part of the sustainable green printing agenda in the near future. Sustainable green printing might be emerging as a key driver of future packaging initiatives but the first goal is getting across exactly what that is. The key is the start of discussions with customers that printers don&rsquot normally talk to. There is a lot that customers could be doing but didn&rsquot know that they cared about. In a probing panel discussion at the 2009 sustainable packaging forum on green printing, a panel was asked about the emergence of sustainable printing and some of the common misperceptions. One of those is the common mistake found on the labels of some packages that soy inks are more &ldquosustainable&rdquo than other nonpetroleum alternatives. Rich czarnecki, chief technical officer with superior printing ink, said other alternatives, such as inks made from linseed oil, are just as environmentally responsible and perhaps better for performance. Soy ink was the creation of the american soybean association more than 30 years ago that was to sell more soybean oil.
