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Solvent and Eco Solvent inkjet inks. Possible future concerns.
Something new to keep an eye on if your using eco / solvent inks. If this legislation gets pushed through, you will need a license to use solvent inks and provide secure storage and DBL checks.
The printing industry is mounting a concerted effort to overturn recent drugs legislation introduced at the end of last year. That made possession of Gamma-butyrolactone (GBL) or products containing GBL, illegal without licences, DRB checks and secure storage. As GBL is a widely used solvent and commonly used in solvent inkjet inks, other solvent inks and coatings and cleaning solvents, concern has been immediate. The printing industry is mounting a concerted effort to overturn recent drugs legislation introduced at the end of last year. That made possession of Gamma-butyrolactone (GBL) or products containing GBL, illegal without licences, DRB checks and secure storage. As GBL is a widely used solvent and commonly used in solvent inkjet inks, other solvent inks and coatings and cleaning solvents, concern has been immediate.
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7 Replies
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Fascinating. Thanks for the info. Graham.
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I wonder how they will police and enforce such legislation?
£3000 a year for a licence, I don’t think so. Do they really think licencing printer ink will reduce these types of crimes? Criminals, well known for following the letter of the law.
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There’s a good chance that this won’t affect the end user, only the companies who use it in the manufacturing process, as the chance of getting the chemical out of printer ink, is virtually nil, and not worth the effort.
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This reply was modified 2 years, 9 months ago by Jamie Wood.
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Lets hope so – You’d think the pigments in the inks would make it pretty useless as a inconspicuous ‘date rape’ drug.
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This reply was modified 2 years, 9 months ago by
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This will be at the manufacturing stage, as the chemicals become restricted, joining other current licensed substances. End users will see some additional COSHH requirements.
It will basically push the price of all eco / solvent inks upwards.
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Some good news here for all with Eco-Solvent ink… The GPMA (Graphics & Print Media Alliance) were on a Teams call with a government dept tasked with GBL classification. They miscalculated the extent to which the industry relies on this together with how hard it would be (and costly) to extract it from ink. There are now plans to exclude our industry from holding a GBL license.
Apparently there will be announcements in the coming weeks but safe to say the panic on this is now over.
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This proposed regulation has been scrapped – so we can carry on as normal 👍
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This reply was modified 2 years, 7 months ago by Sean Taylor.
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This reply was modified 2 years, 7 months ago by Sean Taylor.
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This reply was modified 2 years, 7 months ago by
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