Eco-Friendly Inkjet Printing on Film

BLAUVELT, N.Y.—Schreiner MediPharm, a Germany-based global provider of specialty pharmaceutical labeling solutions, has developed a new label that allows plastic films to be inkjet printed with eco-friendly water-based inks. A water-absorbing coating is applied to part of the plastic label, allowing for subsequent marking with necessary variable data. The label design includes a laminate that is placed on top of the bar code after application to the glass container. This laminate protects the code from mechanical abrasion and disinfectants.

Increasingly, pharmaceutical products are marked by bar codes with variable contents. Inkjet printing is particularly well-suited for this purpose as it is a fast, cost-effective, and high-quality process. However, in the pharmaceutical industry, glass containers are often labeled with transparent films. Until now it was impossible to mark these with eco-friendly water-based inks since these inks do not properly adhere to plastic films.

For containers with particularly small diameters, Schreiner MediPharm also has developed a label version whose bar coded section slightly lifts for easy readability. This plastic specialty label allows pharmaceutical manufacturers to custom-print their products with existing inkjet systems without having to change their processes.

“Before now using eco-friendly water-based inks for inkjet printing of this sort simply wasn’t practical,” says Gene Dul, president of Schreiner MediPharm U.S. “Our new solution causes water to be absorbed and, in addition, the printed information is not nearly as susceptible to being rubbed off, smeared, or partially dissolved due to contact with disinfectants.”