Green is the new CMYK
in Brand, Marketing, Design, Corporate Communications
Sep 26th, 08
Thinking "green" is very much the topic of the times. For many businesses, being sustainable will involve considering all elements of their practices and how they may transform the way in which they work on a small scale to make an impact in the bigger picture.
Thinking "green" can aid your business' brand by becoming associated with sustainable practice and being acknowledged as actively making a contribution to the environment.
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Small changes to the processes involved in your corporate printed material, can be one step towards becoming a sustainable business.
According to Printpoint, to create enough paper to provide 20 people with a daily newspaper for one year, "it takes an estimated 17 pulpwood market-sized trees" to manufacture the required "one tonne (907 kg) of paper". If you consider all the energy and resources consumed in the production of printed material such as electricity, transport, paper pulps, water wastage and chemicals, you can begin to add up and assess the footprint of your print work.
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The impact of your commercial print can be reduced by adopting a variety of sustainable alternatives to conventional printing methods. One quick and effective way is to switch to a paper with a recycled content. The major newspaper publishers are using a large amount of recycled papers, and annually in Australia, "around 100,000 tonnes of recovered newspaper and 60,000 tonnes of magazines are de-inked and processed into newsprint" -B&T, Jul 25th 2008.
The commercial range of recycled papers are rapidly increasing, and options are now available for a variety of print specifications from pre-fabricated envelopes to ranges incorporating a variety of weights to suit business cards, annual reports, flyers, posters and more.
For example, by switching to a 50% recycled paper for 1000 letterheads and business cards, you could prevent the waste of 147 liters of water, 1.9kg of CO2 emissions and 3.8kg solid waste, as well as 19 KW hours energy consumption. Notably, the cost of recycled papers is not always substantially higher than non-recycled paper and many of these stocks carry desirable aesthetic qualities for specific job types.
Besides paper, the print industry has been reviewing many of it's processes and sustainable options have been introduced to lower the impact of printing on the environment.
According to environmentally aware printer, Printpoint, using waterless printing presses can save up to 80,000 liters of fresh water annually, while still maintaining a high quality and fast drying printed result. When used with thermal process-less plate making systems and non-chemical, vegetable based inks, the whole print process can save a substantial amount of water and dramatically reduce the use of solvents, mineral based chemicals and the release of Volatile Organic Compounds (VOC's).
Reviewing the sustainability in the production of promotional material can assist in lowering environmental impact of corporate print and considering the life cycle of your promotional products can help you understand a wider sustainable practice. Blank t-shirts, for example, are readily available made from hemp, bamboo or 100% organic cotton. The life cycle and production of organic cotton fibres eliminates the use of chlorine bleaches, 130g of pesticides per t-shirt, reduces waste water and combined with screen printing using laser-direct screens and non-chemical inks, also eliminates the use of PVC acetate screens and VOC's.
Internationally recognised standards have been introduced, making it easier to identify sustainable options in print. The FSC (Forest Stewardship Council) mark denotes that a company is employing best practise in the management of forestry, while printers and paper mills accredited with the ISO 14001 Environmental Management Certification are implementing best environmental practice techniques in their workplaces. Some paper mills now also come accredited with using non-polluting wind-generated electricity.
Inline with small changes to commercial print, reviewing print around the office will impact on your company's sustainability. By switching to a 50% recycled office paper, one carton alone can save 255 liters of waste water, 3.3 kg of CO2 and 6.6 kg of solid waste compared to the use of non-recycled paper.
Think big, act small. Please consider the environment before printing this article. Feel free to forward it to a friend!