Siegwerk announced on 20 October 2026 that it had secured European patent EP4107326 for a primer technology designed to help remove printing inks from plastic packaging during recycling. The company’s announcement describes a development in how printed structures can be designed for subsequent treatment. It does not establish that the process is already used throughout commercial recycling systems.
The distinction matters because changing the main polymer is only part of redesigning a flexible package. Decoration must perform during manufacture and use, yet may become an unwanted constituent when the packaging is turned into a new material. This patent addresses that interface between print performance and end-of-life separation.
A release layer between the substrate and the ink
According to Siegwerk, the protected technology uses a functional primer between the plastic substrate and the printing layer. Under alkaline washing conditions, it enables the print to detach before the polymer is reprocessed. The company says the patent covers solvent-based and water-based primers, including constructions with print between additional layers. Its wider deinking portfolio also includes UV-printing applications; that broader portfolio should not be confused with the scope of this particular patent.
Siegwerk reports validation in its own laboratory and collaborative projects. Those are company-reported technical results. This report does not independently verify removal efficiency, operating cost or the quality of the resulting polymer. The release identifies the patent, but the exact grant date and legally operative claim scope require the European Patent Register record; the announcement date should not be substituted for the grant date.
Removing colour is a process question
The useful technical question is where the ink goes after it leaves the film. A washing process must separate the detached material from the recovered polymer. If a demonstration shows an apparently clean film, it still needs evidence about the wash liquid, removal of residues and subsequent reprocessing. A photograph of a clear flake cannot answer all of those questions.
Equally, an ink that releases under one washing recipe may behave differently under another. Temperature, residence time, chemistry and the incoming packaging construction are relevant variables in interpreting a result. These are evaluation questions, not operating specifications for Siegwerk’s patented system. The announcement does not provide a universal processing recipe for every recycler.
Print location also changes the problem. Surface decoration and a print layer enclosed within a laminate are different separation tasks. Reaching an enclosed layer can depend on the surrounding construction. A primer therefore needs to be considered alongside films, adhesives and barriers rather than treated as a self-contained recycling solution. Our explanation of Why Labels, Sleeves, Adhesives and Inks Can Decide Whether a Package Is Recyclable develops that whole-package distinction.
A patent is one milestone in a longer chain
For a converter, the first question is whether the primer can be incorporated without compromising the package’s required print and functional performance. For a recycler, the question is whether the incoming structure can be treated within a workable process. The two questions meet only when the same construction is followed from production through recovery.
Commercial adoption would require further evidence: identified packaging applications, converter use, acceptance by actual recycling operators and repeatable output suitable for a subsequent application. Patent protection does not establish those outcomes. Nor does successful deinking establish food-contact suitability for a new package; that is a separate assessment of the recovered material and intended use.
This makes the story more consequential than a patent-count announcement. It concerns whether designers can deliberately introduce a separation mechanism without undermining the service the package provides. The industry value would come from that mechanism working within a real recovery chain, not simply from the existence of intellectual property.
What would demonstrate progress next
A useful next disclosure would connect a named printed construction with stated treatment conditions and measured output. It would distinguish material removed from usable polymer recovered, and technical trials from recurring commercial operation. Operating water, energy and residue management would also matter before drawing an environmental comparison.
Siegwerk’s announcement adds a documented technology milestone to that work. It does not close the gap between a package designed to release its print and one actually collected, sorted, washed and recycled. Readers following the broader construction problem can compare it with How Mono-Material Flexible Packaging Challenges Multilayer Laminates—and Where It Still Fails and Decoration Without the Recycling Penalty: Wash-Off Labels, Direct Print, Sleeves and Digital Marking Compared.
Sources
- Siegwerk. Siegwerk advances deinking solutions … newly granted European patent. 20 October 2026. Opening; From early insight to validated deinking solutions. Sources checked 21 October 2026.
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