GB2384479A

GB2384479A - Using biodegradable ink to increase the biodegradability of paper

Info

Publication number: GB2384479A
Application number: GB0201926A
Authority: GB
Inventors: John Colin Ogden
Original assignee: BURRALLS OF WISBECH Ltd
Current assignee: BURRALLS OF WISBECH Ltd
Priority date: 2002-01-29
Filing date: 2002-01-29
Publication date: 2003-07-30
Also published as: GB0201926D0

Abstract

A method of increasing the biodegradability of a paper or card or other fibre-based product packaging or labelling material (10) comprising the step of printing (18) a biodegradable printing ink (20) by which product data or descriptive material is provided on said packaging or labelling material surface (10). The biodegradable ink (20) commences biodegradation (24) under said conditions of disposal (22), thereby causing the sheet material (12) of said packaging or labelling element (10) itself to commence biodegradation (24), and achieving more rapid biodegradation (24) of the labelling element (10).

Description

BIODEGRADATION This invention relates broadly to biodegradation and provides a method and product adapted to improve current procedures and products in the field of biodegradation.

Of course there is currently immense interest in biodegradation and related processes and products. Such interest derives from the current environmental movement which seeks to reduce and/or minimise the damage to the natural environment of the earth by the use and disposal of commercial products.

Proposals have been made, as is well known, to provide processes and products adapted to assist the biodegradation of plastics materials, and such proposals have had some success.

We operate in the field of product packaging and labelling inter alia, and the last above-mentioned proposals have some relevance in that field, but our research shows that non-plastics-based product- packaging and get-up, and labelling having a non-plastics base forms a substantial part of the bulk of commercial materials disposed of, and thus the aforesaid techniques are not applicable thereto.

Moreover, and surprisingly, our investigations show that even paper-based non-plastics labelling and packaging and the like can have a very substantial lifetime under conditions of conventional refuse disposal on waste sites and elsewhere.

Indeed, we have discovered that paper labels of the conventional printed kind do not biodegrade as one would expect having regard to the assumption that paper itself is fairly readily biodegraded under conditions of dampness.

One would have expected that under such conditions on refuse disposal sites that water would enter the paper of such packaging or labelling at least through the edges of the sheet material of which it composed, and once such

ingress of fluid takes place, assisted by the conditions and treatment to which refuse is subjected, the biodegradation process should follow relatively swiftly.

Surprisingly, our investigations show that it does not follow nearly as swiftly as could be expected and our research further shows that this fact contributes substantially to the long life of labels and other packaging materials under conditions of refuse disposal.

Accordingly, we have identified a significant need for a means to enhance the biodegradation of labels and other packaging materials under such conditions, and the method and product of the invention seek to provide one or more improvements in this general area.

Accordingly to the invention there is provided a method and product as defined in the accompanying claims.

In embodiments of the invention described below there is provided a product label or packaging element. The label or packaging element comprises paper or a similar biodegradable material such as'card or other fibre-based sheet material which is able to biodegrade under conditions of disposal. Printed matter is applied to the labelling or packaging element. The printed matter is printed using a biodegradable ink. The biodegradable ink undergoes biodegradation under the conditions of conventional refuse disposal, such as dampness and/or exposure to ultra violet radiation and related conditions of natural ambient disposal. As a result of such biodegradation, we have discovered, the corresponding biodegradation of the entire label or packaging element is expedited by a surprisingly large factor leading to at least several times the normal rate and this has the potential effect in relation to refuse disposal sites of producing a very substantial enhancement in the rate of reduction of bulk volume of disposed materials.

The above identified effect of the method and product

of the invention derives, we believe, from the hitherto unsuspected effectiveness of conventional printing inks in terms of inhibiting the onset of such biodegradation by a water-repellant effect significantly greater, in use, than had been expected.

An embodiment of the invention will now be described by way of example with reference to the accompanying drawing which shows in block diagram flow chart format the method of the invention.

As shown in the drawing, a product label or packaging element 10 is made by a method wherein a sheet material main body 12 of the product label or packaging element 10 is printed with printed matter 14 by way of product identification or product information.

Product label or packaging element 10 comprises paper or card 16 or other fibre-based sheet material which is able to biodegrade under conditions of disposal.

