Interest in sustainability from every member of the flexographic workflow, all the way to Consumer Product Companies and end customers, continues to grow.
The number of entries vying for the 2024 FTA Sustainability Excellence Award—the largest in the competition’s 20+ years—is the latest data point to support that observation.
These innovations in sustainability and sustainability programs show flexographic printers and suppliers putting sustainability front and center in their business’ day-to-day operations, in the products they produce, in their go-to-market strategies and in how they approach solving problems.
The award winners and honorable mentions in this year’s record-breaking competition are:
- Asahi Kasei: Winner, Innovations in Sustainability
- Chespa: Winner, Sustainability Programs
- Miraclon: Winner, Innovations in Sustainability
- MacDermid Graphics Solutions: Honorable Mention, Innovations in Sustainability
- Sun Chemical: Honorable Mention, Innovations in Sustainability
- Tempo Flexible Packaging: Honorable Mention, Sustainability Programs
“This year’s FTA Sustainability Excellence Awards have seen an unprecedented number of entries, showcasing the industry’s dedication to sustainability like never before,” said FTA Sustainability Committee Chair Justin Green of Comexi. “The sheer volume is matched only by the outstanding quality of submissions, reflecting the commitment of companies towards environmentally conscious practices. It underscores the vital importance of sustainability in our industry, driving innovation and responsible stewardship for a better future.”
Shine on, Miraclon
The benefits of LED exposure are well-known, as are the environmentally minded side effects of LED exposure when compared to mercury fluorescent lamps—less plate waste and fewer plate remakes, energy savings and a reduction of mercury waste. While government regulation is looming that will ban mercury fluorescent lamps, the cost to implement an LED exposure system today remains a barrier to many flexographic printers.
Miraclon saw this situation as an opportunity and developed its Shine LED Lamp Kit to make the benefits of LED exposure available at a lower cost. Each Shine LED Lamp Kit consists of a UVA LED lamp and prewired bracket kit, in several formats designed to fit all major exposure frame manufacturers. Miraclon says the retrofit installation process takes less than four hours in most cases and has been installed at commercial sites around the world.
“Sustainability is core to the Miraclon innovation strategy as we focus on delivering technology and novel approaches to optimize the flexographic printing process,” says Reid Chesterfield, chief technology and innovation officer at Miraclon. “Shine LED Lamp Kits are a simple and cost-effective path to UV LED plate exposure that makes an even more consistent flexographic plate. Increased plate consistency leads to even greater efficiencies and sustainability benefits in printing—a core requirement for any flexographic printer looking for a path to modern flexography.”
According to Miraclon, one Shine LED Lamp Kit provides annual savings that include:
- 138-kg. of CO2 savings in plate manufacture and plate making due to remakes from inconsistent fluorescent plates
- An average elimination of 45 fewer hazardous mercury fluorescent lamps consumed
- An average savings of 1000 kW hours of energy
- An average plate room operational savings of $7,000 based on eight years of Shine LED operation
Extrapolating those savings out, the company believes that, with 2,000 Kit installations replacing mercury fluorescent bulbs, the flexographic industry would see a CO2 reduction in the hundreds of thousands of kilograms per year, 100,000 fewer mercury lamps consumed per year, and energy savings of up to 2,000 megawatts of electricity per year.
“Shine LED is a sustainable solution. It delivers consistency across the board with less plate room errors and saves energy with faster exposure times and no need to warm up lamps,” says Trisoft VP of Business Development Terry Clark.
“This innovation is really timely!” one competition judge comments. “With the move away from fluorescents, this gives the entire industry a solution.”