Laurel Brunner
A small company located in central southeastern France is seeing environmental improvements through the use of a digital cutting system. They’re using it to do specialist cutting on demand for both digital and offset printing workflows.
However the Polar digital cutting machine is not the start of Press Vercors’ environmental journey. Since 2004 Press Vercors has been certified for Imprim Vert, the French ecolabel and environmental impact mitigation has long been central to the company’s business philosophy. This organisation is a shining example of how to run an environmentally friendly printing company.
All materials and equipment Press Vercors uses are eco-friendly and the company does everything possible to manage waste, from handling empty ink containers and cleaning cloths through to paper waste of course. Wherever possible waste is sent to specialist processors for recycling. The company uses PEFC papers and regular audits ensure that Press Vercors continues to handle its processes and waste in an environmentally friendly way.
The company uses vegetable inks delivered in packaging that a specialist processor can recycle. Water based coatings are used for easier deinking and waste coating solutions are recycled. Press Vercors uses processless plates with gumming and water washing and all paper scraps before and after printing are recycled. Any plastics Press Vercors uses are also sent for recycling. Wash water for its offset and flexo presses is drained into special receptacles for later treatment. It’s an exhaustive effort that illustrates how this company has placed sustainability at its heart.
Press Vercors has a complete range of printing and finishing equipment, including digital presses, as well as digital prepress for automated output direct to plate. The new Polar Digicut was added last December so that the company can now offer square- and die-cutting services on a wide range of materials on demand. This includes cutting paper, cardboard and plexiglass, and the new cutting tool can also engrave paper, wood and leather. The on demand dimension makes possible variable finishing on conventional as well as digital print and is is another means of managing waste, since only what is required is produced.
This company has a culture of sustainability driving all processes and is doing everything it possibly can to mitigate environmental impacts. It leaves nothing to chance, with defined processes that ensure that all of its waste is sorted and recycled. The addition of the new Polar digital cutter is part of this effort, extending waste management to cutting processes as well as materials. And it gives Press Vercors customers further options for embellishing their print media products, including digital prints. The business is run along lines that should inspire any print service provider to follow.
Laurel Brunner
This article was produced by the Verdigris project, an industry initiative intended to raise awareness of print’s positive environmental impact. This weekly commentary helps printing companies keep up to date with environmental standards, and how environmentally friendly business management can help improve their bottom lines. Verdigris is supported by the following companies: Agfa Graphics, EFI, Fespa, HP, Kodak, Kornit, Ricoh, Spindrift, Unity Publishing and Xeikon.
Intelligent resource management is what sustainability is really all about, whether you are a research scientist or a provider of technologies for graphics production. Brainy people keep coming up with new tools to help graphics professionals to improve process control, cut waste and reduce resource usage. Digital printing has stolen a lot of the sustainability limelight over the last few years, primarily because of its ability to produce custom documents in runs of predetermined runlength. However makers of other kit, including platesetters, have not been idle.CRON, a Chinese developer and manufacturer of computer-to-plate (CtP) systems, has developed the EZcolor intelligent printing system, to control ink volumes and reduce ink waste to almost nothing, allegedly. The system replaces a conventional mechanical ink duct with an ink pumping system. A dedicated database controls the ink pumping by calculating how much ink is needed for each inkzone for a given printing condition. Calculations are based on profiles, required densities and print speed, and assume the use of CRON plates and punching technologies. CRON claim that their combined system makes it possible to achieve compliance with ISO 12647-2 (process control for offset lithgraphy) and to do so with a single click.
The approach can yield considerable savings in paper and ink, and cut the carbon footprint of the printed product. This also reduces costs associated with production: CRON claims that paper waste is cut by some 90% and that energy consumption is also substantially reduced. The system requires no colour adjustment and cuts makeready times to less than ten minutes and ink ducts do not need to be cleaned during operation. Accurate colour means less human intervention on press to control colour quality. And of course there is the inevitable comparison with digital that all developers of technologies for analogue printing have to make. In CRON’s example offset can have a break even of twenty copies, below which digital is more cost effective.
CRON has developed some other new technologies that are intended to help reduce negative environmental impacts. The Emerald low chemistry negative plate apparently has a “more stable dot, better ink transmission, higher printing resistance and bring savings on printing ink between 10% – 20%.” The plate is good for 50,000 impressions without baking or 20,000 for UV printing. It holds a 1 to 98% 20 micron dot so the Emerald plate works with stochastic screening or conventional screening up to 200 lpi. This is not a true processless plate but rather one with low chemistry. By this CRON means that the plate is processed in a solution that is nontoxic and noncorrosive.
Reducing waste and rework in printing and converting operations is ever more critical, not just for the environment but for bottom lines. Better management of plate processing and of ink consumption can help address both environmental sustainability and the commercial kind.
