Siegwerk receives UV ink approval

Siegwerk has received RecyClass Technology Approval for various acrylic UV/LED-curable inks and varnishes from its Sicura series, marking the first technology approval granted by RecyClass for UV-curable ink technology used on polyethylene flexible packaging.

The approval confirms that specific products from the Siegburg, Germany-based company's Sicura series, including Sicura Nutriflex, Sicura Flex Dual Cure and Sicura Litho Pack, are fully compatible with the colored PE flexibles recycling stream in Europe, provided packaging is designed in line with conditions defined by RecyClass.

The approval is based on independent laboratory testing of Siegwerk's Sicura Nutriflex NT26 carried out in accordance with the RecyClass Recyclability Evaluation Protocol for PE films.

'This is a significant milestone for UV printing in flexible packaging, closing a critical gap in recycling,' said Marc Larvor, head of technology for narrow web EMEA at Siegwerk. 'Siegwerk has demonstrated that our UV/LED inks can deliver the required packaging performance and support full recyclability, a combination that was previously unaddressed in industry guidelines.'

The RecyClass approval granted for Sicura Nutriflex NT26 has been extended, based on chemical equivalence, to several additional acrylic UV/LED-curable inks and varnishes used in narrow web, sheetfed and liquid food packaging applications, including Sicura Nutriflex NT25, Sicura Nutriflex 10, Sicura Nutriflex LEDtec, Sicura Nutriflex OPV, Sicura Flex Dual Cure, Sicura Flex OPV, Sicura Litho Pack, Sicura Litho Pack DC, Sicura Nutriplast 2N, Sicura Nutriplast 2DC and Sicura Nutri GTR.

'This approval is a huge step forward for packaging sustainability as it effectively opens the door for brand owners to use high-performance UV-curable inks in recyclable PE packaging formats,' added Lara Kleines, business partner for recycling and polymers at Siegwerk.

The RecyClass technology approval is granted for the ink technology itself and does not constitute a recyclability certification of a final packaging structure.