Page 15 - Print 21 magazine Jul-Aug 2021

including the Scandinavians, the Baltics, Germany, Switzerland to likewise move well away from PVC.”
In fact two years ago the Basel Convention classified waste PVC
as a notifiable material. From 1 January this year, movement of PVC, for instance to the dump, must be notified and extensive paperwork completed. The paperwork must specify all points through which the waste PVC will pass, and fees are involved, based on the volumes and the frequency of shipments. Failure to comply will incur fines. Australia and New Zealand are signatories to the Convention. The new rules will have a particular impact on sign and display makers and their customers who will have to either go with
the red tape or choose some other substrate for their work.
The new rules will also make PVC media more expensive to use, but that is part of the intention.
The EasyDot green credentials are provided in the polypropylene PP version for several reasons. It is fully recyclable. When recycled, it is turned into heavy-duty items like pallets, ice scrapers, rakes and battery cables. In almost all cases it also has a fully recyclable paper backing liner.
Using PP films as an alternative
to PVC means using a non-toxic combustion and phthalate-free media. Phthalates – used extensively in plastics – can damage the liver, kidneys, lungs, and reproductive system in human beings. In addition EasyDot does not contaminate groundwater and is Apeo-free. Apeo is a surfactant living in groundwater that is toxic to all organisms.
Polypropylene, though, is monomeric, which has the advantage of recyclability, but which in standard form is not so easy to apply as it
does not have the multitude of microchannels of PVC. However, this is what drove the Neschen engineers to develop the bubble technology that allows the air underneath to move out, thus making it easy to apply by anyone and without any special tools.
In addition to the environmental credentials of EasyDot PP, the manufacturer Neschen itself is making major strides in environmental sustainability. Its in-house wastewater treatment facility feeds the water
used for production back into the municipal wastewater system after purification. This system unburdens the environment of several thousand cubic metres of wastewater per year.
In production, it employs an
energy recovery system combined with a consistent energy saving policy. This way, peak loads on the power grid are avoided and the energy consumption of the plant minimised. In addition Neschen’s corrugated cardboard packaging is now fully recyclable and robust enough to be reused.
“The idea was that the print business could print the campaign, send them by UPS or whoever to the stores, and the owners there could install the graphics themselves on their windows.”
— German Kallmeyer, Neschen
Green Printing
“This made us think of all the chains like Ikea and Aldi, and whether they were not applying in similar numbers, or if it was taking the print service provider all day to get to and from one of their stores. As an easy to apply and release film with no tools needed, EasyDot met their needs.
“The idea was that the print business could print the campaign, send them by UPS or whoever to the stores, and the owners there could install the graphics themselves on their windows. To do that of course meant that there had to be no chance of air bubbles being created when they were applying it,” Kallmeyer says.
The EasyDot media has a matrix of bubbles, which eliminate the possibility of air bubbles forming
as it is applied, and that application really is possible by untrained people. Kallmeyer says, “We ran a trial with the EasyDot media with the retailer. We set up two groups
of 100 stores, one with EasyDot, one with conventional media, and while the conventional media group remained at 70 per cent take-up, the EasyDot group saw an installation rate in excess of 90 per cent.”
That trip to Moscow also highlighted the rapidly growing pressure that print service
providers were under to work with environmentally friendly materials, according to Kallmeyer. “The Russians are now very strict – they insist
on only using non-PVC products. Denmark has just gone the same way, and we expect many more countries
Below
PVC-free: Neschen EasyDot PP from Starleaton
John Buitenkamp, sales and marketing director at Starleaton said, “We here at Starleaton are thrilled to see the next round of Easy Dot innovations coming out of Neschen Coating.
“It’s not just the green part that
is exciting, but also the fact we now have versions coming available for print technologies like HP Indigo, toner-based systems, and aqueous printers like the Epson T-series. These new products are on the water on their way from Germany to our shores. Stay tuned for more from the people that brought you the original.”
Print businesses wanting to strengthen their relationships with customers are finding that being able to present green credentials is one sure-fire way of doing that, and in fact for some customers, it will
be essential. The new EasyDot PP media from Starleaton will certainly provide those credentials. 21
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