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 Volpe Packaging Printing 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, Volpe Packaging Printing can use whichever ink best suits the project.
