Rules will only get tougher. Beat them, and avoid future changes.
As a printer located in Southern California, we're subject to some of the most stringent environmental laws in the country. And those laws are about to get even tougher, if not impossible for some print shops.
The South Coast Air Quality Management District, our local regulatory agency for air quality, has a plan in place to reduce the concentration of volatile organic compounds (VOC) in washup solvents to 100 grams/liter from the current mandate of 650 grams/liter. VOC emissions produce smog. The law is set to go into effect in 15 months.
At the federal level, the Environmental Protection Agency is proposing 50 grams/liter VOC in washes for printers located in areas that are not in compliance with clean air laws.
Rather than fight proposed standards, we opted to take a proactive approach and have succeeded, accomplishing what others have deemed impossible. By working with a product supplier, we developed a solution that actually surpasses both proposed limits and delivers amazing results. No easy task, this did not happen overnight.
Our quest for a low-VOC press wash started two years ago, lead by our pressroom supervisor, Robert Tubbs. We quickly discovered there was a lack of products and a huge learning curve in being able to use what was available efficiently. Robert and his staff tested several washes made by well-known companies. And while they met the proposed local requirements, they did not work to our standards.
Solvents in low-VOC washes are vegetablebased, similar to cooking oils, and don't evaporate. The problems our pressroom staff encountered were varied, and included foul odors, wash remaining in the rollers and insufficient removal of ink from rollers.
We needed a low-VOC solvent that would not sacrifice the quality of our work or the efficiency in production for which LAgraphico is known.
We knew we were in for a struggle and could have given up—after all, this was a proposal, not a regulation.
But we refused to accept defeat because we knew the regulations would only get tougher, and we didn't want the nightmare of having to adjust our process every time the law changed.
Honestly, it is frustrating to have regulators mandate your use of a product that doesn't work, but that is the reality.
Another printing company trying to accomplish a similar goal told us about a product from Amerikal Products Corp. Since the product met the VOC requirement; we tested it, and even though it worked better than other products, it still needed adjustments to meet our performance standards.
So we invested significant time, energy and resources to further test the solvent. Getting the product to perform to our specifications took several months. At times it was a battle, but after several product revisions based on our feedback, we now have press cleaner with just 34 grams per liter VOC that actually works better than higher VOC products we've used. And it has improved our efficiency.
We continue to work with Gans Ink and Amerikal to further lower VOCs in our press chemicals. Our mission: be the lowest VOC-producing printer in Los Angeles and sustain a green environment.
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