The printed matter 14 is applied to label or packaging element 10 in a printing step 18 using conventional printing apparatus adapted to apply a biodegradable ink 20.

Biodegradable ink 20 may for example be an ink available from Premier Ink Systems as discussed below.

The thus-produced printed product label or packaging element 10 is then used for its labelling or packaging function and ultimately is discarded at a refuse disposal site (not shown) at which dampness and/or ultraviolet radiation together with other conditions of refuse site disposal 22 act on the label or element to cause biodegradation 24.

We have discovered that the use of a biodegradable ink, such as the ink 20, produces a remarkable enhancement in the speed of biodegradation.

Although the embodiments of the invention are principally applicable to the enhancement of the biodegredation of paper and other fibre-based labels and the

like product identification materials, it is fully expected that an enhancement of the rate of degredation under conditions of normal refuse disposal will be achieved in the case of plastics-based materials possessing biodegradability properties, as compared with such materials when used with conventional printing inks on the basis that the mechanism for the enhancement of the biodegredation properties of materials treated in accordance with the invention can notionally be considered (though the mechanism is by no means clear) as a diminution of the shield effect which notionally is exerted by conventional printing inks on the basis of the results provided by the embodiments of the invention.

It is expected that the benefit provided by the embodiments of the invention will be available, as indicated above, in relation to biodegradable plastic substrates without significant adaptation of the printing ink employed for the purposes of the present invention. It is however, entirely possible that some degree of matching gas between the ink and the plastic substrate may be beneficial, particularly in relation to the rate of biodegredation of the plastic substrate in relation to the water permeability of the printing ink medium.

It will also be understood that the substrates to which the methods of the present invention may be applied will usually be in extended strip-like format prior to printing and stored for example in reels for that purpose. The printing step will not infrequently (and particularly so in the case of labels) be carried out contemporaneously with other finishing steps including stamping and related formation steps.

A printing ink suitable for the purposes of the present invention is currently available from Premier Ink Systems,

10420N State Street, PO Box 670, Harrison, Ohio, United States of America. However, inks suitable for this purpose may well become available elsewhere. Our research has shown that printing inks providing the necessary colour and finish qualities for present day product designation and identification usually contribute to the relatively slow process of product biodegredation under conditions of usual refuse disposal at least in part by their resistance to water penetration but not entirely so because our investigations suggest that the use of a biodegradable ink involves a stage during the biodegredation (of the ink) at which there is a surface effect in which some degree of cooperative degredation occurs involving water penetration and leading to an enhancement of this process for the product itself. It is believed that there is a contributory factor over and above the overall nature of the ink and arising from some other property or ingredient thereof which leads to this beneficial cooperative enhancement of the rate of degredation.

Claims

CLAIMS :- 1. A method of making a printed product label or packaging element comprising: a) providing a sheet material main body of said label or packaging element said sheet material comprising paper or card or board comprising a fibrous biodegradable material; b) printing said label or packaging element with printed matter by way of product identification or product information; characterised by e) the step of rendering said label or element more rapidly biodegradable under conditions of refuse disposal by using as said ink a biodegradable ink whereby biodegradation elements such as dampness and/or ultra violet radiation can more immediately have their effect under conditions of refuse disposal.
2. A method of making a printed product label or packaging element comprising providing a sheet material main body and printing same with printed matter, characterised by the step of rendering said label more rapidly biodegradable by using as said ink a biodegradable ink.
3. A method for increasing the rate of biodegradation of product packaging and/or labelling materials comprising the step of printing such materials with product information and/or product description data and the step of causing said product packaging and/or labelling material to be subjected to conditions of potential biodegradation as a result of the action of, inter alia, dampness on said material, characterised by the step of employing as the printing ink or part of said printing step, a biodegradable ink whereby said ink commences

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biodegradation under said conditions of disposal, thereby causing the sheet material of said packaging or labelling element itself to commence biodegradation.
4. A method of increasing the biodegradability of a paper or card or other fibre-based product packaging or labelling material comprising the step of employing as or as a part of the printing ink by which product data or descriptive material is provided on said packaging or labelling material surface, a biodegradable ink.