What Is Eco Friendly Packaging? What Does Environmentally Friendly Packaging Mean?

With the increasing environmental awareness worldwide, the international markets have been imposed stricter regulations on product packaging. What does environmentally friendly packaging mean? Which packaging is eco-friendly and sustainable? 

What Is Eco Friendly Packaging?

Eco Friendly Packaging, also called green packaging, sustainable packaging or environmentally friendly packaging, refers to packaging that is harmless to our natural environment and human health, that can be recycled and reused. It should be an evolving concept that develops with the packaging technology to maximum reduce the environmental impact and ecological footprint.

What Is UV Coating and the Methods?

What is UV coating?

UV coating is a kind of surface finishing technology in printing and packaging. It is so named because it uses special UV ink for varnishing to provide the prints with high brightness, transparency and abrasion resistance.

There are many ways of applying UV coating to prints. Below are an introduction of some classification, after reading which you would hopefully have a better understanding.

Classification of UV Coating Methods

1. According to the relationship between the coating machine and the printing machine, it can be divided into two ways: offline coating and online coating.

(1) Offline coating

Off-line coating uses a dedicated coating machine to glaze the printed matter, that is, printing and glazing are performed on their own dedicated equipment. This glazing method is more flexible and convenient, and the investment in glazing equipment is small, and it is more suitable for professional post-press processing manufacturers to use. However, this glazing method increases the transportation and transfer work between the printing and glazing processes, and the production efficiency is low.

(2) Inline coating

In-line coating is to directly connect the coating unit to the press, that is, printing and coating are performed on the same machine. It has high speed, high production efficiency, and low processing cost. It reduces the transportation of printed materials and overcomes the problem caused by powder spraying. All kinds of quality failures are the future development direction. However, online glazing has high requirements on glazing technology, glazing oil, drying equipment and glazing equipment.

2. According to the classification of coating methods, it can be divided into two types: roller coating coating and printing coating.

(1) Roller coating

Roller glazing is the most common glazing method. The glazing oil is uniformly coated on the surface of the printed matter by the coating roller.

(2) Printing and glazing

The coating ink is applied to the printed matter through the coating plate, so spot UV coating can be performed. At present, gravure coating, flexographic coating, offset printing coating and silk screen coating are commonly used.

3. According to the classification of coating products, it can be divided into: flood coating, spot(partial) coating, matting coating and artistic coating.

(1) Flood coating finish

The main function of the full-surface coating is to protect the printed matter and improve the surface gloss of the printed matter. The flood coating finish is generally carried out by roller coating.

(2) Spot  UV coating

Spot UV coating is generally to glaze the graphics and text parts that need to be emphasized on the printed matter. The high-gloss picture of the glazing part is compared with the low-gloss picture without the glazing part, which produces a wonderful artistic effect. Local glazing is carried out by printing and glazing, in which the film layer obtained by glazing by screen printing is thicker, the effect is more obvious than other methods, and the cost is lower. It is currently used more in China, but its production efficiency is average Lower.

(3) Matting UV coating

The matting coating uses UV matte ink, which is the opposite of the effect of ordinary coating. It reduces the gloss on the surface of the printed matter, thereby producing a special effect. As the gloss is too high to a certain degree of irritation to the human eye, therefore, matting glazing is currently a more popular way of coating.

(4) Artistic glazing

The function of artistic glazing is to obtain special artistic effects on the surface of glazing products. If you use UV pearlescent varnish to polish the surface of the printed matter, it will produce a pearlescent effect on the surface of the printed matter, making the printed matter look magnificent, noble and elegant.

What Are Dielines in Printing and Packaging?

Simply put, a dieline is a contour drawing provided for making the die, according to the specific dimensional requirements of the packaging.  Dielines are needed by graphic designers as a placeholder for assisting in the proper layout when creating the artwork. 

What is a dieline in printing and packaing?

