PE-free Photo Paper
A White Paper by Michael Keller, Director Business Development at Sihl GmbH
Paper recycling
The recycling of paper is the process of returning wastepaper to the paper cycle to produce new paper products. It has several important benefits. Since the paper cycle itself is already carbon neutral, recycling keeps the carbon locked up for longer and out of the atmosphere. Additionally, it conserves resources.
But: did you know that all existing professional photo papers cannot be recycled neither as paper nor as polyethylene (PE), because the components cannot be separated?
Manufacturing process of a standard photo paper
The core of a standard photo paper is a base paper with a weight between 160-220 gr/m2. This base paper has a PE film applied on the top and on the backside. The PE film on top guarantees a particularly smooth surface as a precondition for the coating and protection against the ink being absorbed by the paper, whereas the backside film enhances the flatness of the paper and in consequence its usability in the printing process.
Already today the core paper, as well as the microporous coating can be processed in a recycling process. The PE film on top and bottom side of the paper is the challenge. Globally, no recycling company can recycle PE-filmed papers as the film is irreversibly attached to the core paper.
How much PE is being used in the global photo paper market?
Analyzing the market volume, we come to the following conclusion: Today the global photo paper market consists of approx. > 50 million m² paper being filmed with PE. On average 45 gr. of polyethylene is being used to cover 1 m² of photo paper which equates to the following annual use of PE in the photo paper industry:
50 million m² annual usage x 45 gr. PE/m² = 2.250 t of PE annually used in photo paper industry. To visualize this amount of photo paper the artist Christo could have wrapped the Arc de Triomphe in Paris approx. 2000 times.
What does it mean? We have a long-term environmental problem with classic photo paper which is widely not known by the end user.
Our Solution
What is the solution to this problem which is largely unknown by the public? Educate the world population which components a classic photo paper consists off in order to change the process? NO!
First, this process would take too long and would never be 100 % accurate and even worse: The problem of further introducing PE into the environment would not stop. The long-term problem would not be solved.
Invent a photo paper that no longer requires a PE coating and instead use a barrier that can be recycled but still offers comparable printability? YES! This is what we did with our unique GreenGrafX Photo Papers!
