Siegwerk, global provider of printing inks and coatings for packaging applications and labels, has launched its first full UV flexo deinking system for the European market: Cirkit ClearPrime UV E02.
The new primer technology, which is for non-food packaging applications, offers a safe and economic deinking of UV-printed self-adhesive labels, improving the recyclability of labelled plastic packaging, and enabling the recovery of high-quality recyclates that are suitable for reuse in non-food packaging applications.
Marc Larvor, head of technology narrow EMEA at Siegwerk, explained that despite the benefits of UV ink it can be difficult to remove when recycling, limiting the recyclates’ further reuse – a reason why UV-printed packaging has been considered problematic for the circular economy. He added that the ClearPrime solution eliminates the need for prior label removal if the used plastics are compatible, increasing recycling rates while also saving time and costs.
In a first field test with European labels and packaging supplier Masterpress, Siegwerk’s new deinking primer has proven its effectiveness in all aspects, according to Siegwerk. Masterpress used uncoated transparent or white pressure sensitive labels and applied Siegwerk’s ClearPrime followed by bleeding resistant UV flexo inks and a UV flexo OPV. Creating what Masterpress described as ‘perfect adhesion’ between the substrate and inks, the deinking primer – which is dissolvable (residue-free) in the hot washing process – later allowed full ink removal at the standard deinking conditions of the European PET Bottle Platform. The used non-bleeding ink formulations ensured a clean and reusable washing solution, said Siegwerk.
Katarzyna Wasilewska, research and development manager at Masterpress, commented, ‘Our tests confirmed an impressive recyclability of the UV-printed PE labels. Compared to other labels with no deinking technology, we could observe that contaminations of plastic recyclates due to discoloration could be massively reduced by using Siegwerk’s UV deinking primer.’
Siegwerk stated that the primer works ‘perfectly’ with its Sicura flexo series, such as the non-low migration Sicura Flex 39-8 or the dual-curing series Sicura Flex Dual Cure. In addition, the new primer is compliant with different film materials and allows an inline printing of deinkable materials in a 100% UV-flexo press setup, keeping the complexity for users as low as possible, the company added.
Ms Wasilewska concluded, ‘With only three minutes, the new UV flexo primer even offers a deinking speed as fast as a water-based deinking primer, making it a great alternative for converters who are using a pure UV flexo press and are not able to process a water-based primer.’