Laurel Brunner
This article was produced by the Verdigris project, an industry initiative intended to raise awareness of print’s positive environmental impact. This weekly commentary helps printing companies keep up to date with environmental standards, and how environmentally friendly business management can help improve their bottom lines. Verdigris is supported by the following companies: Agfa Graphics, EFI, Fespa, HP, Kodak, Kornit, Ricoh, Spindrift, Unity Publishing and Xeikon.
Lees verder....
Intelligent resource management is what sustainability is really all about, whether you are a research scientist or a provider of technologies for graphics production. Brainy people keep coming up with new tools to help graphics professionals to improve process control, cut waste and reduce resource usage. Digital printing has stolen a lot of the sustainability limelight over the last few years, primarily because of its ability to produce custom documents in runs of predetermined runlength. However makers of other kit, including platesetters, have not been idle.CRON, a Chinese developer and manufacturer of computer-to-plate (CtP) systems, has developed the EZcolor intelligent printing system, to control ink volumes and reduce ink waste to almost nothing, allegedly. The system replaces a conventional mechanical ink duct with an ink pumping system. A dedicated database controls the ink pumping by calculating how much ink is needed for each inkzone for a given printing condition. Calculations are based on profiles, required densities and print speed, and assume the use of CRON plates and punching technologies. CRON claim that their combined system makes it possible to achieve compliance with ISO 12647-2 (process control for offset lithgraphy) and to do so with a single click.
The approach can yield considerable savings in paper and ink, and cut the carbon footprint of the printed product. This also reduces costs associated with production: CRON claims that paper waste is cut by some 90% and that energy consumption is also substantially reduced. The system requires no colour adjustment and cuts makeready times to less than ten minutes and ink ducts do not need to be cleaned during operation. Accurate colour means less human intervention on press to control colour quality. And of course there is the inevitable comparison with digital that all developers of technologies for analogue printing have to make. In CRON’s example offset can have a break even of twenty copies, below which digital is more cost effective.
CRON has developed some other new technologies that are intended to help reduce negative environmental impacts. The Emerald low chemistry negative plate apparently has a “more stable dot, better ink transmission, higher printing resistance and bring savings on printing ink between 10% – 20%.” The plate is good for 50,000 impressions without baking or 20,000 for UV printing. It holds a 1 to 98% 20 micron dot so the Emerald plate works with stochastic screening or conventional screening up to 200 lpi. This is not a true processless plate but rather one with low chemistry. By this CRON means that the plate is processed in a solution that is nontoxic and noncorrosive.
Reducing waste and rework in printing and converting operations is ever more critical, not just for the environment but for bottom lines. Better management of plate processing and of ink consumption can help address both environmental sustainability and the commercial kind.
Laurel Brunner
This article was produced by the Verdigris project, an industry initiative intended to raise awareness of print’s positive environmental impact. This weekly commentary helps printing companies keep up to date with environmental standards, and how environmentally friendly business management can help improve their bottom lines. Verdigris is supported by the following companies: Agfa Graphics, EFI, Fespa, HP, Kodak, Kornit, Ricoh, Spindrift, Unity Publishing and Xeikon.
Lees verder....
Part of Coca-cola’s recent announcement to be more environmentally friendly includes a campaign “to encourage people to recycle and dissuade littering”, said Nick Brown, head of sustainability at Coca-Cola European Partners. The company produces over 100 billion plastic bottles per year and is making a massive contribution to the plastic littering plaguing the planet, so this campaign is good news. But much more needs to be done: over 70% of soft drinks, including water and fruit juices, are supplied in PET bottles by the big drinks brands.
Doing more is up to all of us, especially in graphics supply chains. According to the UK’s Guardian newspaper, “annual consumption of plastic bottles will be more than half a trillion by 2021”. This is probably very good for label printers, but it’s not necessarily good for the environment. Way too many of these bottles, currently produced at a rate of 20,000 per second, still end up as litter or in landfill.
Apart from the pollution and landfill problems there is the added concern that new and finite resources are required to make new PET containers. This is both expensive and of limited commercial and environmental sustainability. A better option is to use recycled plastic instead of making virgin plastic bottles, because those made from recycled materials require 75% less energy to produce than those made from scratch. Less energy means less cost to produce PET bottles, so the reluctance to use 100% recycled plastic to make them has to have other causes. There is likely a resistance to adopting new processes which have unquantifiable returns, and recycled plastic is not as cosmetically attractive as virgin plastic. There is also the problem that supply chains for recycled PET (rPET) are not consistent across geographies or even regions, so there is no clear global model.
An option that may help improve matters for packaging designers to design PET containers to make them more suitable for recycling. Components and materials that will compromise processes should obviously be avoided. This can be difficult to do because packaging design is part of the product and important to making it attractive to buyers. But it is possible to take into account other design limitations. It should for instance be easy to remove labels and closures so that these components can be separated from the PET. Designers can also consider the appearance of rPET when creating new product designs, for instance using the cloudiness of the material within the design. It’s not discolouration, it’s a design feature!
