hubergroup Print Solutions has developed Hydro-X Green Line Premium, a new water-based ink mixing system offering enhanced sustainability and flexibility for printers and packaging manufacturers.
Offered as a modular system, customers can select exactly those components from the Hydro-X Green Line Premium portfolio that their products require. All components are cradle-to-cradle certified at bronze level, so that packaging can be designed to be both sustainable and colourful.
Since all ink concentrates, blends and additives are matched to each other and can be freely combined, Hydro-X Green Line Premium covers a wide range of applications in flexo and gravure printing – from flexible packaging made of paper, aluminium or plastic film, to corrugated board or folding cartons.
A wide colour gamut and a broad field of application combined with sustainability were hubergroup’s goals when developing Hydro-X Green Line Premium, as Dr Christian Schirrmacher, global project manage, water-based inks at hubergroup, explained. ‘It was important to us to develop more than just one sustainable, water-based product. We wanted to make our entire range sustainable and give customers the flexibility to select those components from it that suit their packaging.’
To investigate and improve the environmental impact of all components of the ink mixing system with a holistic approach, hubergroup partnered with the Cradle to Cradle Products Innovation Institute. The institute is committed to powering innovation for a circular economy and awards certifications based on its Cradle to Cradle Certified Product Standard, covering comprehensive criteria in material health, material reutilisation, renewable energy and carbon management, water stewardship, and social fairness.
Dr Schirrmacher continued, ‘Through the external evaluation, we want to give our customers transparency and security about the environmental impact of our inks. However, it was also important to us that the certification does not affect the application of our products. So, printers who want to use cradle-to-cradle certified products of our Hydro-X series do not have to change their processes and can expect the same good performance and shelf life as before. Brand owners can use the same designs and packaging forms as before – only more sustainable.’
