Hangzhou Smog Eases, but Packaging Printing Projects Must Use Eco-Friendly Inks

On January 23, 2013, the smoggy conditions in Hangzhou had already cleared. The episode did not significantly disrupt the daily lives of Hangzhou residents, but during that period the number of respiratory infection patients at major hospitals did rise. Once again, this sounded a warning about environmental pollution.

Haze, also known as dust-haze (smoke haze), occurs when particles such as dust, sulfuric acid, nitric acid and organic hydrocarbons in the air make the atmosphere turbid, blur sightlines and worsen visibility. When horizontal visibility falls below 10,000 meters, the visibility obstruction caused by such an aerosol system made of non-water substances is called haze (Haze) or dust-haze (Dust-haze). Haze can be relatively thick, reaching about 1–3 kilometers. Its particles are fairly evenly distributed and small—ranging from 0.001 microns to 10 microns, with an average diameter of roughly 1–2 microns—so the floating particles are invisible to the naked eye. Because haze contains particles such as dust, sulfuric acid and nitric acid, it scatters more longer-wavelength light, which makes it appear yellow or orange-gray.

Air pollution is an important cause of smoggy weather, and in the printing sector, one factor that may pollute the atmosphere is ink. Ink is an important raw and auxiliary material for packaging printing and also one of the major pollution sources. The 'Twelfth Five-Year Plan for Air Pollution Prevention and Control in Key Regions', released last December, set rules for inks used in packaging printing: new packaging printing projects must use inks bearing an environmental label, and volatile organic compound (VOC) pollution control must be treated as an important part of construction project environmental impact assessments, with strict pollution control measures applied.

Alongside requiring packaging printing companies to use eco-friendly inks, the Plan called for retiring outdated capacity in industries that emit volatile organic compounds: traditional ink production facilities below 300 tons per year were to be phased out, benzene-containing solvent-based ink production was to be banned, and all coating, adhesive and ink production facilities without VOC collection, recovery and purification equipment were to be eliminated. Other heavily polluting volatile organic compounds were also to be phased out, and processes and products for which VOC reduction and control were not economically feasible were to be discontinued.

The Plan also proposed studying and drafting environmental label product certification standards for solvent-containing products such as coatings, inks, adhesives, building boards, furniture and dry cleaning.

The Plan did not only impose requirements on new packaging printing projects. It also stipulated that the packaging printing industry must use inks that meet environmental protection requirements; drying workshops must install adsorption equipment such as activated carbon to recover organic solvents, and organic waste gas in the workshop must be purified with a purification efficiency of more than 90%.

—Original source: China Packaging Network (pack.cn), original link: http://news.pack.cn/show-361975.html