So dielines are actually lines with dimensions for the purpose of die cutting after printing! You can ask your gift boxes manufacturer to provide it.

Below is a visual representation a packaging dieline:

Die Line for Folding Gift Boxes 40*40*50mm

Further notes:

The development of the laser cutting machine has brought the accuracy and speed of the cutting dies to new high level. The price of laser knife mold is low, but the accuracy can reach up to ±0.3MM. The cost of engraving dies can be slightly higher, but its accuracy is even higher, generally up to ±0.03MM.

Introduction to Most Common Post-printing Processes

For guys in the printing industry, the term post-press is familiar to you. It refers to the post-printing work. Generally, the post-processings of printed material include laminating, UV coating, varnishing, die-cut, hot stamping, debossing/embossing, binding, creasing & cutting are among those mostly used for brochures and packaging materials. The following is a brief introduction to these basic post-printing processes, for your preliminary understanding.

1. Hot Foil Stamping 

The professional term of this processing is hot press transfer printing, or hot transfer printing for short. Hot stamping, bronzing or silver bronzing all refers to the same thing. (In contrast, there is a cold pad printing.)

2. UV coating

It is a post-processing where the special ink used will be dried and cured by ultraviolet radiation. UV coating can be done both through silkscreen and offset printing.

3. Embossing/Debossing.

It is a process of forming patterns over spot areas in the print by pressure. The metal plate is corroded and becomes a pressing plate and pressed against a base. Embossing and debossing are the processes of creating either raised or recessed relief images and designs in paper and other materials. An embossed pattern is raised against the background, while a debossed pattern is sunken into the surface of the material but might protrude somewhat on the reverse side. 

4. Die cutting

The die-cutting process is a forming process in which a special die-cutting cutter is made according to the required shape of the print, and then cut to the shape or leave the required crease under pressure.

5. Laminating

 Lay a layer of transparent plastic film on the printed paper. There are gloss and matte laminations. This processing will provide the print excellent protection against dust, stains and scratches. It's almost a regularly required processing in packaging prints. But it's not quite environmentally friendly. 

6. Flocking 

It is to apply a layer of glue to the paper, and then paste a layer of material similar to fluff to make the paper look and feel a little fluffy.

Text Paper Vs Cover Paper Stock

What is the difference between Text, Book, Bond, Offset, Cover, Bristol, Index, Tag, and Card paper?

Paper can be grouped into two main grades based on weight and thickness: Text and Cover.

"Text" is a generic name for a variety of lighter, thinner paper stocks that includes Book, Bond, Writing, Ledger, Offset paper. Text paper is flexible, can be easily rolled and folded and is used for printing flyers, handouts, letterheads, book pages, etc. The paper used in ink jet printers would be considered Text.

"Cover" is a generic name for a variety of heavier and thicker paper stocks that includes Bristol, Index, Tag, and Card paper. It is more durable than Text paper. Cover paper is more rigid and must be scored (i.e., dented or creased) before it can be folded. This type of paper is usually smooth, but can have a texture. It can have either a matte or glossy appearance. Cover/Card stock is often used for mass mailed postcards, business cards, playing cards, invitations, program covers, greeting cards, door hangers, catalogue covers, presentation covers, scrapbooking, etc. At its heaviest, Card stock would be similar to material used for a cereal box.

What's the difference between lb, #, gsm, g/m2 and g/m2?

Besides a generic "Text" weight or "Cover" weight, descriptions often include a number to refer to the weight of the paper. The higher the number, the heavier the paper. Heavier paper is typically thicker as well.

There are two systems for indicating the weight of paper; an international metric system and a North American system. The North American system for paper weight uses pounds (expressed as either # or lb) while the metric system uses grams per square meter (gsm or g/m2 or g/m2), often called "grammage". The North American pound rating is based on the weight of 500 sheets (a.k.a. a ream), while the metric rating is based on the weight of a 1 meter by 1 meter sheet.

