Actega is to use the commercialisation of its EcoLeaf technology to show the way forward for digital decoration and metallisation.

EcoLeaf was formally known as Landa Metallography and was presented as a technology demonstration at drupa 2016.

Following Altana’s investment in Landa, the decision was taken to repurpose the technology under the Actega name. This resulted in the creation of Actega Metal Print, and saw the technology rebranded as EcoLeaf. It is to be commercialised this spring, and Actega Metal Print has now named German print specialist Kolbe-Coloco Spezialdruck as the world’s first beta customer for EcoLeaf.

EcoLeaf is noted as a sustainable alternative to creating decorative metallic embellishments on labels and folding cartons. Integrated inline into analogue presses, digital presses or finishing equipment, or retrofitted to existing equipment, EcoLeaf technology consists of a printed trigger image and a metallisation unit that applies a very thin layer of metal pigments onto a donor roller, which is then transferred onto the trigger image. The trigger image can also be coloured, allowing the creation of further decorative metallic effects.

The trigger image can be created using different printing methods, with the use of inkjet enabling ‘seamless and variable’ metallisation.

Jan Franz Allerkamp, managing director at Actega Metal Print, said, ‘In many existing designs today, personalisation is rarely seen using metallisation. This might change as this technology becomes more broadly available.’

Another big advantage is applying tactile elements to filmic substrates or those where it is hard to emboss, such as films, PP, foils, and tube laminates.

As EcoLeaf uses only the precise amount of metal required to create the metallic image, this eliminates the need for foil and associated waste, as Mr Allerkamp explained. ‘As we create no waste, we are confident to say that we are the only ones approaching the market with a technology providing true digital metallisation.’

Read more about finishing and embellishment in the  March/April issue of Digital Labels & Packaging; register here to receive the magazine, for free