Biodegradable Plastic Bags with Imprint by Flexography

Putting your logo on a promotional product is one of the best marketing tools a business can utilize. Why? Because it exposes your company to countless numbers of people. Shopping stores can utilize this best by putting their logo on a bag, especially a plastic bag. Most stores give away plastic bags with every purchase. Sometimes, multiple bags are given away. A good business will make sure they are capitalizing on that opportunity for exposure by putting their logo on the plastic bag. An environmentally conscious company will make sure that the bag is biodegradable.

This illustration gives a visual demonstration of how the flexographic printing process works for biodegradable plastic bags. Image by PNEAC.org

How is the logo actually printed on the biodegradable plastic bag? A printing process called flexography is used to imprint the bags. Flexography is a type of lithographic printing. In a simple explanation, the plastic bag is pulled through rollers, which contain the image, and the logo is pressed onto the bag surface.

Create the Artwork

First, there must be an image to be printed. It is usually done in spot colors. Spot colors are solid colors without gradients.  The image is typically done on the computer and separated into colors. Each color will require its own flexographic plate for printing.

Make the Plates

In flexography, the printing plates are similar to a large stamp. The image that will be printed on the plastic bags is raised on the rubber-like material. This type of plate is called a relief plate. The plate is made from a rubbery material because it will be stretched over a roller, where the plastic bags will be pulled through in the printing process.

The Printing Process

Next the bags are put into the press where they will be printed. The ink starts out in a pan where a roller called an anilox roller collects the ink from the pan and at the same time applies it to the plate cylinder. The flexographic, rubber plate has been wrapped around the plate cylinder. Another cylinder called the impression cylinder is located on the opposite side from the plate cylinder. As the plastic bags are pulled through the plate cylinder and the impression cylinder, the image is transferred from the plate to the bag.

That is the basic flexography printing process in a nutshell. Biodegradable plastic bags with imprinting can be done quite easily and inexpensively. The flexographic printing process can be used on multiple applications. Cardboard boxes, milk cartons, cups, labels, newspapers, can all be printed using flexography. Using biodegradable plastic bags will help businesses capture their customers attention and it will help save the earth.