Many customers find it a challenge to meet the changing demands of their clients. This is especially with regard to finding packaging solutions that minimise plastic consumption, yet still offer great end-use performance. At Resino Inks, their priority is to achieve the high standards sought by their diverse customer base. As a result, Resino constantly focuses on developing tailor-made sustainable printing ink solutions that offer lower environmental impact, whilst maintaining greater sustainability levels throughout a product’s lifecycle.
Performance printing - one solution
Resino told SPN, “One of our customers found a unique solution to meet consumers’ requirements regarding performance and sustainability. They found that RETURIN® 194-26 was ideal for printing on lidding film for thermo-formed rigid food packaging. The customer used surface printed lids for their packaging, which is why the mechanical resistance from RETURIN 2K ink is very beneficial in these cases. RETURIN® 194-26 was originally developed for printing on polyamide-, cellulose- and fibrous meat casings as well as food grade packaging. It is designed to provide optimal adhesion, heat-seal resistance and even high sterilisation performance.
Sustainable success
“One of our customers, reduced plastic film thickness from 85 micron to 34 micron and switched from multi-components to monolayer substrates. They also eliminated their lamination process entirely and thereby reduced both their carbon footprint and their costs. In addition, they experienced greater logistics efficiency since they were able to transport the same quantity of printed material but with around 40% less weight due to less plastic content.
This case clearly demonstrates that our varnishes and inks create new opportunities for minimising plastic consumption and underscores that we strive to help our customers reduce their carbon footprint through our innovative approach to product development” added Resino.
One of the major concerns for customers is the use of lamination, which involves the bonding of multiple layers of material using adhesives. Lamination can enhance the packaging's durability, strength, and barrier properties, but it also increases the amount of plastic used and can be difficult to recycle. As such, there has been a growing interest in exploring alternative techniques such as surface print, which involves printing directly onto the packaging material.
Kristian Karlsen, Director of R&D at Resino Inks explains: “Surface print has been shown to significantly reduce the amount of plastic used compared to lamination. In fact, surface print can halve the amount of plastic used, resulting in a much lower carbon footprint and a better sustainability profile. While surface print may have a lower environmental impact, it is important to assess its performance compared to lamination. Surface print is suitable for some applications, whereas other applications may still require the use of lamination”.
Meeting today’s demands
Working with ink on food packaging, Resino must meet many different requirements for its inks. Some customers use Resino’s printing ink for informative purposes and others may use it for decorative purposes, but they must all comply with the same, high safety standards.
The RETURIN® ink range can meet many different demands:
• Boiling & Sterilisation resistance
• Deep-freeze resistance
• High flexibility
• Good adhesion
• Long pot-life
• Oil & grease resistance
About Resino
Resino Inks is recognised as a valued partner throughout the packaging industry, with its high-quality printing ink systems. The company supplies highly specialised food-contact printing inks and exporting inks as well as delivering speciality varnishes to 5 continents and more than 64 countries worldwide.
Resino are the acknowledged experts in developing tailored, innovative solutions in close cooperation with its customers and all its products meet the strict regulatory requirements and high standards for product performance. “Our most important task is to make life as easy and as safe as possible for our customers and end users added Resino.
Resino added, “We have a strong position within the printing inks profession for indirect and direct food contact requirements and we constantly explore ways of integrating sustainability in our product development projects, both in the form of renewable resources and biodegradability. We also enjoy a leading global position in printing inks developed for meat casings and non-woven hygiene materials, including UV curing products for flexo/gravure and are also in the process of developing industrial inkjet inks for these markets”.
Resino, welcomes your challenges. Visit www.resinoinks.com