At UPB, we believe that the drive toward sustainability is an ongoing process. We have many opportunities to make a positive environmental impact and provide our customers realistic and economic ways to support their own sustainability initiatives.

As a Member of the Sustainable Packaging Coalition (SPC), we are committed to adopting the highest standards of sustainable operations and end products.

The mission of the SPC is to "advocate and communicate a positive, robust environmental vision for packaging and to support innovative, functional packaging materials and systems that promote economic and environmental health."

There is no accepted universal definition of sustainability. Webster defines it as “of, relating to, or being a method of, harvesting or using a resource so that the resource is not depleted or permanently damaged.” The Paperboard industry is renown for high recycling rates and we look to improve it. However, a virgin fiber has to be introduced to support the degradation of the feed fiber every time the board is recycled. So, in paperboard packaging, there is no totally closed loop process, but we feel it’s far ahead of other substrates including plastic.

To quote Potlatch Corporation, one of our major SBS suppliers, “A sustained, growing forest provides multiple environmental and social benefits including clean water, abundant wildlife and recreation. Healthy-growing forests are efficient at consuming carbon dioxide and delivering oxygen to our environment. There is also increasing evidence that growing forests may well be mankind’s most useful vehicle for carbon sequestration."

Sustainable packaging boils down to making and distributing products that don’t diminish natural resources and are not harmful to human life and ecosystems. This is what we are up to presently. . .

Prepress & Pressrooms

UPB operates direct to plate, eliminating caustic chemicals utilized in film production. Eliminating developer and fix in the film production reduced our waste to zero in that area. Not only do we get high quality plates, but our make-ready on press is greatly reduced. This has reduced our printing press make-ready waste tremendously.

UPB has installed the “Ecoclean System” that recycles 90% of our low VOC press wash. We have gone from 6 barrels a month in press wash to a barrel a month. The inks we use are low VOC and with high color pigments to reduce the ink film thickness needed for high quality printing.

At UPB, internal recycling is almost 100%. We recycle all of our box cuttings using our baling machine that allows us to segregate our waste. Instead of using blow pipes like many in our industry, we separate waste for the highest value and best use as feed for recycled paperboard. In addition, we are not removing heated or cooled air out of the building with blowpipes. Even our stripped foil is baled and sold to recyclers.

UPB reuses printing plates for reprint jobs. This saves the chemicals and energy used to make the plate. It saves money for our customers as well. We end up reusing about 85% of our plates.

Board & Papers

UPB makes packaging out of paperboard. We use Solid Bleach Sulphate (SBS) and Coated Natural Kraft (CNK), made from virgin fiber derived from trees genetically grown to produce board. Much of the SBS used here is made with a high content of sawdust – a byproduct of the Forest Products industry.

We also use Clay Coated News and Kraft (CCN and CCK) which are made using recycled SBS and CNK fibers as well as post consumer fiber. All four substrates have their place in our production depending on the graphics, strength requirements, and size of the box. We often use papers that have high post consumer fiber content from high end mills when our customers specify those papers.

Sustainable Inks

Conventional offset inks cure or “dry” when printed to form a plastic film. This drying is the function of a component called drying oils. All conventional offset inks contain drying oils. Conventional offset ink may also contain petroleum oil, however, keep in mind that although conventional inks MUST have drying oils in them to work they do not have to have petroleum oils in them to work (petroleum oils just make the ink work better in certain situations).

Drying oils come from many sources; linseed oil, castor oil, tung oil, sunflower oil, safflower oil, rapeseed oil, soy oil etc. These oils have varying degrees of performance and suitability in printing inks. All of these oils are VEGETABLE OILS. The most common drying oils used in printing inks these days are linseed, tung and soy. Less common oils may include rapeseed, safflower, etc. depending on commodity pricing.

Oddly enough prior to the ‘60’s most of the oil in sheet-fed inks was vegetable oil. But with the advent of faster press designs so called quickset printing inks came along which required light weight petroleum oils to facilitate faster setting. When properly designed a quickset ink will precipitate a portion of its petroleum oil into the substrate causing the ink to become a semi-solid. This allows the job to print better and to be handled faster. After this initial “set time” the ink then continues to cure or “dry” over the next 72 hours, or so, to form a plastic film.
 
Then in the early ‘80’s (in response to the oil crisis) the Soybean Association of America developed a great marketing strategy to sell their product as a cost effective and more environmentally friendly alternative to petroleum oils. Their primary thrust into printing was the news-ink market. News-inks were based largely on petroleum oils which had been the most cost effective method to manufacture news-inks. Also, because news-inks don’t cure like sheet-fed inks, they don’t need drying oils. Soy oil in news-ink also seemed to offer a number of performance enhancements over petro-oils; including better transfer, better color clarity and, because it does dry, less rub off onto the hands of readers.

This same marketing tactic was then deployed into the sheet-fed offset printing ink market. The problem is that, compared to linseed oil and tung oil; the backbone of printing inks for years, SOY OIL just doesn’t dry nearly as well. The Soybean people finally realized this and reduced the amount of soy oil required to meet their criteria for being “soy based”. This soy marketing was also somewhat misleading because it caused people to think that the only environmentally sound oil that could be used in printing ink was SOY oil. That just isn’t the case.

Remember, all drying oils are vegetable oils. That means all drying oils are a renewable resource. Being a renewable resource means these oils should be, unlike petroleum oils, a sustainable resource.

Please don’t get the idea that soy oil is bad. Soy oil, when properly formulated with other vegetable oils, is successfully used in sheet-fed inks everyday. Just remember, we don’t have to surrender performance of our printing inks to achieve improved sustainability. The sustainability and performance combo is going to be more easily accomplished by allowing the ink manufacturer to choose what drying oil combinations will work best rather than saddling them with the SOY OIL DIRECTIVE!!!

Office

Internally, we recycle aluminum, magazines, glass, newspaper and corrugated. We encourage employees to bring in corrugated to be recycled instead of going to the landfill.

Good For Your Bottom Line... And Our Planet - Paperboard Packaging (PDF) Click your Browser's back button to return.

UPB is recycling and sustainability.