screen printing > Ink and Chemicals

Water Baed Inks Are NOT Eco Friendly, right?

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Fresh Baked Printing:
Am I missing something or are printers advertising "green eco" practices by using water based inks being dishonest? I see it all the time and it drives me crazy. Yes, there are now Phthalate free inks. Maybe I'm misinformed about water based inks?

tonypep:
Without having access to exact pigment information its hard to say. Most water "bases" are somewhere around 80% water and are latex based. So waterbase ink for light fabrics is rather "Green"(I am learning to dislike that term). It's important to mention that both ZF and NF discharge and hybrid inks are generally not considered Eco Friendly.
tp

yorkie:
Water based inks got their "eco friendly" reputation in the paper printing world, where prior to shift to water based inks were using solvent based inks. One facility i worked was the largest polluter in the county, because of the 1/2 million pounds of solvents released into the air. In this context, 1/2 million pounds of water pollutes less that 1/2 million pounds of solvents (mostly 1,1,1-TRICHLOROETHANE plus a couple thousand pounds of toluene).

IMHO, plastisol is much better for the environment than water based inks. To start with, it takes more energy to dry and cure a water based shirt than cure a plastisol print. A well printed plastisol shirt has a much longer wear life than water based shirts. Water based inks tend to have a problem that in the first 10 washes, it has faded dramatically and not in a "good way". Screen printing ages gracefully. Even cracking is often desired to show aging.

The only environmental concern is the phthalate additives to plastisol. The industry and government has seemed to worked this issue out. Water based inks use some additives which also give off emissions, such as antifreeze.

I think that 99.44% of "green printers" are only after the green of money.

ebscreen:
Green washing BS aside, I'd rather be covered in WB inks over Plastisol any day.

And I'd disagree with the aging thing. I think waterbased prints hold up much better
than plastisol. You're coloring fibers, not encapsulating them. Done correctly, no fibrillation,
no cracking.

squeegee:
My experience with WB is that as well, fibrillation is almost non-exsistent and the color when done properly is outstanding.  I really like WB, I take every opportunity I can to use it.  I think shirts, especially light colors printed with transparent WB ink look much better over time and multiple washings than plastisol.

No chemicals for clean up is a plus as well.

As far as selling as a "green" product, well it is water based and not plastic, so there is a certain truth to it being more eco-friendly, IMHO.

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