Recently, I have found myself writing in Coatings World about the greater emphasis to be expected on industrial cooperations within the supply chain, much of which is being driven by compliance with the EU’s Green Deal objectives etc. with sustainability and circularity at its heart; a marked shift for industry away from acquisitions and plant investments to extremely intense research and development work, often taking a consortium approach. 

What’s increasingly emerging that will impact the wider Europe, Middle East and Africa region is that similar technical cooperations on an international level for the ink and print sectors are laying the foundations for good growth across the region for the rest of the decade. 

In the Middle East and Africa regions, these things are much more nascent than in Europe, where the appetite for them is greater, but the more developed MEA markets such as the UAE and South Africa are ready to boast sizeable growth potential. A few successful and ongoing co-operations that have been reported are highlighted below along with some of their objectives and in certain cases, outcomes.

European Cooperations in Circular Product Development

Joint work between German equipment producer Olbrich and Japan’s Ricoh has developed a wide-format printer ink that can be used on complex substrates such as carton boards and corrugated boards. In stark contrast to any petrochemically-derived analogues, their new product eliminates the need for biocides, while at the same time chasing out of the system any toxic residual petrochemical monomers. 

The new ink is entirely derived from vegetable oils. Its quick-drying nature translates into energy savings, and the volume of ink required for comparable petrochemical performance is down by 50% because the achievable optical density of the colors is accomplished in half as much ink. Other advantages of the new ink are longer open times and reduced printhead clogging.

Meanwhile, in Finland, cross-industry cooperation has pioneered sustainable inks made out of roasted coffee bean waste. Working with major coffee roastery Meira Oy, partners Natural Indigo Finland, Tampere University of Applied Sciences, Paptic Ltd and Cabassi Oy have created a water-based ink that contains a bio-colorant found in coffee waste. The resulting ink emerges as a renewable, natural alternative to those based on synthetic pigments that are traditionally employed in packaging printing. 

This renewable ink has already been used for flexo print applications on fiber-based substrates. The companies are now seeking a consortium and funding that can take the product global. Its potential as a circular substitute for petrochemical equivalents is considered huge.

The SusInkCoat project, which has united a consortium of many partners, among them AkzoNobel Decorative Coatings, Canon and no less than four Dutch universities, is especially targeting thin-film substitution – a sector that has been in long need of greening up. 

This collaboration has not been concluded yet, but part of the consortium’s project will be concerned with the elimination of petrochemical polymers and additives that have been hitherto used in thin-film applications. Among the entire concept of such eco-friendly formulation, it’s anticipated that the project could pave the way to the development of eco-friendly pigments and additives and move research a lot closer to the concepts needed for recyclable coating design. 

Some traditional thin film manufacture might be threatened by a ban on the use of certain materials in the future, underscoring the importance and urgency of the work to find alternatives. (The SusInkCoat project was initially covered here in IW, January 2024.)

Siegwerk is also currently active in industrial cooperations with circularity objectives on a number of fronts. It is working with Henkel on the development of an innovative oxygen barrier coating that is based on thin-layer films. These are mono-material films, which would intrinsically facilitate packaging recycling. 

This would help eliminate any incompatibilities that exist in current multi-layer packaging, and (in an era of artificial intelligence) may help to pave the way for customization according to individual client needs. Siegwerk also has a long-standing partnership with Kotkamills in Finland for the development of alternatives to plastic coatings that are used on fiber-based products.

Latest Update on Swiss Ink Ordinance

In my previous column (IW, October 2025), I highlighted recent EU developments and updates concerning food contact materials and printing inks. Since then, additional non-EU developments have been set out with an update to Swiss Ink Ordinance (SIO). This is especially pertinent since Switzerland and Germany are at the forefront of championing the more positive aspects of food contact chemicals in the printing inks area. 

Chemicals listed under the Annexes 2 and 10 in the ordinance are permissible substances that do not demonstrate any CMR (carcinogenic, mutagenic or repro-toxic) properties and that do not migrate into food. They are non-intentionally added substances (NIAS) and non-listed substances (NLS). 

However, the ordinance’s definition of printing inks extends beyond printing inks proper, and encompasses colored and uncolored overprint varnishes, coatings and primers that are used further to printing inks in order to provide additional resistance or appearance benefits. Functional coatings that confer technical properties such as heat sealing, corrosion and barrier protection are excluded from the definition even though they have roles to play in packaging composition.

The key part of the update is given as follows (and is quoted directly from the guidance document downloadable from the EuPIA): 

“Substances listed in former Part B of the SIO until 2023 may continue to be used provided the following requirements are met: Migration of the substance into food or food simulants is not measurable with statistical significance by an analytical method with a detection limit of 0.01 mg/kg and the substance does not show carcinogenic, mutagenic or reprotoxic properties nor is classified as “mutagenic”, “carcinogenic” or “reprotoxic” (CMR substances) in category 1A, 1B or 2 according to the criteria in Article 6 of the Swiss Ordinance on Protection against Dangerous Substances
and Preparations.”

The latest update also seeks to clarify any confusion concerning Statement of Composition (SoC) and the Stage Declaration of Conformity (Stage DoC). The former is the current document prepared in accordance with EuPIA, and the latter concerns the topic of printing inks according to the SIO definition. 

To all intents and purposes these are broadly similar, but the latter may incorporate extra references or information. The guidance document summarizes and tidies up the scenario by stating that “a well-prepared SoC may be used as an Ink Stage DoC”. The EuPIA recommends the inclusion of the following sentence:

“This Statement of Composition also serves as a Declaration of Compliance (ink Stage DoC) in accordance with Article 35a of the Swiss Ordinance on Materials and Articles in Contact with Food (SR 817.023.21) for printing inks, confirming compliance with the applicable requirements.”

The reader is referred to the original guidance document, which can be found at https://www.eupia.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/20251202_VSLF-EuPIA_Guidance_SIO.pdf n