Sun Chemical received an Honorable Mention for Innovations in Sustainability during the 2022 Flexographic Technical Association’s (FTA) Sustainability Excellence Award competition, one of the most prestigious recognitions for sustainability in the packaging industry.  

Sun Chemical’s submission, “Recycle-Friendly Washable Inks for Plastic Packaging,” highlighted the company’s work to promote sustainable solutions, including the introduction of its SunSpectro SolvaWash FL product line. SolvaWash FL inks are used in flexographic printing processes to enable more recyclable and sustainable plastic packaging. The inks are designed to be removed and separated from recoverable plastic substrates to improve recyclability and enable designed-for-recyclability industry certifications that are especially important for brand owners.

As additional taxes and fees are imposed by extended producer responsibility (EPR) systems for plastic packaging, the award committee recognized the ability of SolvaWash inks to reduce waste and improve plastics recycling worldwide, in turn reducing operational costs for plastic packaging producers.

“Sun Chemical is deeply committed to fulfilling its leadership role and responsibility, delivering sustainable ink, coating and adhesive technologies to enable sustainable packaging,” comments Nikola Juhasz, global technical director of sustainability, Sun Chemical. “This FTA award is a testament to the work being done to improve sustainability across all aspects of our business. We appreciate the recognition, and we remain even more focused on developing the next innovation.”

“There is no doubt that the need to be more sustainable is constantly growing, which makes the FTA Sustainability Excellence Award program more competitive every year,” says Doreen Monteleone, sustainability consultant for the FTA. “Sun Chemical’s entry was a perfect example of how sustainability is now a primary consideration in developing new products for the benefit of the printing industry.”