Sustainability is Critical to Product Development

Sun Chemical’s structured and robust approach to product development includes risk management and eco-efficiency improvements as key criteria, a key focus that has driven increased sustainability through innovation in its products and solutions.

Built with an infrastructure for product stewardship that leads the industry, we proactively work with suppliers, customers, and industry trade groups to promote best practices. The company’s product sustainability initiatives can be categorized into three themes:

1. The raw materials used and the manufacturing processes by increasing the plant-based biorenewable content and/or recycled content in Sun Chemical products. This reduces the products’ effective carbon footprint and reduces the company’s reliance on finite oil and coal resources. Having less fossil-based carbon in packaging will help with climate change.
2. The function of our products and the environmental impact of this function will help Sun Chemical to develop solutions that help resolve societal issues, such as food waste.
3. The end-of-life of our products and how they interact with recycling processes by assisting Sun Chemical customers in making products easier to recycle and promoting the development of circular economies. Recycling can be through a mechanical/chemical route or through a biological route.

Here are some examples of products and services that Sun Chemical has developed in recent years that help customers achieve their sustainability goals:

SunVisto® AquaGreen water-based inks have significantly higher levels of biorenewable naturally derived resin content. These carefully formulated inks are not only resistant to abrasion, water and grease — they offer superior performance, sustainability and the industry’s best technical support. To learn more, watch our video and download Sun Chemical’s white paper.

SunBar® Aerobloc oxygen barrier coatings extend product shelf life, enable the lightweighting of packaging, offer improved laminate flexibility, and are compostable, press-ready and cost-effective. SunBar allows for lighter-weight packaging, a reduced carbon footprint, and easy application with few changes to current equipment.

SunCure® Accuflex UV is one of a new series of energy curable inks for primary and secondary food packaging that is not manufactured with Bisphenol A (BPA)-based materials and meets low migration specifications. All these inks are compliant with the strictest global standards in the marketplace, meet the latest photoinitiator safe packaging guidelines and provide low odor and very low residual extractables characteristics, while maintaining the highest standards of pressroom performance. Learn more by downloading Sun Chemical’s white paper.

SunSpectro^® SolvaWash^™ GR recycling-friendly washable ink technology recognized by the Association of Plastic Recyclers that can be removed without staining the flake or wash water from post-consumer printed PET packaging during the hot caustic wash step of the recycling process. Designed for crystallizable PET shrink sleeves, using these inks allows for the increased recovery of high quality, clean, recycled PET resin flakes. Learn more in Sun Chemical’s Guide for Sustainable Packaging and by watching this video.