Understanding the rules of the game, enterprises can only be bystanders, and can not lead or even participate in the market. Standards are the embodiment of the interests of enterprises and the state. The emergence of standards needs to break through the triple doors.
What is the hottest product in today's ink market? There is no doubt that green ink is the hottest product. In all the major advertising leaflets, ink manufacturers, without exception, hold high the flag of “ environmental protection ” big banner. But what are the criteria for judging green ink? Before the relevant national standards have been issued, people can not define them.
User: Embarrassment without standards
Interviewee: Zhang Limin, Beijing Foreign Language Printing Factory
The market of green ink is chaotic, and consumers are confused when they buy green ink, because this concept is still quite vague and loose in our market. What is green ink? What are the production and evaluation criteria? What is the VOC displacement? There is no standard answer at present.
Reporter: How do you think of the green environmental protection ink on the market at present?
It should be looked at by region. Because different countries and regions require different standards, such as Europe and the United States, their standards are more stringent than domestic standards. I think that at present, green ink in the real sense is widely used in packaging and printing in China, but in the printing of books and newspapers, it has not reached this level, and the relevant laws and regulations are blank in this regard.
Nowadays, when many manufacturers sell ink, they say that their products are environmental protection ink, which is certified by the national environmental protection department. But I think there are still big differences between the domestic certification standards and those in Europe and the United States. It can be said that the country has not paid much attention to the ink industry.
Reporter: What is your judgment criterion when you buy green ink? I can't judge yet. Now I know that environmental protection ink is UV ink, because its components are different, but also more expensive, more used in packaging, less used in commercial printing, that's all, I believe that many printing enterprises on the understanding of environmental protection ink also stay here. Nowadays, no matter manufacturers or users, they don't put too much effort into environmental protection. One reason is that the state has no mandatory and guiding policies, and has not realized the harm of ink to people's health and environment. Therefore, without standards and standards, we can't lead the industry to the right direction. Second, the level of national economic development and the overall level of the printing industry have not reached the corresponding level. In this case, for the relationship between human, environmental pollution and social development, the emphasis is still on development, and the pollution problem can only be solved gradually in the process of development.
Reporter: How much green ink does your printing company use every year?
The price of environmental protection ink is much higher than that of ordinary ink. From the user's point of view, the only environmental protection ink that can be used in commercial printing is UV ink, but the amount is relatively small. In the packaging and decoration industry, because of the large amount of packaging printing, there are certain requirements for environmental protection, so the amount and opportunity of using green ink is relatively large.
In addition, the use of green ink on equipment, accessories, consumables and other special requirements, for example, cots to use special, or dual-use, these accessories are more expensive, will increase the cost of enterprises.
Reporter: Do you think users lack the right to know when they buy green ink?
Indeed, we are very confused when purchasing green ink, but why does this problem not attract the attention of manufacturers? Because the current green ink-mdash; gravure water-based ink and UV ink, etc., are rarely used in the book and newspaper industry, a large number of book and newspaper ink is not environmentally friendly ink, and the use of less determines that environmental ink can not be taken seriously. 。
Enterprises: Require Compulsory Standards
Interviewee: Xie Jiayi, Water-based Ink Technology Department, Hanghua Ink Chemistry Co., Ltd.
Nowadays, because of the poisonous organic solvents in food packaging and the frequent accidents of infiltration into food, printing consumables such as ink have become the main culprits.
Reporter: What are the reasons why green ink has not been popularized in China?
Maybe the manufacturer can make the product free of VOC, but when the user is printing, water-based ink can completely do & ldquo; water-based printing & rdquo; it is difficult, then it is possible to add alcohol and other ingredients in the ink. For example, in the post-printing drying process, the volatilization rate of water-based ink printing products is not fast. If alcohol and other substances are added, the drying rate can be improved. In developed countries and regions such as the United States, the printing industry has advanced equipment, good drying system, good quality of printing raw materials, and is very suitable for water-based ink printing, but the relative cost is also high. But our country can not reach this level.
Reporter: How to overcome the lack of standard production?
At present, the VOC content of domestic water-based ink is very small, probably less than 5%. In view of the lack of standards, manufacturers have adopted the methods of & ldquo; compromise & rdquo; on the one hand, referring to national standards, on the other hand, referring to the needs of enterprises, corresponding adjustments have been made.
