Flexographic Printing Partnership

About This Project | Findings & Accomplishments | Publications | Partners

What Is Flexography?

Flexography is a process used primarily for printing on paper, corrugated paperboard, and flexible plastic materials. Examples of items printed with flexography include newspapers, milk cartons, frozen food and bread bags, and shampoo bottle labels.

The DfE Flexographic Printing Partnership provided technical information and pollution prevention tips to printers to help them perform as efficiently and environmentally responsible as possible.

Much of the partnership's efforts centered on comparing three primary flexographic ink systems:

Solvent-based inks
Water-based inks
Ultra-violet cured inks

Project partners decided to focus on inks because inks constitute a major cost category and are associated with a variety of environmental and health issues.

Specific goals of the partnership were to:

Identify and inform industry about comparative chemical risk in inks, including unregulated chemicals that present opportunities for proactive, voluntary risk management.
Facilitate the use and formulation of cleaner inks.
Encourage the adoption of workplace practices that minimize exposure to chemicals of concern.

Flexographic Printing Partnership

What Is Flexography?

Local Navigation