Samples produced by the high-volume web press during Drupa, using KBA’s newly developed RotaColor polymer pigment inks, were inspected and found to be “extremely deinkable”. The samples were tested using Ingede’s Method 11 assessment of print product recyclability, and achieved a top score of 100 against the European Recovered Paper Council’s (ERPC) Deinkability Scorecard.

Deinking is the process of removing toner or ink from paper pulp to enable it to enter the recycling chain for use as products such as cardboard, packaging paper, office paper, newsprint and hygiene paper.

Historically toner inks have been fairly easy to remove using the Ingede Method 11, however inkjet printed paper has always been more difficult to deink as the ink bleeds out into other paper around it during processing.

“In terms of green printing deinking is essential,” explained KBA director of business development and marketing, Oliver Baar. “The problem with inkjet ink is, that it behaves like a red sock in your white laundry and instead of ending up with white shirts, you get pink ones.”

He continued: “The overall volume of inkjet print in circulation in the past wasn’t really significant, however this changed with the introduction of high-volume inkjet systems like Rotajet and others. Therefore, the paper volume getting into the recycling process has increased significantly.”

Baar said it is now essential to achieve Ingede certification if inkjet paper is to be recycled satisfactorily. “Due to this,” he said, “KBA’s Rotajet is probably the one and only high volume inkjet printer, which is really green.”

He added: “The challenge of formulating a deinkable ink is that the ink needs to be water-based but the print needs to be waterproof. So it is not simple to design."

RotaColor inks from the Rotajet 76, were also certified as extremely deinkable in 2014, while inkjet printed material from Xerox and Fujifilm also received 'good' ERPC deinkability scores in the same year. 

Axel Fischer, expert for recycling print products at Ingede, said: “The very good results achieved once again by the high-volume inkjet press from KBA clearly show that it is possible to design inkjet printwork in such a way that they can be easily integrated into existing recycling chains.”