Petroleum-based inks to alternative inks

Up until a few years ago, consumers demanded soy-based inks based on their environmental benefits. It was a welcomed change from the previous industry standard of petroleum inks. Soy-based ink was developed in the 1970’s in a response to the oil crisis.

Since that time, the newest of these ink technologies is what Independent Printing & Packaging uses, vegetable-based inks.

“What’s the difference, isn’t soybean a vegetable?”

Soy-based inks are made from soybean oil which is derived from soybeans, and vegetable-based inks are made from linseed oils which are derived from flax seed. Modern vegetable-based inks are created to have the best properties of the various plant matters in the use of the ink.

Vegetable-based inks

Our vegetable based ink system consists of 51% sustainable materials including vegetable oils and modified rosins. These inks are also formulated with organic materials that do not contain any animal-based byproducts. The overall volatile organic compounds (VOCs) for these inks can be as low as 1%.

We also use a hybrid UV-cured ink. It contains no vegetable oils and is dried (cured) with UV energy. UV inks do not contain any volatile organic compounds (VOC) making them a very green choice.

Both the vegetable-based inks and the hybrid UV-cured ink are environmentally responsible ink systems. Therefore, Independent Printing & Packaging can use whichever ink best suits the project.

You can use this logo when you have a job printed at Independent Printing & Packaging.