Smart Paper Choices

Choosing paper that supports an environmental approach is part of many companies’ business strategy now. Again, printing on FSC-certified paper assures you that you’ve made an environmentally smart choice. Hatteras works with you to determine which paper source will best meet your organization’s needs. We will ensure your work looks good while using higher post-consumer recycled content when possible. The EPA guidelines require a minimum of 30% post-consumer content for uncoated printing and writing paper, and a minimum of 10% post-consumer content for coated papers.

Smart ink choices

When it comes to ink, eco-friendly printing uses soy and other vegetable inks instead of petroleum based inks. Soybeans are a renewable source, and soybean agriculture requires low total energy expenditures to produce soy ink. In addition, soy ink has low levels of volatile organic compounds (VOCs), which helps to reduce air pollution by minimizing toxic emissions.

Some points to consider about ink:

• Soy ink is a helpful component in paper recycling because it can be removed more easily than regular ink from paper. The recycled paper has less damage to its paper fibers and has a brighter appearance.
• Soybean oil is naturally clearer than petroleum distillates and other vegetable oils, so it makes it easier to obtain brightly colored ink. Less pigment is needed to produce the same effect, which reduces the overall cost of the ink.
• We can use less ink to produce the same amount of paper compared to petroleum inks because soy ink spreads further.

In meeting environmental expectations, Hatteras prints with soy based inks almost exclusively. We specify low VOCs for our inks and coatings. And just as important as the type of ink used, we manage how it is used and disposed of by tightly controlling our inventory and scheduling practices, ordering only the quantities of ink we need and reusing or recycling unused inks.