The article analyzes the technological process of manufacturing photopolymer flexographic plates, determines the danger from the point of view of ecological impact that certain technological processes can cause, and proposes measures that minimize their dangerous impact on the environment. A comparison of the properties of solvents and their advantages and at the same time harmfulness was carried out with the establishment of the reasons for the subsequent development of alternative organic solvents and the operation of washout flexographic photopolymer printing plates with water or waters solutions. General strategic directions for solving the problem of using volatile organic solvents have been established. The following classification of ways to solve this problem is proposed: use of less toxic solvents or water; elimination of the washing operation from the technological process of manufacturing flexographic photopolymer plates; development of new technological processes for the production of flexographic plates. Based on the results of a comparative analysis of mold manufacturing technologies, a change in the anthropogenic factor was established as a result of improving processes and their environmentalization. It is shown that by introducing information and laser technologies into the technological processes of manufacturing printing forms due to the reduction of the influence of the anthropogenic factor, a significant improvement in the environmental safety of production is achieved, although the introduction of such technology requires large capital investments. According to the results of a comparative analysis of printing plate manufacturing technologies, the so-called ecological factor is shown as a result of improving processes and their ecologization. If we talk about spent photopolymer plates, then the problem of their disposal is still open. Taking into account the current negative effects on the economy of Ukraine, the use of more environmentally friendly technologies and materials in the flexographic sector of printing depends to a greater extent on the economic situation at specific enterprises, and not on the purposeful environmental policy of the state.

Printing production, like many other industries, is a source of waste that requires attention in terms of environmental impact. First of all, this applies to liquid waste as a result of the process of manufacturing flexographic photopolymer forms, because such solutions are mixtures of organic solvents that are hazardous toxic substances. Accordingly, developments in the direction of recycling such solutions will minimize their harmful effects on the environment and increase the technology’s energy efficiency through their reuse. Based on previous developments of a heterophase emulsion solvent and a washing device with the function of separation into fractions of a solution saturated with photopolymer by a ventilated separator, the principle of automatic control of the recycling operation using fuzzy logic is proposed. For such factors of the studied process in the form of linguistic variables as "Temperature of the leaching solution" and "Viscosity of the leaching solution" universal sets, corresponding terms are established and a fuzzy knowledge base is formed using the condition "If–Then". The output result is the linguistic variable "Quality of the leaching process". Using the Fuzzy Logic Toolbox system of the MATLAB technological calculation environment, membership functions were built, a knowledge base was formed, the diffusion operation was carried out using the "centre of gravity" method and a model of the influence of temperature and viscosity of the washing solution on the process of washout photopolymer printing plates was obtained. The model indicates the adequacy of the given knowledge base, which characterizes the process of leaching photopolymer forms. The numerical values obtained for processing by the fuzzy controller will determine the control action for the separator's automatic separation of the spent leachate.