Indigo printing is a plastic film

[Green Printer]

Indigo printing is not recyclable
HP_IND_A4_LEPx_whitepaper.pdf
Page 9 of indigo white paper


The HP Indigo Advantage
The Sharpest Images and Text
The extremely sharp dots created with HP ElectroInk and the LEP printing process deliver superior print quality and enable HP Indigo digital presses to print images and text with well- defined printed edges. This is particularly noticeable at the edges of halftone dots or when printing small fonts.
LEP-printed images also have contamination-free backgrounds due to the small size of the ElectroInk particles and the way ElectroInk particles are transformed on the press from ink to a printed image. Unlike inkjet and dry electrophotography (DEP), ElectroInk is not jetted or sprayed though air. Rather, a thin layer of ElectroInk adheres to the PIP and is transferred to the heated blanket where the ink particles melt and form a plastic film with strong surface tension and clean, sharp edges.

 

[scotts]

I'm not saying that print from Indigo is recyclable or not, but did you read the paragraph on page 12 under the "Design with the Environment in Mind"? I think this could be an interesting conversation.

Sustainability credentials include the Green Leaf mark and certification from TUV Austria’s
“OK Compost” verifying HP Indigo ElectroInks can be used as printing inks for packaging
and are recoverable through composting and biodegradation in accordance with leading
standards.

 

[Green Printer]

My take would be all pressroom scrap that contains any Indigo waste would have to be composted rendering it useless for recycling
fiber.
All packaging printed with an Indigo would have to have on the package "can be partially recycled by composting the paper fibers not the indigo plastic film."

 

[Deinker]

Well, actually as I read it Indigo can neither be composted as it is plastic -- a polyethylene film. It is just a matter of exploiting these rules for "OK Compost" requiring that 90 % of the organic material has to be turned into CO2 within six months. So now take an Indigo print, that is 99.8 % paper and 0.1 % Indigo film (rough estimate), and -- whoopee! You get a certification to be compostable for a plastic layer on paper! Even though not a single molecule of the plastic layer might be composted within that period. Only the paper or board that you print on. Some call that kind misleading information, some greenwashing.

 

[Green Printer]

Misleading and Green Washing it is. Bernie Landa new that 30 years ago. HP continues the trend. When we were children Liar Liar pants on fire still is appropriate today.

 

[Deinker]

I'm not saying that print from Indigo is recyclable or not, but did you read the paragraph on page 12 under the "Design with the Environment in Mind"? I think this could be an interesting conversation.

Sustainability credentials include the Green Leaf mark and certification from TUV Austria’s
“OK Compost” verifying HP Indigo ElectroInks can be used as printing inks for packaging
and are recoverable through composting and biodegradation in accordance with leading
standards.

Try to find the requirements for this label. I ended up on a Chinese website. All I find about the criteria is the footer in a 2012 release (and that refers to cartridges and imaging oil, not to prints):

"The Green Leaf Mark certifies that a products conform to multiple existing environmental regulations, such as RoHS laws, REACH and Eco Design requirements based on independent testing of product samples and data provider to the certifier. It enables companies to represent this through one mark rather than multiple marks. The Green Leaf Mark is used on product packaging, in point of purchase displays, product advertising and literature to explain a product’s environmental credentials."

So what does that tell you? Nothing specific, just conformity with the regulations? I do not see any sustainability criteria? Looks like a one-time appealingly green label bought for a product that does not earn anything else that would be transparent?

TwoSides: “Greenwashing is the practice of making an unsubstantiated or misleading claim about the environmental benefits of a product, service, technology or company practice.”

 

[scotts]

Boy it sure it great that companies can get all kinds of certifications declaring that their product(s) are recyclable or compostable, but in reality they aren't. How is this truth in advertising? It's kinda like a newspaper back in the day, that would publish a completely wrong story which they knew it was, but then they would write up a short amendment to the story and print it on a low readership day in a section that most don't read. But hey "we printed an amendment".

And like Deinker stated about trying to find The Green Leaf Mark, which was hard to do. And it talks about part of the product, and not what the device actually produces. Not like we can change the type of ink in the Indigo to make the output better for the environment.

And I'm sure the Indigo isn't the only digital press that does this sort of thing. Like...look at my left hand while my right hand does something else(taking money out of your pocket/hitting up side the head/any number of senarios).