Earthinks Launches New Gravure Inks, Coatings Range

Earthinks, manufacturer of natural inks  for flexo and screen printing, has launched a range of gravure inks and specialist coatings, providing new printing possibilities to brand owners in their search for improved sustainability.
 
These latest additions to the Earthinks range provides gravure printers and converters with high-quality, versatile inks made from sustainable and non-polluting resources. They replace traditional and non-environmental solvent and water based gravure inks.
 
With brands under pressure to monitor and improve their environmental footprint, print houses are increasingly using Earthinks to support their environmental requirements, while meeting brand expectations for high quality print for range of applications including food packaging in particular cartons, paper and poly cups, napkins and sachets as well as wallpaper, greetings cards and  more.
 
Similar to Earthinks’ flexographic and screen print products, the new gravure inks are water-based and made from up to 100% natural ingredients including soy, starch, sugars, dextrin, tree resin, cellulose and other polysaccharides. Natural waxes are used to replace standard petroleum-based synthetics and natural oils are used to defoam instead of mineral oils. They are fully biodegradable and compostable and like all Earthinks products, the new inks are independently tested to ASTM D6866.
 
The new Earthinks coatings range also offers up to 100% natural ingredients with functional and aesthetic properties, and can be used with flexo, screen and gravure inks as well as roller coat applications.
 
The launch of the new products follows a successful first year for Earthinks. Having delivered on their commitment to provide a complete eco-friendly ink solution, the company focused on ways to further enhance their customers’ facilities in order to support the end-customers’ requirements and maximize productivity.
 
To do this, Earthinks installed two ink dispensers at separate customer sites – Weedon Group and Single Source – as well as its first in-house customer color laboratory at Weedon PSC’s Hednesford facility. The Earthinks dispenser allows in-house color mixing and the ability to facilitate special color production on-demand. The colour lab improves print quality, color consistency and production times, vastly improving onsite efficiency.
 
The market’s reception of Earthinks’ ground-breaking products has not gone unnoticed. The company has also been rewarded with three accolades for its eco-friendly ink range. Earthinks just won the 2015 Stationers Company Innovation Excellence Award as well as being highly commended in the Sustainable Innovation Award category at the British Coatings Federation 2014 Awards Ceremony. The company also received a Green Apple Environment Award, presented at the 2014 Green Apple Awards for Environmental Best Practice ceremony, which took place last autumn in the Houses of Parliament.
 
Jonathan Mack, Owner of Earthinks, said, “2014 saw Earthinks mark an important development in sustainable printing. When we launched, we genuinely set out to make a difference – no matter how small that might be. However, we have been delighted by the market reaction to our ink range and what we are looking to achieve. For this to be formerly acknowledged by the industry with these two recent award wins has been the icing on the cake. Our latest product developments are an important next step in our Earthinks journey, providing customers with a complete ink solution that meets the most stringent environmental standards and helps them to achieve their own sustainability goals.”