Flint Group launches toluene-free inks in India

Effective July 2020, the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) revised the Printing Ink for food packaging Code of Practice IS 15495:2004 standard and implemented IS 15495:2020 banning the use of toluene as a solvent in inks destined for food packaging applications.

‘As a responsible supplier, Flint Group Packaging Inks offers toluene-free gravure and flexo inks manufactured at our facility in Vadodara, Gujarat. We have been gearing up for the introduction of these inks for the last few years and have set up a dedicated NT NK facility at Baroda,’ commented Upal Roy, managing director of Packaging Inks, India, Middle East, and Africa at Flint Group. 

‘We have been working to support our customers over the past 18 months to ensure their smooth transition to our new range ArrowFlex Plus and ArrowBond NT for gravure printers and VarioLam INA for flexo printers,’ added Roy. ‘As the use of Toluene has now been banned in India, we are keen for our customers to understand that they do not need to invest in new equipment to comply with the legislation and that these inks have been successfully used in the country since 2017. 

‘We’ve seen fantastic results at a number of sites where customers easily transitioned. They are achieving high quality print, particularly in fine vignette areas, along with high speed printing. For example, ArrowBond NT inks are now being used at 450-500m/min on the highest speed press in the country. This is all with safe, non-toluene based inks and with no requirement to replace their gravure cylinders, saving our customers time and unnecessary costs.’