Environmental protection ink market is still a mixed phenomenon, VOC content in the end how many, there is no boundaries, at present it is determined by the enterprise itself, we try to reduce VOC to the lowest level.
Reporter: What is the reason why the country has not yet issued the green ink standard?
In fact, whether green ink should be issued standards depends mainly on whether our customers have such requirements, if customers do not request, it is useless, which is very relevant to the domestic situation, many printing plants now have no demand for environmental protection.
Our company has its own internal standards, but it is not mandatory, and customers rarely use testing.
Manufacturers welcome the introduction of such a standard, which can eliminate the mixed market situation. In the current situation, we recommend that customers choose the green ink products produced by large enterprises because of their high technical content and better quality assurance.
Experts: Breaking through the Triple Gate of Standards
Interviewee: Yang Hong, former director of National Ink Information Center
The formulation of standards is first embodied in technology. It should break through the triple gates of technology, leader and environmental awareness, and should be a road of coordinated development of the three.
Reporter: Our country has not yet.Is there a standard for this?
The standard of water-based ink has been formulated in the past, but it has not been formally implemented, but I think this standard will soon be formulated again and implemented.
Reporter: There is no standard for green ink, will it hinder the development of China's green ink market?
I don't think it will, nor will it create a mixed market. Water-based flexographic printing ink, water-based gravure printing ink, UV ink and other energy-saving, non-toxic, pollution-free products are developing rapidly in China. Water-based offset printing ink has been successfully developed abroad and is still under development in China. In addition, today's packaging and printing have many requirements for raw materials, such as organic solvents in ink must be non-toxic and so on.
How green ink develops is largely determined by the market, not by standards, at the Hong Kong Packaging and Printing Exposition I just attended.
As you can see, many companies say that the ink provided by manufacturers must be non-toxic, otherwise it will not be used.
Reporter: Please introduce the detection of green ink.
Now some export ink, especially in Europe, requires ink manufacturers to provide SONY Green Partnership System testing and other testing reports. After testing, European countries only import Chinese ink products.
Although there are no standards, there are already some certification bodies. Now there are testing organizations in Shenzhen and Shanghai. Tianjin has the National Quality Supervision and Inspection Center for Printing and Decoration Products, which can test the toxicity of water-based ink and offset ink. All export products must be tested here. Although not mandatory, but with this test report, users will recognize. It is understood that Tianjin Dongyang has passed the test of SONY Green Partnership System.
Reporter: Is the standard setting a tedious process?
Right! Standards can not be formulated simply. We need a large number of powerful, large-scale ink dealers, offset and gravure experts and relevant state departments to formulate them together. Standards not only need to achieve the goal of environmental protection, but also need to be easy to implement in accordance with domestic reality, which determines that the formulation of standards is one. It's a long process.
Standard trajectory
Continuous packaging problems, ink can not escape the blame, wake up the industry, promote the ink industry to green transformation.
Some people have said that every war promotes the progress of social civilization. At the same time, it accelerates the transformation from mdash; & mdash; & ldquo; green ink & rdquo; to the next stage. While we are gratified by the positive transformation of ink manufacturers to “ green ” and green ink standards, we are also full of expectations for the introduction of green ink standards.
However, relying solely on users'requirements and manufacturers' appeals, we can not shoulder the heavy responsibility of standard-setting. Only by combining the three forces of government, enterprise and society, extending the responsibility of producers and giving full play to the power of government, can we create perfect standards.
In the interview process, the interviewees agreed that the trajectory of standard-setting should be: social appeal & mdash; & mdash; national relevant functional departments concerned about & mdash; & mdash; put forward the formulation of restrictive standards & mdash; & mdash; set up an organization with mandatory supervision and testing power - & mdash; & mdash; ink suppliers produce according to the standards and accept testing.
But what we have to face is that in such a seemingly simple formulation process, no matter the users, manufacturers or relevant departments are absent. Relevant government departments, have not yet realized the urgency of green ink, even if enterprises continue to appeal, but no one is willing to take the lead in setting standards.
Industries need to develop, but also sustainable development. Give green ink more mandatory, more standards, also for the industry to contribute to a long-term stability.
The introduction of standards is still a long way to go.
The Way to Set Standards Abroad
In the United States and Germany, the formulation of green ink is led by relevant ink associations and directly by the president of the associations. They work together with the largest and best enterprises in China to formulate the production standards and products of these enterprises, which represent the most advanced production level and management concepts.