How much greener are soy inks?
–Aimee, Tulsa OK A. Soy-based inks do have a smaller environmental impact than do traditional, petroleum-based inks, says Sevim Erhan, PhD, a Department of Agriculture chemist who researched soy ink as part of the USDA’s attempt to address a soybean surplus in the 1980s and 90s. Manufacturing traditional ink is a pretty dirty business—it produces a lot of pollutants called volatile organic compounds, or VOC’s. Soy ink produces a lot less. Plus, when it comes time to recycle, paper printed with soy ink is a lot easier to de-ink, and anything that makes recycling less energy-intensive and more cost effective is a good thing. It’s worth noting, though, that most inks out there labeled with the “SoySeal” do have at least some petroleum-based oil in them, and that the actual soy content in some types might be as little as 6 or 7 percent, according to the labeling standards set up by the American Soybean Council. Newspapers can actually be easily be printed with a high soybean oil content in
