The ink industry is facing all sorts of pressures, whether it is new regulatory mandates, pricing pressures from virtually all raw material suppliers or logistics issues.

George Fuchs, director of regulatory affairs and technology for the National Association of Printing Ink Manufacturers (NAPIM), is the North American ink industry’s point person on regulatory issues, and he brought his expertise to bear in NAPIM’s latest webinar, “ NAPIM – Regulatory, Technical and Market.”

In addition, Fuchs announced the latest news from NAPIM, and discussed the financial pressures on the ink industry.

What’s New at NAPIM

First, Fuchs gave an update on what events will be happening at NAPIM, with in-person events scheduled throughout the year. For the first time since 1999, NAPIM’s Annual Convention will be an in-person event, scheduled for April 8-11, 2022 at the Vinoy Renaissance St. Petersburg Resort & Golf Club in St. Petersburg, FL.

On the technical side, NAPIM will again host its virtual Digital and Emerging Technologies conference, this time on May 17-18, featuring talks on the latest developments in inkjet, flexible electronics and more.

On July 17-22, NAPIM will resume its annual Summer Course at Clemson University. Fuchs said that the Sumer Course will have some enhancements this year.

“This year we did a radical remake of the syllabus,” he noted. “We consolidated the liquid and paste sessions and eliminated the separate registration for each. The biggest changes were the new sessions we are adding on testing and troubleshooting as well as increased press time, as most attendees were interested in having more time on press.”

Meanwhile, the NAPIM Technical Conference, which returned to an in-person event last year, is set for Oct. 18-20, 2022 at Oak Brook Hills Resort, Oak Brook, IL.

Pricing Woes and the Ink Industry

Raw material and logistic costs are rising fast, and while ink companies are issuing their own price increases, these aren’t keeping up. Using Producer Price Index Data from the US Bureau of Census data, Fuchs clearly showed the disparity.

Fuchs noted that printing ink prices increased 8.3% from 2020 to 2021. However, pigments are up 11.45%, trucking is up 20.5%, and carbon black is up 54.3%. Compared to January 2021, soybean prices are 33% higher, and petroleum manufacturing costs are up 39%.

What’s New in Regulatory

There is a lot that is going on in the regulatory side of the ink industry. Fuchs noted from the COVID-19 perspective, OSHA had issued an emergency standard on testing and vaccine, and withdrew it a couple of weeks ago. Fuchs said he expected that to happen

“I was not surprised that OSHA pulled that standard – in the history of OSHA there were nine or 10 emergency standards in the last 50 years and they were met with an avalanche of protests, and all but two were withdrawn,” he noted.

As for current regulatory concerns, Fuchs began with a discussion on compostability, adding that NAPIM offers a whitepaper on this topic

“Ink companies are often asked what is the impact of a dried printing ink on compostability,” he said. “That is not an easy question to answer. We contend that dried ink on a substrate has very little impact on the rate of compostability, as there is very little weight of the dried ink.”

Fuchs noted that the Sustainable Green Printers Partnership now offers a certification program for suppliers.

“NAPIM was one of the founding members of the organization,” Fuchs observed. “This is a very rigorous and verifiable program. Ink companies can now earn an SGP Supplier Certification.”

Fuchs reported a list of topics, ranging from California considering adding TMPTA to Prop 65 substances to CONEG’s addition of ortho-phthalates to its list.

Washington State is perhaps the most aggressive state, which is causing the ink industry among many others to try to figure out how to work with state officials on the subject of inadvertent PCBs in inks. Fuchs is tasked with working with officials to understand that not all inks can be used in all processes.

“Washington state has to demonstrate availability and feasibility of replacing ink that have inadvertent PCBs,” Fuchs reported. “Inks are not interchangeable. You can’t use flexo inks on an offset press and litho inks can’t be used on a gravure press. I am very hopeful that they are going to reach the conclusion that these inks are not feasible or available.”

Other states are actively looking to ban certain substances. Washington state is considering inadvertent PCBs in titanium dioxide. New York is looking at perfluoralkyl substances (PFAS), which could potentially have an impact on some wax components in ink systems.

“New York is planning on banning PFAS in food packaging effective Dec. 31, 2022. This could include 9,600 substances,” Fuchs pointed out.

Safety is a critical area of emphasis for Fuchs, and he noted that the US Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board is investigating fatal explosions in industries outside of ink. Still, there are lessons to be learned, particularly the fatal explosion at Evergreen Packaging that killed two contractors.

“You have to train your contractors,” Fuchs said.

Along those lines, NAPIM has two new safety training videos – vertical post mixer and three-roll mills – with most up-to-date standards that started at the end of 2021. Fuchs said that these videos should be available very shortly.

The final topics dealt with the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) (EPA) and food packaging inks. “This issue is of great interest to us and we continue to work productively with the FDA,” he reported.

Fuchs began by discussing the EPA’s ruling on Pigment Violet 29. “The EPA found unreasonable risk to workers and occupational non-users,” Fuchs noted. “This is not particularly troublesome for ink manufacturers as PV 29 is not often used in inks. It could be a problem if other pigments are found to be a risk though.”

Fuchs noted that the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is refocusing on food packaging inks, while other nations and even companies are also acting on food packaging.

“Packaging inks are in a legal limbo in the US,” said Fuchs. “The German ink ordinance is now in place. France is now banning mineral oils from packaging and is trying to get the rest of the world to join. Amazon now has its own use standard like Nestle.”