Siegwerk India, a supplier of printing inks for packaging applications, launched its new generation of sustainable inks – UniNature – for the Indian market at the IndiaCorr Expo 2022 held in Mumbai from 8-10 October 2022.
The UniNature product range is said to be formulated with renewable and natural components, providing an environment-friendly alternative to conventional inks without impacting the recyclability of paper and board packaging, thereby taking a step towards reducing the microplastics that can be found in inks.
“We are replacing the resin with bio-recyclable contents, which makes the inks more sustainable. These inks will help reduce carbon footprint by 20-70% depending on the finished goods. These inks are targeted at flexo printers who are using regular water-based inks,” Raja Ranga Bupathi K, national sales head – P&B, Siegwerk India, told Packaging South Asia.
The UniNATURE inks will be manufactured at Siegwerk India’s plant in Bhiwadi, around 70 kms from Delhi, in the National Capital Region. The blending will take place at all the company’s blending centers across India.
Ramakrishna Karanth, CEO, Siegwerk India sub-continent, said, “As we are venturing into a resource-preservative future, our vision at Siegwerk India is to work towards sustainable development. Siegwerk’s consistent efforts for a better tomorrow resulted in the formulation of the UniNature ink series made from renewable and natural sources, for a greener future keeping in mind the 3Ss– Safety, Sustainability, and Satisfaction – of the consumer.”
Performance and color strengths
Siegwerk’s new sustainable water-based ink range comes along with excellent ink performance and color strengths, offering similar levels of performance and properties as current water-based technologies, the company said.
According to the company, user tests have shown improved dot shape, comparable dot gain, high resolubility, and easy cleaning on the press, which means it can be easily exchanged with the current products without the need to change equipment, processes, or color matches.
Furthermore, high printing speeds on presses, on both coated and uncoated papers, can be achieved with UniNature. The new inks and coatings series is applicable for many paper and board applications, including corrugated board boxes, trays, displays, fast-food packaging, sacks and bags, as well as cups and wraps. It supports various printing applications whilst meeting the highest market and regulatory standards, the company said.
