SOY INK LIFE-CYCLE STUDY RESULTS RELEASED
URBANDALE, Iowa
(October 26, 1998) - As part of a continuing commitment to the environmental
issues in the printing and ink industries, the National Soy Ink Information
Center recently conducted a life-cycle study to better understand the
environmental effects of soy ink.
"More and more printers across the
country are adopting soy ink every day," says Jo Patterson, soy ink coordinator
at the National Soy Ink Information Center. "With the results of the new
life-cycle study and soy ink's proven quality, printers can now make the
environmentally preferable choice."
Findings were announced today at a
press conference at Graph Expo, an annual convention for the printing and
graphics industries, held this week in Chicago.
The sustainable
choice
Some of the study's major findings include:
- Soybean agriculture uses only 0.5 percent of the total energy needed to
produce soy ink.
- Soybeans temporarily take damaging carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere.
Using conservation tillage methods can reduce water runoff and slow the release
of carbon dioxide back into the environment.
- Tall oil rosins - used to manufacture many types of ink - are the primary
contributors to soy ink's ozone depletion potential.
- The majority of air emissions released during soy ink's life cycle result
from fossil fuel combustion. Extraction and processing of raw materials for
other printing ink ingredients share the burden for release of these
emissions.
Improving the process
"In addition to
promoting the use of soy ink, the National Soy Ink Information Center works with
a number of organizations to improve the soy ink production process," adds
Patterson. "The results of this study will be shared with these partners to
improve the soy ink process"
For example, educational efforts are already
underway to promote conservation tillage practices among farmers. Conservation
tillage can decrease fossil fuel air emissions and reduce water and chemical
runoff in soybean fields. Research has also been initiated to find
soybean-derived materials to replace tall oil rosins - the primary contributors
to ozone depletion in the study.
"One of the primary ingredients in soy
ink - soybean oil - is extracted from soybeans, a non-toxic and plentiful
resource," says Patterson. "Intuition and some empirical evidence tells us that
soy ink is inherently 'greener' than the petroleum-based alternative, but the
life-cycle study documents the possible environmental
effects."
Understanding the cycle
A life-cycle inventory
quantifies the use of energy and resources, as well as the amount of emissions
associated with a product. After an inventory is completed, the information
collected is used to calculate the relative environmental impact.
"The
life cycle is a basic tenet of nature," says Duane Tolle, the study's principal
investigator from Battelle, the Columbus, Ohio, technology firm that conducted
the study. "We tend to think of a life cycle in relation to living creatures,
but every product - from a doughnut to a luxury sports car - uses resources and
energy, and inevitably produces wastes. Our study documents what is used and
created and what the possible effects on the environment will
be."
Battelle - an internationally recognized technology organization
with life-cycle study experience - conducted the benchmark life-cycle inventory
and impact assessment for soy ink in a sheet-fed printing process. The Ohio firm
is a third-party researcher with no ties to the printing or agricultural
industries.
Not only is the soy ink life-cycle study the first study
of its kind performed in the U.S. printing or ink industries, the life-cycle
impact assessment is the first to be critically reviewed externally under the
latest International Organization of Standardization (ISO) 14042
guidelines.
"With assistance from the Graphic Arts Technical Foundation
(GATF) and others in the industry, we were able to develop a representative
formula for black, soy-based ink," adds Tolle. "We also enlisted the help of
five printers from different parts of the country. All of these printers use
SoySeal-certified soy ink exclusively in their printing operations."
The
study inventoried all inputs and processes necessary to produce a unit of soy
ink. The information obtained in the inventory was used to identify possible
environmental impacts, ranging from natural resource depletion to global
warming. Identification of these burdens is not a guarantee that a detrimental
impact will occur. It also is important to note that soy ink shares many common
components, manufacturing stages and printing practices with other inks. The
National Soy Ink Information Center has a strong identity as the information
clearinghouse and resource for soy ink manufacturers and users. The Center
manages the SoySeal trademark program; maintains relationships with soy ink
manufacturers, printers and buyers; advises on research needed for product
development; responds to trade media inquiries; and leads soy ink and
environmental seminars. The Center is funded by U.S. soybean producers. For more
information on the soy ink life-cycle inventory and impact assessment, contact
the Center at 1 800-747-4275 or at soyink@soyink.com.
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