Washington Looks to Ban Most Printing Inks: Potential Impact for Promo

By Allee Bruce

Editor's Note: This is a summary of a more in-depth article written by Gary Jones, PRINTING United Alliance’s vice president of environmental, health, and safety affairs, with additional commentary on the promotional products industry. For more content on promotional products decoration, be sure to subscribe to Promo Impressions' biweekly newsletter at PromoImpressions.com.

The Washington Department of Ecology (DoE) revisits its stance on regulating polychlorinated biphenyls (iPCBs) in printing inks, despite past opposition. In 2022, PRINTING United Alliance successfully opposed regulatory efforts targeting inks with trace iPCB levels. When the DoE was unable to enforce stricter limits than the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), a 2023 bill sought to ban chlorinated pigments in inks. This legislation was also halted by industry opposition led by the Alliance and its members.

Instead, lawmakers required the DoE to petition the EPA to revise iPCB limits, but the EPA denied the request in April 2024, citing insufficient evidence of significant iPCB contribution and human or environmental harm. Despite this, in late 2024, the DoE unexpectedly included inks in its second Safer Products draft report, claiming inks with iPCBs are intentionally used and avoidable, asserting that chlorine-free pigments could serve as substitutes.

The Alliance provided extensive comments opposing this inclusion and believes the DoE has not presented enough evidence to justify the regulation of iPCB levels in inks. Through incomplete and limited testing methods, the Alliance believes the DoE misrepresented inks used by the printing, publishing, and packaging industries.

Nearly 150 ink pigments contain chlorine, with some containing iPCBs. These pigments are critical to printing due to their durability and color properties and without them, it would be nearly impossible to achieve the necessary color shades required by the market.

“Before moving forward with a regulation that could tremendously impact the Washington State printing industry sector, DoE needs to clearly and accurately demonstrate that inks, all inks used by the printing industry, pose a threat to human health and the environment,” Jones states. “Lastly, DoE is prohibited by TSCA from regulating iPCBs in inks. TSCA is very explicit in defining the actions and limitations that regulatory authorities can take regarding iPCBs.”

Potential Impact on Promotional Product Decoration

Chlorinated pigments, particularly phthalocyanine greens and certain yellows and blues, have historically been used in promotional product printing methods due to their colorfastness and durability.

Pad Printing: Pad printing comes in handy when printing plastics and metals like pens and drinkware. Some phthalocyanine blue and green pigments contain iPCBs.

Direct-to-Object (DTO) Inkjet Printing: UV and solvent-based DTO printing is often used for tech items like power banks and USBs and other hard goods like tumblers, water bottles, notebooks, golf balls, and more. Inks used in DTO may contain phthalocyanine-based pigments to provide bright, long-lasting colors in digital UV printing.

Screen Printing: When screen printing hard surfaces like plastic, glass, and metal, plastisol and solvent-based inks may contain phthalocyanine pigments.

Offset and Flexographic Printing: Offset and flexographic printing methods commonly use chlorinated pigments like phthalocyanine blue and green to achieve bright, fade-resistant colors for product labels, stickers, and flexible packaging.

If printing inks are regulated, the impact on the Washington printing industry and beyond could be severe. Any printed materials shipped into or produced within the state could be affected, threatening over 13,000 jobs and an industry generating $3 billion in goods annually.

The Alliance remains committed to opposing regulations that are not grounded in science and will continue to advocate for practical policies that protect the industry.

For a full copy of comments submitted by PRINTING United Alliance, please reach out to Sara Osorio at sosorio@printing.org. If you have any questions about how these issues impact your business, reach out to Gary Jones at gjones@printing.org. 