Why Eco-Friendly Printing Will Become An Inevitable Trend

Nowadays, book printing in China not only in the print quality has increased by leaps and bounds, but also in environmental performance has also been a huge boost. All major book printing companies in China use eco-friendly book printing materials, and "environmental protection" has become an inevitable trend in the development of printing materials. Therefore, in book printing, what kind of printed materials will be replaced with eco-friendly materials? What benefits will these book printing bring to readers and the book market?

The Printing Paper:
As one of the main raw materials for book printing, paper is essential for the implementation of eco-friendly printing. At present, the paper suppliers in the printing market have also introduced a variety of eco-friendly papers.
1.Recycled paper:
Recycled paper is paper produced by processing waste paper as the main raw material, shredding, decolorizing, pulping, and processing through various processes. Since waste paper accounts for at least 30% of the raw materials in recycled paper, recycled paper is known as low energy consumption. Recycled paper is produced using the pentachloro bleaching method and will not be affected by harmful chemicals such as bleaching agents.
Recycled paper is generally divided into two categories: one is low-grade paper such as hanging board paper and toilet paper. The other is the paper used for book printing, newspaper printing and magazines printing, etc.

2.Lightweight paper:
Lightweight paper is light-weight offset paper, which is made of chemical pulp, and will not emit waste gas or liquid. It is eco-friendly book printing paper.
The lightweight paper has good reducibility after book printing in China. Books printed on lightweight paper weigh 1/4 to 1/3 less than books printed on plain paper. The lightweight paper does not contain a fluorescent whitening agent, and is darker than ordinary coated paper and offset paper. Long-term reading of books and periodicals printed on lightweight paper will not cause visual fatigue.
　
The Printing Ink:
At present, the varieties of environmentally friendly inks for book printing in China on the market are becoming more and more diversified. Products with outstanding performance include water-based inks, vegetable oil inks, and UV inks.
1.Water-based inks
Water-based inks use water instead of organic solvents, which can significantly reduce VOCs emissions. In the book printing process, it has no adverse effect on the health of the operator, and no pollution to the printed matter itself. It is especially suitable for children's book printing in China. Water-based ink is recognized as an environmentally friendly printing material in the world, and it is also the only ink approved by the American Food and Drug Administration among all printing inks.

2.Vegetable oil inks
Vegetable oil ink uses vegetable oil as a linking material, which can not only reduce the emission of VOCs, but also the pigment paste does not contain any heavy metals and is harmless to the human body. Among them, soybean oil-based vegetable oil ink is the most commonly used. Vegetable oil inks also has many advantages, you can refer to this article “ECO friendly vegetable oil ink performance and use” wrote by a professional book printing company in China. However, many inks with vegetable oil as the main component can effectively reduce the content of VOCs, but in order to ensure the book printing performance, a certain amount of petroleum resin or solvent is still added, so it cannot be regarded as a real eco-friendly book printing ink.