Over at the WhatTheyThink mothership, I recapped last week's Print UV Conference. As I had intimated earlier in a brief post, there was an interesting new product showcased, an “environmentally friendly plastic” substrate. Hoisted from my longer article:

[P]erhaps the most talked about new product discussed and shown off at the Print UV Conference was a new type of substrate—a plastic, essentially—developed by MicroGREEN called InCycle. The phrase “environmentally friendly plastic” may be a bit of an oxymoron, but the process involves taking virgin or, better yet, recycled plastic (such as PET water bottles), extruding it, inserting bubbles into it, and turning it into a very lightweight, easily printed substrate. (It boasts a dyne level of 42–46.) The material itself is completely recyclable without any deinking issues; one of MicroGREEN’s goal was to create a “closed loop” substrate manufacturing system. The presentation was given by Chris Jacobs, MicroGREEN’s director of marketing and product development, and Jacobs was quick to admit that they are not printers, and they have been working with several printers around North America to experiment with the material. The presentation was co-presented by Alex Velasco of Victory Printing, one such “test lab.” “When this material came to us, the first thing we tried was to make it fail,” he said. “Any ‘green’ product has had me worried in the past.” And yet, it performed extremely well on the company’s S20 Inca. Its light weight also helps save on shipping costs, and so far it seems resistant to shipping damage. Since it is, essentially, plastic with bubbles blown in it, there is the possibility that it can distort when moving through printing units, and stamping and hot-melt adhesives do give it some trouble. But the print samples that were on hand displayed excellent print quality. MicroGREEN is still developing the InCycle products, and is seeking partners to help continue to test its printability.

From a green perspective, plastic as a substrate is not without its issues, but I think that the best context for a plastic substrate is in a kind of closed loop system of the kind that Mr, Jacobs spoke about, where the same product is continuously recycled to the point where you are a) not sending the substrate to landfills and b) precluding the need for “virgin plastic.” I also like the idea of recycling existing plastic (like discarded water bottles) to make the substrate. Now, whether the energy inputs to recycle that substrate offset any other positive environmental impacts is a good question. But I do think that it’s a step in the right direction. Polymer-based substrates will never replace paper, of course,* but for the types of specialty applications that were showcased at the Print UV Conference, this sort of material would be ideal. I look forward to seeing how it continues to develop. *Unless maybe we’re talking about some type of electronic paper, but that’s a whole different kettle of fish altogether.