Pollution Problems and Countermeasures of Packaging and Printing

       In all links of the printing process, such as he zushun, Hu Weiping, Tan Yiguo, School of mechanical and electrical engineering, Kunming University of technology, improper processing of the process will produce environmental pollution problems, which will have an adverse impact on people’s body and environment, mainly as follows:Pollution Problems and Countermeasures of Packaging and Printing

       First, air pollution. The organic compounds (VOC) emitted by solvent ink in the drying process, isopropanol in alcohol wetting solution, hot melt adhesive used for wireless binding and volatile gas of glazing coating all pollute the air and are harmful to human health.Pollution Problems and Countermeasures of Packaging and Printing

       Second, water pollution. Inorganic substances such as corrosive liquid and electroplating waste liquid containing heavy metals used in plate making, ink cleaning and discharge liquids such as offset printing, gravure printing.Pollution Problems and Countermeasures of Packaging and Printing

      Flexographic printing and silk screen printing, and organic substances contained in developing and fixing waste liquid of photographic film and printing plate are one of the causes of water pollution and soil pollution.Pollution Problems and Countermeasures of Packaging and Printing

       Third, noise pollution. Printing machines, air compressors and various molding machines will produce varying degrees of noise. In addition, the noise generated by binding equipment is also very large.Pollution Problems and Countermeasures of Packaging and Printing

      Fourth, the pollution of waste pages and printing waste generated in the printing process. Pollution caused by discarding containers containing ink, glue and polishing oil, waste products generated during printing or trial printing, and environmental pollution caused by discarded printing materials.

green design in printing process

       The pollution in the printing process is mainly generated in the factory, so the green design in printing needs to be controlled and improved in the following links:Pollution Problems and Countermeasures of Packaging and Printing

1) Prepress design and graphic processing

        Now there is a trend, especially in gifts and health care products. In order to improve the sales price of goods, some enterprises often make an issue of packaging materials and printing: packaging and printing should be as gorgeous as possible, using the best materials, the most processes, multiple anti-counterfeiting, polishing, laminating and bronzing, which leads to the prevalence of over printing and over packaging. Pollution Problems and Countermeasures of Packaging and Printing

       On the one hand, it is a waste of limited resources and energy. On the other hand, it also aggravates the impact on the environment. In addition, it also increases the cost of packaging and finally increases the burden on consumers.Pollution Problems and Countermeasures of Packaging and Printing

          This requires designers to take more responsibility for the environment, make full use of the color, texture and luster of the printing materials themselves in the decoration design and creativity, avoid the design of full page printing and avoid excessive printing: Pollution Problems and Countermeasures of Packaging and Printing

       Reduce the use of bronzing, laminating and other processes as much as possible when meeting the decoration requirements, and reduce the packaging materials as much as possible to reduce the difficulty of recycling printed materials after abandonment.Pollution Problems and Countermeasures of Packaging and Printing

2) Imaging plate making

        Computer direct plate making technology directly outputs the graphic information after rip to the printing plate through electric CTP, removes the film as the intermediate link, reduces the steps of film output, development, fixing and plate printing in plate making, greatly reduces the discharge of waste liquid containing silver and hydroquinone.Pollution Problems and Countermeasures of Packaging and Printing

       which is harmful to human environment, and also reduces the harm of ultraviolet light to human body and air pollution, It has brought good news to environmental protection.Pollution Problems and Countermeasures of Packaging and Printing

         In the printing stage, solvent based inks, especially benzene solvent based inks, have the greatest impact on the environment. First of all, the organic solvents in ink cause serious harm to human health. Ink solvent will damage human subcutaneous fat. Long term contact with some containers will make the skin dry and rough.Pollution Problems and Countermeasures of Packaging and Printing

        If it penetrates into the skin or blood vessels, it will endanger human hematopoietic function with blood circulation. Solvent gas is sucked into trachea, bronchus, lungs and transmitted to other organs through blood vessels and lymphatic vessels, which may cause chronic poisoning of the body.Pollution Problems and Countermeasures of Packaging and Printing

The current solution is to use non benzene solvent ink, water-based ink, UV ink, or solvent recovery device.Pollution Problems and Countermeasures of Packaging and Printing

          Because digital printing is directly from computer to printed matter, there is no need for film and printing plate, many intermediate steps of traditional printing are omitted, and the use of toxic chemicals such as developer is avoided. Pollution Problems and Countermeasures of Packaging and Printing

       Digital printing adopts new imaging technology, which can largely avoid a series of problems caused by the volatilization of organic solvents in the process of graphic transfer in traditional printing.

        Flexographic printing has developed rapidly in developed countries such as Europe and the United States because of its good printing quality, a wide range of printing materials, low investment, high efficiency and good environmental performance. Pollution Problems and Countermeasures of Packaging and Printing

        Flexographic printing adopts water-based ink, which does not contain toxic organic substances, just in line with the green development trend of modern packaging printing. The biggest feature of water-based ink is that it significantly reduces VOC emission, reduces air pollution and improves the working environment of printing workshop. Pollution Problems and Countermeasures of Packaging and Printing

       Because of its environmental protection characteristics, it is especially suitable for the packaging and printing of food, beverage, medicine and other articles.Pollution Problems and Countermeasures of Packaging and Printing

        Flexo printing can also use UV ink without solvent, so there is no solvent emission and no environmental pollution. In short, due to the use of environmentally friendly green materials, the application scope of flexographic printing is expanding.Pollution Problems and Countermeasures of Packaging and Printing

       Promote anhydrous offset printing and alcohol free printing. Anhydrous offset printing uses ink repellent silicone resin coated plates. Removing the coating in the graphic part can absorb ink and realize graphic transfer. Therefore, there is no need for fountain solution to realize water ink balance. The fountain solution contains volatile isopropanol and other toxic organic substances. Pollution Problems and Countermeasures of Packaging and Printing

      Once inhaled by the human body for a long time, it will affect the function of kidney and lung, and even cause dermatitis or damage to the nervous system. The ink commonly used in waterless offset printing is soybean oil ink and aromatic free ink. They do not produce VOC, so they will not affect the human body and the environment.Pollution Problems and Countermeasures of Packaging and Printing

       In addition to removing the fountain solution in the production process, we can also find its substitutes to reduce the harm of IPA to workers’ health and environment. Alcohol free printing just meets this requirement. This substitute is mainly composed of one or two chemicals of ethylene glycol and ether plus other additives, which has good environmental protection performance.Pollution Problems and Countermeasures of Packaging and Printing

      Promote the use of UV varnish. Because the UV varnish contains almost no solvent and the emission of organic volatiles is very small, it reduces air pollution, improves the working environment and reduces the risk of fire.Pollution Problems and Countermeasures of Packaging and Printing

       Try to use less lamination processing. First, it will cause white pollution like the plastic products we usually use. The film covered on the surface of printed matter is as difficult to degrade as other plastic products, and benzene is involved in processing, which is harmful to human health. In addition, the coated paper can not be recycled, wasting natural resources.Pollution Problems and Countermeasures of Packaging and Printing