Closeup on Synthetics

Synthetic materials are well known for their their ability to stand up to tough conditions or to maintain their structure and print quality once off the press and on to packages. They are often incorporated on shampoo bottles and other health and beauty packaging, as well as pharmaceutical packaging.

These strong, durable materials are impervious to water and grease, and allow for high-quality printing. They are tear-resistant, they can provide a "no-label" look for packaging, and they can be used for shrink and in-mold label applications. Customers are asking for synthetic materials to get more bang for their buck and to prevent their marketing messages from fading away with less sturdy materials.

"We use synthetic film materials for a variety of label types, running the gamut of product categories and markets," says Bill Orme, marketing communication manager for Smyth Companies Inc., Minneapolis, Minn. (www.smythco.com). He explains that synthetic film labels are typically used for the following reasons:

• The label needs to resist the harshness of the product in the package or the environment where the package will 
reside. Products like cleaning solutions, or packages that will be subjected to cold and wet environments, benefit from a 
synthetic label;

• The package label design has transparent elements; and

• The label is a shrink label, conforming to the package shape with the application of heat.

Synthetics also allow for increased efficiency, according to "The Future of Synthetic Papers," a study by Pira International (www.piranet.com), a consultant and information provider to the print, paper, and packaging industries. (For more information on the study, contact Stephen Hill on +44 (0)1372 802 025, stephen.hill@
pira-international.com.) "Prior to synthetics, printers would coat or overlaminate paper to achieve added durability or glass. Now, they gain these attributes with one stock. [Synthetic materials add] an added step on press, which increases turnaround speed and lowers cost." And, one less step can mean fewer materials used and less waste once the consumer is finished with the product.

Sustainable alternatives

Though traditional synthetic material can help the sustainability cause by 
using less material, several suppliers are really taking protecting the 
environment to heart with alternative materials that use a resource that many of times goes unnoticed: stone.

Chameleon Packaging, the environmental division of Design & Source Productions Inc. (New York City), has created TerraSkin, a waterproof tree-free paper made of minerals that degrade back into the earth as the powder of stone. The company says that TerraSkin offers strong printing capabilities and requires 20 to 30 percent less ink. The company does not bleach the paper, and it uses a closed-loop production system, so that toxic water is not dumped into the environment. Chameleon also claims that printing inks dry faster on TerraSkin than its synthetic paper counterparts, making the printing process even more efficient.

Natural Source Printing (Orange, Calif.) is another company using stone for one of its products. The company's FiberStone paper is made from 80 percent calcium carbonate, which comes from collected limestone, and 20 percent high-density polyethylene (HDPE). When calcium carbonate is ground up as a powder-like chalk and combines with the HDPE, it produces a material that is water- and tear-resistent, like its synthetic counterparts. Natural Source Printing says that 
FiberStone is used as a substitute for synthetic paper and film, premium coated paper, recycled paper, and PVC sheet. Once discarded, the photodegradable paper will break down from exposure to sunlight in 14 to 18 months.

Other synthetic paper suppliers are also going tree-free with their papers, but not with stone. YUPO Synthetic 
Paper supplies 100-percent recyclable synthetic papers that are created with polypropylene pellets, resins, and inorganic materials. Free of toxins and heavy metals, YUPO's synthetic papers contain no softening agents or bleach. The company also says that very little water is used in the production of its synthetic paper, and trim that is created during the manufacturing process is recycled and reused in the production of other products.

The downside

While synthetic materials definitely have their advantages, they also 
present their own obstacles. For one, even though they allow for high-
quality printing, synthetic materials are more challenging to print on than paper, says Orme. What makes this even more challenging is that press operators are not overly familiar with how to handle synthetic materials, according to Pira International. 
"Synthetic paper is a new print media for many pressrooms. Converters lack complete knowledge about the tooling life and die wear when using synthetics due to the variety of whiteners, opacifiers, additives and coatings that are used."

Not only is there a lack of knowledge, there is also a price hurdle to get over. "Synthetic paper is on average four to five times more expensive than coated paper. Despite the surge in polymer prices, the cost of synthetic paper has [decreased] since 2002 as competition has intensified and more efficient production methods have been adopted. However, the cost of coated paper has also reduced over the same period." In the long term, however, Pira expects that the cost of synthetic paper will continue to fall, especially with lower-priced commodities. So, in the near future, synthetics could become more readily available to those businesses that are not currently able to justify the extra cost.

Investing in more expensive substrates depends on the needs of the application. If it's warranted, the extra cost can provide you with a durable substrate, greater efficiency, high-quality printing, and more flexibility on the sustainability front. Just make sure that your pressroom operators are fully equipped with the knowledge and training to print with these substrates. A substrate intended to promote increased efficiency could actually do the exact opposite in untrained hands. pP