Tuesday, 14 Apr 2015 11:36 GMT

Major advancement in print recyclability

The European Recovered PaperCouncil (ERPC) has revised its de-inking scorecard, first published in 2008, in a bid to improve the recycling of paper products.

This revision comes after issues were raised last year by the International Association of the De-Inking Industry (INGEDE) about HP’s Indigo range, with INGEDE’s Axel Fisher hitting out at claims the range is de-inkable, saying Indigo is ‘ a lamination rather than a printing process, and thus a potent source of dirt specks in the de-inking process’.

This prompted HP to address these allegations with a statement declaring that it had proven in detail at a De-inking Symposium that HP Indigo inks were, in fact, de-inkable in typical wood-containing recovered paper mixtures.
"This revised scorecard ensures that more products can be recycled to similar quality levels as the original product.

"Our joint efforts prove that the paper value chain is working every day to improve on the sustainability profile of its products, responding to the latest policy developments", says Beatrice Klose, secretary general of Intergraf, one of the ERPC signatories.

The scorecard assesses de-inkability, a vital factor in the recycling process, on the following criteria; luminosity, colour, ink elimination, filtrate darkening and cleanliness. The updated version of the scorecard now has an improved differentiation between magazines and low ink coverage products, and also includes amendments to terminology, fibre yield, luminosity threshold target, and ink elimination target.

The new deinking scorecard is available at: http://www.paperforrecycling.eu/publications/erpc-publications

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