German packaging prepress house Nägele Digital Repro has improved its sustainability performance through implementing a range of initiatives, including a specially designed wastewater recycling system that has been in operation since April 2023.
This system was created in conjunction with a plant engineering company that specialises in the recycling of liquid media, and takes the aqueous UltraClean waterwash solution from Nägele’s FlexCel NX platemaking system from Miraclon. It is designed to treat 300 litres of used processing agent per work cycle, with recovered clean water returned to the FlexCel NX Ultra processor. Out of 1000 litres of waterwash solution, the process leaves just 30 litres of residual liquid that still needs to be disposed of.
Nägele’s environmental improvements also include making 100% of its own energy requirements through solar-powered electricity generation and using advanced colour management based on customised profiles for every combination of press, ink system and substrate, helping reduce set up waste. The Miraclon FlexCel NX Ultra plate system, which has been in use since Spring 2021, provides solvent-free and VOC-free plates for the company’s customers. FlexCel NX plates account for 98% of the photopolymer plates that Nägele now produces, and the company says its customers are reporting longer intervals between needing to clean plates on press with FlexCel NX.
Speaking about the wastewater recycling, managing director Michael Nägele said, ‘It was a question of resource conservation and sustainability for us, not to mention economic efficiency, to find a technical solution that would allow us to recover and re-use water in our plate production process. The investment of financial resources, time and effort – especially by Werner Rost, our production manager – was well worth it.’
Mr Nägele continued, ‘The investment in this recycling unit makes sense as part of our overall sustainability and resource conservation strategy – after all, we want the number of FlexCel NX Ultra plates produced by us to continue growing. We see it as a decisive step towards further improving flexo platemaking’s eco-balance.’
