Print Durability and Recyclability of Label Paper Equipped with Printed RFID Antenna

Andreja Pogačar, Ivana Bolanča-Mirković and Diana Gregor-Svetec ()
Additional contact information
Andreja Pogačar: Independent Researcher, 4240 Radovljica, Slovenia
Ivana Bolanča-Mirković: Faculty of Graphic Arts, University of Zagreb, 10000 Zagreb, Croatia
Diana Gregor-Svetec: Faculty of Natural Sciences and Engineering, University of Ljubljana, 1000 Ljubljana, Slovenia

Sustainability, 2023, vol. 16, issue 1, 1-16

Abstract: Labels are a crucial component of products, offering informational content and attractive visuals; therefore, the durability of the print is an important quality requirement. On the other hand, in accordance with eco-design, the recyclability of printed labels is vital. In our research, the focus was on the assessment of the durability, recyclability, and deinkability of printed label paper equipped with printed RFID tags. The determined color fastness of electrophotographic prints affected by various environmental factors showed good resistance to dry rubbing and, in most cases, light and moist–heat treatment, confirming the applicability of digital printing on self-adhesive biodegradable paper labels. In the second part of this study, recyclability was assessed, and a comparison between the deinkability of the offset and digital prints and two conductive functional inks was conducted. Good deinkability was observed for the printed RFID antennas on both the offset and electrographic prints, with only a small deterioration in optical properties, especially when nano-silver conductive ink was used. The study highlights the importance of the selection of materials and printing techniques when considering the environmental impact of printed electronics. The results showed that INGEDE 11 is a suitable deinking method for printed RFID antennas on offset and electrographic prints.

Keywords: durability; recyclability; deinkability; RFID; CMYK print (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/16/1/129/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/16/1/129/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:16:y:2023:i:1:p:129-:d:1305491

Access Statistics for this article

Sustainability is currently edited by Ms. Alexandra Wu

More articles in Sustainability from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().