You Are What You Ink: HAVI Brings Natural-Based Inks to Packaging

HAVI announced today a new development in sustainable packaging: natural-based inks, which are better for the environment with a 25 to 30 percent lower CO₂ footprint than standard aqueous inks*. They also reduce regulatory risk for brand owners and printers while increasing efficiency for printers and converters. These natural-based inks represent another aspect of clean packaging – an extension of the clean food movement – the principle of simplifying materials and chemistries for safer, more sustainable packaging.

“As a pioneer of clean packaging, HAVI is committed to not only improving the sustainability of packaging, but helping foodservice providers anticipate and stay ahead of consumer concerns about health and safety,” said Shane Bertsch, Vice President, Innovation at HAVI. “Through the use of renewable materials that are responsibly sourced and considered for their end of life recovery, natural-based inks provide a path to measurable, reportable CO₂ savings. Ultimately we help brand owners with building a richer sustainability story.”

Clean packaging is about building trust with consumers, 70 percent of whom see clean packaging as equally or more important than clean food, according to a HAVI survey. The same survey found that consumers tend to associate clean packaging with “free from petrochemicals.”

In partnership with two of the largest ink suppliers in the world, INX® International Ink Co. and Sun Chemical®, HAVI is helping brand owners and packaging providers approach clean packaging with natural-based inks because they use fewer petrochemicals than standard flexographic inks, and do not contain nanomaterials, fluorochemicals, fanal pigments, heavy metals or polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE). Instead, they contain 50 to 90 percent natural materials (depending upon the application and intended use) with renewable ingredients that don’t impact the food supply such as algae and non-edible plants. By voluntarily eliminating those chemicals, brands reduce their regulatory risk and demonstrate their commitments to consumer health and safety.

At the same time, natural-based inks perform as well as – or better than – conventional inks, and have even achieved efficiency improvements. They have better on-press performance and have been shown to require less clean-up for printers and converters.

Natural-based inks have already replaced over 2 million pounds of petrochemically derived resins, waxes and additives annually, which eliminates 5.6 million pounds of CO₂ or the equivalent of 15.28 coal railcars.

“The new ink offers the versatility and customization to run multiple print applications across many processing vehicles on most equipment. In many cases, multiple ink vehicles can be consolidated, thereby reducing inventory levels and increasing efficiencies” said Jim Garvey, Technical Manager for INX®.

“The inks have numerous advantages beyond just being environmentally friendly,” said Felipe Mellado, Chief Marketing Officer at Sun Chemical®. “Besides complementing Sun Chemical’s commitment to sustainability and food safe packaging, natural-based inks provide versatility, low migration and low abrasion solutions. In many cases, mileage and performance improvements have encouraged printers to switch over to the new technology for other packaging applications as well.

For more information about natural-based inks, visit www.HAVI.com.

*Based on EUPIA dry ink baseline for aqueous based inks of 3.092kg CO₂/kg dry ink.

About HAVI

HAVI is a global, privately owned company focused on innovating, optimizing and managing the supply chains of leading brands. Offering services in marketing analytics, packaging innovation, supply chain management and logistics, HAVI partners with companies to address challenges big and small across the supply chain, from commodity to customer. Founded in 1974, HAVI employs more than 10,000 people and serves customers in more than 100 countries. HAVI’s supply chain services are complemented by the customer engagement services offered by our affiliated company The Marketing Store. For more information, please visit HAVI.com and www.tmsw.com

About Sun Chemical

Sun Chemical, a member of the DIC group, is a leading producer of printing inks, coatings and supplies, pigments, polymers, liquid compounds, solid compounds, and application materials. Together with DIC, Sun Chemical has annual sales of more than $7.5 billion and over 20,000 employees supporting customers around the world.

Sun Chemical Corporation is a subsidiary of Sun Chemical Group Coöperatief U.A., the Netherlands, and is headquartered in Parsippany, New Jersey, U.S.A. For more information, please visit our website at www.sunchemical.com.

About INX International Ink Co.

INX International Ink Co. is the third largest producer of inks in North American with full service subsidiaries in Europe and South American and is part of Sakata INX worldwide operations. We offer a complete line of ink and coating solutions technology for commercial, packaging and digital applications. At INX we are keenly aware of the impact our product can have on consumer safety, brand marketability and the environment throughout our products lifecycle. Not only do we formulate our inks for consumer safety and offer low migration solutions for food packaging, but we also offer products that can offer better production efficiencies. To stay in touch with the latest developments, follow INX on Facebook and Twitter and visit us at www.INXinternational.com.

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