Reacción a "A more sustainable and less toxic form of paper used in tickets is being developed using wood derivatives"

The study looks promising and fits in with existing evidence, because it is a small step forward from previously published studies on the use of lignin. Lignin is one of the two main components of wood. On the one hand, there is cellulose, which is used to make paper, and on the other, there is lignin, which is normally discarded, although research is now being conducted into its possible applications.

As I say, it seems incremental because even the authors themselves refer to a previous study by the same group. In that article, they had studied this type of lignin use for similar applications and also used a process for manufacturing inks and receipts that was described. So I understand that it is not such a novel study.

What the authors have achieved is to develop, from lignin, several components that could be used to print receipts such as those from supermarkets, motorway tolls, car parks, etc., in a slightly more sustainable way. Sustainable because they are compounds obtained from one of the main components of wood, which is reused instead of being discarded. But it is also more sustainable because one of the ingredients currently used to make these types of receipts work is bisphenols, especially bisphenol A, which has been linked to hormonal problems (endocrine disruptors).

The receipts do not contain large amounts, but according to the article, they sometimes use more bisphenols than light-sensitive inks. The authors also cite other studies showing that these lignin-derived substances are not as dangerous as petroleum-derived bisphenols.