Most sustainability conversations around packaging stop at the paper. Few buyers ask what's actually printed on top of it. Smartbag's custom printed bags use water based, non-toxic ink across every run, no petroleum solvents, so your branding stays vibrant without quietly working against the recyclable material underneath it.
Why Solvent-Based Inks Work Against a Circular Bag
Traditional print processes and genuinely paper-friendly print processes solve different problems, and the difference sits almost entirely in the ink.
Lower emissions during application. Solvent-based inks rely on chemical carriers that off-gas volatile organic compounds as they dry, which is where the odour and the emissions both come from. Water based inks use water as the carrier medium instead, which structurally avoids that off-gassing rather than reducing it after the fact. This is a meaningful distinction for anyone doing air quality or workplace safety due diligence on a print supplier, not just an environmental one.
Fewer legacy pigment concerns. Older solvent and oil-based print pigments have, in some cases, relied on heavy-metal compounds like lead or cadmium for colour stability. Water based acrylic dispersions, the ink family Smartbag prints with, don't need those pigments to hold colour, which removes a category of risk rather than managing it. We'd encourage any procurement team with a specific heavy-metal testing requirement to raise it directly with us so we can point you to what documentation is available for the product line you're ordering.
Kerbside recyclability, kept intact. Our unbleached kraft ranges are 100% kerbside recyclable with no plastic lining. Water based inks separate from the kraft fibre far more readily than solvent-based or heavily varnished prints during standard repulping, which matters if recyclability is a claim you intend to put on the bag itself and stand behind. Worth noting: this recyclability claim applies to our uncoated kraft formats specifically. If you're working with a laminated finish, the lamination itself, not the ink, is the variable that determines end-of-life handling, covered in our kraft versus laminated paper bags guide.
High Definition Without Chemical Compromise
The usual fear with eco-safe ink is that "safe" means "washed out." That's not the trade-off here.
Pantone-accurate on both kraft and white stock. Precision-mixed water based pigments are engineered to hold saturation on raw brown kraft as well as on bright white paper, so a brand colour reads the same regardless of which base sheet you're printing on.
Genuine scuff resistance. Water based curing sets into the fibre rather than sitting on top of it as a film, which is why it holds up under real freight and retail-handling friction rather than transferring or bleeding at the first sign of damp conditions.
Honest about what "compostable" actually requires. If a compostability claim is part of your brand's packaging story, be precise about it. AS4736 (industrial composting) and AS5810 (home composting) are formal, independently tested certifications for the packaging material as a whole, not something a printer can claim about ink alone. Our uncoated kraft ranges are kerbside recyclable and biodegradable, which is a genuinely useful claim, but it's a different one to a certified compostability claim, and we'd rather be exact about which one applies to your order than let the two blur together. Our guide to what the FSC-certified label on paper bags actually means covers this same issue from the fibre-sourcing side, worth a read if your brand is building out its environmental claims more broadly.
Choose Your Eco-Print Profile
Precision Minimalist Prints Low ink density, single-mark or fine-typography branding that lets the raw kraft or white fibre carry most of the visual weight. Suits brands prioritising a lighter ink footprint alongside the visual restraint that's become the default for premium retail packaging.
High-Density Multi-Colour Flexography Multi-station water based printing for vivid, overlapping brand layouts, full colour, photographic detail, layered graphics, without building up the thick, plasticised ink layer that heavier solvent or UV-cured processes leave behind.
Neither profile requires a different paper base. The choice comes down entirely to how much of the bag's surface your design needs to cover.
Design Safely with Smartbag
Getting ink chemistry right matters, but so does getting the artwork right on top of it. Every custom order includes pre-press calibration, checking colour accuracy, line weight, and print density against your brief before anything reaches a plate. If a design is at risk of print quality or compliance issues, laminated file requirements, oversized ink coverage that won't repulp cleanly, we'll flag it before production, not after.
Frequently Asked Questions
Are Smartbag's inks certified compostable under AS4736 or AS5810? No, and it's worth understanding why that's the correct answer. Those certifications apply to the packaging material as a whole and require independent lab testing, they're not something a printer certifies about ink alone. What we can confirm is that our uncoated kraft ranges are kerbside recyclable and biodegradable, and that our inks are water based rather than solvent based.
Do water based inks fade or wash out compared to solvent-based printing? Not under normal retail and freight handling. Precision-mixed water based pigments hold Pantone accuracy on both kraft and white stock, and the ink cures into the fibre rather than sitting as a surface film, which is actually part of why it resists scuffing well.
Can you provide documentation for a brand sustainability or procurement audit? Get in touch with specifics on what your audit requires and we'll confirm what documentation is available for the product line and ink type you're ordering, rather than assuming a generic answer covers every format.
Does this apply to laminated bags as well as kraft? The ink story is the same across formats, water based throughout. The recyclability outcome differs, since lamination, not the ink, determines how a laminated bag needs to be handled at end of life.
What's the actual difference between water-based and solvent-based ink, in plain terms? Solvent-based ink uses a chemical carrier that evaporates and off-gasses VOCs as it dries. Water based ink uses water as the carrier instead, so there's no equivalent off-gassing, and it typically doesn't need the heavy-metal pigments some older solvent inks relied on for colour stability.
Get a Compliant Custom Quote
Need to understand what documentation is realistically available for your specific order before a brand audit? Get in touch and we'll talk through exactly what applies to your product and ink combination.