Printed matter

Resource Conservation and ecoveTy Jict. The RCRA focuses on the proper disposition of waste from industrial processes. The interface to printing ink is primarily solvents, which can be flammable, and ingredients in ink that can contribute to the presence of certain heavy metals. The proper interface is the safe disposal of waste inks, but is often confused with disposal of printing matter. 

Applieation of Aetive Magnetie Bearings to Industrial Rotating Maehinery, printed matter of Bearing Manufaeturer S2M, Vernon, Franee. 

Those possible explanations are investigated in this chapter. We will shortly describe the LCA methodology in Sect. 2. We will review case studies on plastics and printed matter/paper in Sect. 3. In Sect. 4 we will address the data situation for LCI databases and LCIA characterization factors. In Sect. 5 we will come to some conclusions and recommendations. 

In Sect. 3.1, we will address plastics, and in Sect. 3.2 printed matter/paper. Based on the literature and on our own work we will try to identify causes of the absence of additives. 

For printed matter/paper we see about the same picture as for plastics but the number of case studies is far less. 

As described by Larsen [2] only about ten case studies on printed matter (including paper) have been reported so far and almost all of them focus on energy... 

Anyway, one of the recent and most comprehensive LCA studies on printed matter [22, 24] focus on the importance of chemical emissions as compared to emissions related to energy, and actually include toxic impacts from chemical emissions like printing ink, of which some components may accumulate in recycled paper. 

Additives can have a significant impact in a products life cycle as shown by the case studies on plastics and printed matter/paper. Omitting them can therefore be... 

A first recommendation is to take additives seriously as a part of the life cycle, at least for plastics and printed matter/paper. 

Larsen HF (2012) Case study on printed matter. Hdb Env Chem (this volume)... 

Larsen FIF, Hansen MS, Hauschild M (2006) Ecolabelling of printed matter. Part II life cycle assessment of model sheet fed offset printed matter. Working Report No. 24. Danish Ministry of the Environment, Environmental Protection Agency, Copenhagen... 

Larsen FIF, Hansen MS, Hauschild M (2009) Life-cycle assessment of offset printed matter with EDIP97 - how important are emissions of chemicals J Cleaner Prod 17 115-128... 

The goal of the LCA case study on printed matter [8] was to identify the distribution of potential environmental impacts (hot spots) and resource consumption during the life cycle of generic sheet fed offset printed matter produced at a European model printing house. The functional unit is 1 ton of sheet fed offset printed matter (books, pamphlets, brochures, etc.). 

Fig. 1 Life cycle of printed matter - focus on paper...

Fig. 3 LCA impact profile on sheet fed offset printed matter (functional unit 1 ton). Weighted potential impact (milli-person-equivalents targeted), shown on the x-axis. Only seven impact categories, i.e. human toxicity, ecotoxicity, etc. were shown here...

The case study described here shows that emissions of chemicals, including substances that might be considered as additives in the printed matter life cycle, may contribute significantly to the LCA impact profile. In order to increase the reliability of this result, confirmation, by use of newer and improved LCIA methodology and updated LCI data for the background processes, are desirable. Newer LCIA methodology has actually been used in other LCA studies on printed... 

In order to improve the comprehensiveness of the basis for the assessment, including the coverage of chemical emissions, future LCA case studies on printed matter need to include at least the following issues ... 

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