What is Soy Ink?

I did not begin my Minimalist Scrapbooking challenge as a way to save the environment. I do, however, try to be more environmentally friendly than not. In some ways it seems scrapbooking probably does a lot of environmental harm and there are those that argue digital scrapbooking is more environmentally friendly than paper scrapbooking. I’m not entirely convinced of that conclusion. Regardless, I stumbled upon a post about the use of soy ink in the scrapbook industry a few weeks ago from Danielle of Ecoscrapbook. She wrote a post about green scrapbook manufacturers. She mentioned a couple of manufacturers that use soy inks. I’ve heard of soy ink before, but wasn’t sure what the fuss is about.

Well, over the last couple of weeks, I have been reading The Story of Stuff: How Our Obsession with Stuff is Trashing the Planet, Our Communities, and Our Health-and a Vision for Change by Annie Leonard and she goes into a bit more detail about soy inks.

I figured, I’m probably not the only one who is slightly clueless when it comes to different inks, so here is what Leonard says about soy ink (p. 55):

• Soy inks are more expensive than petroleum inks. (Boo!)
• Soy inks produce brighter colors. (Sounds good to me!)
• They require less ink to get the same result, so in the end they are very cost effective. (Nice!)
• They make recycling the paper easier. (Even better!)
• Working with soy inks is safer for workers at printing presses and produce less pollution than crude oil. (Cool beans!)

Overall, it sounds like soy inks are the way to go even if they do result in slightly higher costs at the cash register. My one concern would have to be regarding how these inks stand up over time. Are they archival? How does their archival-quality compare with petroleum-based inks? I did a bit of searching for these answers but couldn’t find anything definitive. Any ideas?

More Resources:
The Story of Stuff Project
Biochemicals for the Printing Industry

How do you reconcile being environmentally friendly and a scrapbooker? Comment below or join the conversation on facebook or twitter.

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Stephanie