The issue of whether wallpaper is environmentally friendly that people usually care about, to be precise, should be: whether it contains formaldehyde or the issue of formaldehyde emissions. However, even if solvent based ink is used in wallpaper, don’t be afraid as it will evaporate and no longer cause harm to the human body. Especially for PVC materials, they evaporate quickly. There may be a strong and irritating odor suddenly, but it’s easy to get over it in a few days.
Whether wallpaper is environmentally friendly is mainly measured based on VOC emissions
At present, many people have a vague understanding of the concept of environmental protection. However, it is very necessary to clarify this matter because only by clarifying it can everything about this matter be better handled.
Firstly, whether the material itself has used too much natural resources; Secondly, can the materials naturally decompose (commonly known as rotting) after being discarded; Once again, whether the material emits excessive and continuous VOC during use, and whether toxic substances are emitted during the degradation process.
In order to enhance targeting, the first point will not be explained here because in fact, everyone is not so concerned about this matter. Now, what needs to be emphasized is the second point. Compare non-woven and PVC. PVC is a chemical product, synthetic resin, polymer, and derivative product of petrochemical industry. PVC has strong plasticity and is widely used. The clothes people wear and the specialized bowls and chopsticks for the microwave at home all contain or at least contain PVC material. This material is difficult to degrade in nature, and it may take hundreds or even thousands of years to break polymer chains and complete the degradation process. So it’s not an environmentally friendly material.
Non woven paper (commonly known as non-woven fabric) is a type of weaving without directionality, that is, non warp and weft weaving. Its structure is relatively loose and can be easily decomposed in nature. Therefore, compared to PVC, it is a relatively environmentally friendly material.
The comparison of the environmental friendliness of these two materials is based on the degree of pollution they cause to the environment after being discarded or the amount of energy (or natural resources) used to reduce these materials.
Furthermore, when it comes to the purity of the material itself, PVC belongs to the category of high molecular weight polymers and is relatively simple; On the contrary, the materials of non-woven fabrics are relatively messy. Non woven fabrics are a weaving method, not the material itself. It can be a variety of non-woven materials.
The third point is about VOC emissions. VOC=volatile organic compounds=formaldehyde, ether, ethanol, etc. Since we are most concerned about formaldehyde, it is simply referred to as formaldehyde emissions.
Is this thing actually in the wallpaper?It depends on the specific situation. Is it true that all non-woven materials do not have VOC, while PVC materials do? No, it’s not.
There is a type of ink called water-based ink, which uses additives such as water and ethanol during the coloring process, which is very environmentally friendly; There is also a type of ink called solvent based ink (commonly known as oil-based ink), which uses organic solvents as additives in the coloring process. It is a volatile organic compound containing formaldehyde and is not environmentally friendly.
For PVC materials, due to their dense structure, short base compounds such as formaldehyde cannot penetrate. Therefore, formaldehyde and other compounds attach to the surface of PVC materials and are easy to evaporate. After a few days, they will basically evaporate.
This volatilization process is called VOC emissions.
For non-woven materials, due to their loose structure, organic solvents can penetrate into the material, and the volatilization process of compounds such as formaldehyde is relatively slow. For many manufacturers, especially large brands, this type of solvent based ink is rarely used. Even if it is used, additional links will be added in the production process to complete VOC emissions.
In fact, in the process of home decoration, the most feared thing is not wallpaper, but composite panels (not solid wood). Because the VOC emissions from composite panels are relatively slow, taking several months or even years.
Almost all the truly brilliant wallpapers are not non-woven fabrics
The current situation is that many salespeople and owners of specialty stores will say that non-woven fabrics are the most environmentally friendly. I find this strange. Why do we have to say this? Are you really not understanding? Or are you afraid that customers may lose business by being instilled with such concepts by other wallpaper stores?
OrNone of them! The key is that the raw materials for non-woven wallpaper are not expensive, the process is simple, and advertising can be sold at a high price. The biggest profit is here.
I am not familiar with other countries, but at least there is no such phenomenon in Europe. In fact, almost all of the world’s major brands, whether they are Marburg, Aishi, Zhanbai Mansion, or truly outstanding wallpapers, are made of PVC fabric. Among them, the wallpaper of the Italian exhibition hall is all PVC deep embossed.
Now it seems that perhaps only our country is very enthusiastic about non-woven wallpaper in the world, because in the past few years, supermarkets have gradually used non-woven bags instead of plastic bags, and non-woven bags are environmentally friendly bags. Inference: Non woven is environmentally friendly. Environmental protection is definitely necessary, but formaldehyde emissions are not a concern.
Domestic manufacturers like to produce and sell non-woven fabrics, but there are issues with the level of craftsmanship and profit driven factors.
Non woven fabrics are suitable for the current level of craftsmanship of domestic manufacturers (no embossing roller is required, printing roller is used. PVC surface requires embossing roller for both deep and shallow embossing, and the cost of embossing roller is high. The production cost of laser engraving embossing roller starts at 20000 yuan in China, and manual engraving is even more expensive. In Italy or Germany, a manually carved embossing roller often costs several hundred thousand euros, which is very exquisite and is a work of art.). Because of this, high-quality PVC surface wallpaper requires a significant upfront investment.
If the market recognition is not high, the investment of embossing rollers will be wasted, which poses a great risk. The printing roller used for non-woven fabrics only costs over a thousand yuan, with small investment and quick results. It is not a pity to throw it away after failure. So domestic manufacturers are very willing to produce non-woven wallpaper. It seems to strictly implement the policy of “short, flat, and fast” factory operation.
In fact, non-woven materials have two major defects: first, there is always a bit of fuzziness in coloring, because the surface of non-woven materials is not dense enough, and the color needs to penetrate. Secondly, if oil-based ink is used, the additives of the oil-based ink will penetrate into the non-woven fabric material, making it difficult to release formaldehyde.
Post time: Apr-02-2024