By DOUG GRAVES
Ohio Correspondent

COLUMBUS, Ohio — Ohio considers itself a leader when replacing petroleum-based products with nontoxic, agriculturally-derived alternatives. And the latest in this long line of products is soy-based printer toner.

The toner, originally developed by the Ohio Soybean Council (OSC) and soybean checkoff, in partnership with Battelle, is now being used in laser printers across The Ohio State University campus. OSU’s new Soy Toner Alliance makes the university one of the largest, if not the largest, user of soy-based toner in the nation.

OSU President E. Gordon Gee helped celebrate the alliance during a recent kickoff event last month at the Nationwide and Ohio Farm Bureau 4-H Center. Gee spoke to attendees about the significance of bringing the environmentally friendly soy-based toner to the university.

“It’s not just about a new product, it’s about our claim that this university and its leadership role in this state is making sustainability a very important part of who we are,” he said.

The OSU Soy Toner Alliance is led by UniPrint, which maintains about half the estimated 7,000 printers on campus. UniPrint will be using soy-based toner in any printer in its program for which cartridges are available, currently totaling approximately 700. Those print about 800,000 pages per month, and more printers will be added as cartridges come available. The new cartridges, AgriTone by West Point Products, use toner produced by Mitsubishi that contains a soy-based resin manufactured by Georgia-based Advanced Image Resources, LLC. The toner is at least 35 percent bio-based. Use of the toner started on the OSU campus June 1.

OSC and Battelle began the research and development of the soy-based toner more than a decade ago as a way to create a new market for Ohio soybean farmers. Bioproducts like the toner are household or industrial products made with farm-based sources such as soybeans or corn. They give consumers environmentally friendly, non-hazardous options that perform as well as or better than their petroleum-based counterparts.

Under Ohio’s BioPreferred Purchasing plan, state agencies, departments and state-supported colleges and universities are to purchase bio-based products when possible. The USDA identifies more than 15,000 “BioPreferred” products.

Soybeans are used to make cushion foam, furniture, biodegradable and disposable paper cups and packaging, paints and stains, pet shampoo and laundry detergent. Federal law requires all federal agencies to purchase bioproducts whenever feasible. Starting in October in Ohio, all state agencies and public colleges and universities will be required to buy agriculturally derived bioproducts instead of those that use traditional materials. Ohio is the first state to enact such a program.