BCM Inks and Close the Loop have converted leftover cartridge ink into corrugated printing ink.
Soapbox Media reported that the two companies, which are situated on both sides of the Ohio River in the US state in Blue Ash and Hebron respectively, collaborated on a process that turns the leftover ink from inkjet cartridges into ink suitable for printing on cardboard packaging – also known as corrugated printing.
The ink, called Post Consumer Recycled Black, was introduced to the market in late 2012, and recently won a gold award at the DuPoint Awards for Packaging Innovation in the Innovation and Sustainability category alongside companies such as Campbell’s Soup, Heinz, Unilever and Gillette. The international awards recognize industry innovation and collaboration, with the two companies’ work on the ink awarded by the panel on May 16.
BCM Inks has been in business for 25 years, and provides inks to the corrugated printing industry, whilst Close the Loop USA recycles printer cartridges, and originated in Australia at the start of the century, with the Hebron recycling facility opening six years ago. The ink is also said by the two companies to save “over 200,000 inkjet cartridges from landfill for every 450-pound drum of ink made”.
BCM Inks’ Vice President Rob Callif stated: “When people bring their ink cartridges to be recycled, up to 13 percent of the ink is still in the cartridge. Close the Loop was recycling the cartridge but extracting and collecting the ink. They didn’t know what to do with it.
“So we took the leftover ink and developed a way to turn it into a water-based black ink that can be used in corrugated printing.”