The U.S. system is a bit confusing because the same pound number can be used for both lighter (Text) paper and heavier (Cover) paper. For example, 80# Text paper and 80# Cover paper have the same pound number even though the Cover stock is almost twice as heavy! The metric system in comparison is more straight forward. For example, 80# Text Paper weighs 104 g/m2 while 80# Cover Stock weighs 218 g/m2. The Cover stock is clearly more than twice as heavy as the Text stock.

The reason actual weight of Text and Cover stock of the same pound rating will be different is due to the way the pound rating is determined. Both use the weight of 500 sheets for the pound rating, but they use a different size sheet. For Text stock, 500 sheets measuring 25" x 38" are used. While for Cover stock, 500 sheets measuring 20" x 26" sheets are used instead.

(Source: https://creative.uwp.edu/page/paper-grades)

Paper Stock FAQs

How does Matte compare to Uncoated stock?

Simply put, Matte is a Post-printing process while uncoated paper is type of raw paper stock (material). A matte coating is still a coating on your paper. It may look matte, but it will resist smudges; and printing, especially images, will look sharper and more vibrant. Matte coated paper is usually ok to write on, but lacks the tactile feel of uncoated paper. Uncoated stock is naked paper - it's perfect for writing.

Why should I use a flood color instead of printing on colored paper?

Printing on colored stocks changes the color of your images in ways that can be unpredictable and can change their look, usually by muddying or darkening them. Flooding a color creates a perfectly applied, predictable background for your design in the exact shade that you want. Your piece looks better because you are able to print full color images on the white paper, and simulate the colored paper by flooding the rest of the page. Plus, there are only a very few shades of coated stock available, so flood coloring is your only option in most cases.

What's the difference between recycled vs sustainable paper stock?

Recycled paper is made from post-consumer waste and goes through a process to be turned back into paper or from pre-consumer waste like sawdust from lumber and furniture manufacturing. Either way it must be purified before it can be made into paper. Sustainable paper comes from carefully controlled forests that are replanted and renewed. Honestly, recycled paper could be considered a bigger burden on the environment because the process uses some pretty harsh chemicals. Before sustainable paper was your business card, it was cleaning the air.

What kinds of recycled paper do we have?

All of our house coated and uncoated papers have at least 10% recycled content. Most of that is pre-consumer content. We can order custom stocks with varying amounts of post-consumer recycled content up to and including 100% post-consumer recycled. Learn more about printing on recycled paper.

Why are custom stocks more expensive than house stocks?

We keep a lot of house stock... well, in house. We can offer a better deal on that stock because we buy huge amounts of it at a better price. But let's be clear: we buy lots of really great paper. Our house stock is better than many standard or custom ordered stocks.

Things about weight versus thickness / pound versus point size.

Thickness indicates how thick the paper is and is usually referred to in point sizes or thousandths of an inch. The smaller the point, the thinner the paper. Some synthetic papers like our SmartFlex material, are sold in a 'mil' designation, also equal to one thousandth - these are all interchanged measurements.

Weight is how much the paper weighs, usually measured in pounds. In some cases, paper can be thin and heavy, or thick and light - but usually thicker paper weighs more.

What's a good paper stock to write on?

Any uncoated stock is best for writing. It's naked paper, and it lets you write with ink or pencil without a problem. It also soaks up water and other liquids so it's not a great choice if you're printing underwater post-it notes. If you have to have a coated stock for better print quality, matte stocks can sometimes be used with certain types of pens. You'll want to do testing to make sure you use a combination that works for you.

What kinds of paper are the most durable?

Generally speaking, the thicker the paper the more durable it is, but this can change quickly depending on how it is coated. Thick, heavy uncoated paper will turn into sludge if you drop it in water. Thin paper covered in a UV coating will brush the water right off. If you want the most durable paper of all, use the plastic-based SmartFlex. It feels like paper, acts like paper, and prints like paper but it is water resistant and tear-proof.