It will take some time before we see the big brands taking this as seriously as they should, not just for plastic bottles but for all types of packaging. In the meantime, we all have a choice: reduce, reuse and recycle wherever possible.
Laurel Brunner
This article was produced by the Verdigris project, an industry initiative intended to raise awareness of print’s positive environmental impact. This weekly commentary helps printing companies keep up to date with environmental standards, and how environmentally friendly business management can help improve their bottom lines. Verdigris is supported by the following companies: Agfa Graphics, EFI, Fespa, HP, Kodak, Kornit, Ricoh, Spindrift, Unity Publishing and Xeikon.
Part of Coca-Cola’s recent announcement to be more environmentally friendly includes a campaign “to encourage people to recycle and dissuade littering”, said Nick Brown, head of sustainability at Coca-Cola European Partners. The company produces over 100 billion plastic bottles per year and is making a massive contribution to the plastic littering plaguing the planet, so this campaign is good news. But much more needs to be done: over 70% of soft drinks, including water and fruit juices, are supplied in PET bottles by the big drinks brands.
Doing more is up to all of us, especially in graphics supply chains. According to the UK’s Guardian newspaper, “annual consumption of plastic bottles will be more than half a trillion by 2021”. This is probably very good for label printers, but it’s not necessarily good for the environment. Way too many of these bottles, currently produced at a rate of 20,000 per second, still end up as litter or in landfill.
Apart from the pollution and landfill problems there is the added concern that new and finite resources are required to make new PET containers. This is both expensive and of limited commercial and environmental sustainability. A better option is to use recycled plastic instead of making virgin plastic bottles, because those made from recycled materials require 75% less energy to produce than those made from scratch. Less energy means less cost to produce PET bottles, so the reluctance to use 100% recycled plastic to make them has to have other causes. There is likely a resistance to adopting new processes which have unquantifiable returns, and recycled plastic is not as cosmetically attractive as virgin plastic. There is also the problem that supply chains for recycled PET (rPET) are not consistent across geographies or even regions, so there is no clear global model.
An option that may help improve matters for packaging designers to design PET containers to make them more suitable for recycling. Components and materials that will compromise processes should obviously be avoided. This can be difficult to do because packaging design is part of the product and important to making it attractive to buyers. But it is possible to take into account other design limitations. It should for instance be easy to remove labels and closures so that these components can be separated from the PET. Designers can also consider the appearance of rPET when creating new product designs, for instance using the cloudiness of the material within the design. It’s not discolouration, it’s a design feature!
It will take some time before we see the big brands taking this as seriously as they should, not just for plastic bottles but for all types of packaging. In the meantime, we all have a choice: reduce, reuse and recycle wherever possible.
Laurel Brunner
This article was produced by the Verdigris project, an industry initiative intended to raise awareness of print’s positive environmental impact. This weekly commentary helps printing companies keep up to date with environmental standards, and how environmentally friendly business management can help improve their bottom lines. Verdigris is supported by the following companies: Agfa Graphics, EFI, Fespa, HP, Kodak, Kornit, Ricoh, Spindrift, Unity Publishing and Xeikon.
As we all know, process control is fundamental to every aspect of the circular economy. But publishers, printers and all other players in media supply chains can only benefit, if they can work out a solid business model and make money from it. In order to do this several structural elements must be in place. The first is widespread consumer awareness, a societal norm that encourages end users to only buy products which can be recycled or reused within a zero waste model. But this is an enormous ask.
Getting consumers to invest in products based on environmental considerations takes investment into an intangible goal, but not all global brands are keen to stump up the readies for this. Take Coca-Cola as an example. The company boasts of its commitment to recycling PET beverage bottles and recently announced a new packaging plan whereby it will increase the amount of recycled content in its bottles by 50% by 2020. This is just too low an ambition, but it is in line with the tepid commitments of Coca-Cola’s competitors. Greenpeace says that Coca-Cola, PepsiCo, Suntory, Danone, Dr Pepper Snapple and Nestlé have a combined average of a mere 6.6% of recycled PET in their bottles. This figure is based on data provided by the top six, excluding Coca-Cola which means the combined average might be a bit higher. So step one has to be ambitious commitment from brands working with consumers to jointly support the reuse and recycling of PET.
The next thing that’s vital is validation of the processes involved, certification on a scale that allows consumers to trust what brands claim so that end users can have a clear conscience. Process control and management must start at the design stage, so certifications must also start there, working through the processes and tracking each step of production, use and end of life. This is another huge ask, and one that depends on governmental support to make it happen.
Certification programmes, environmental awareness, commercial gain for brands and governmental support all need to be in place if we are to make progress towards circular economies within the many sectors of the graphics industry. It’s a start that the paper industry has made such progress towards improving print’s environmental impact. But bolder steps and engagement are required by each of the many links in media supply chains, especially the behemoths. We know that we must come up with new models to encourage reentry of printed matter into production cycles as new raw materials. We also know that we need some big ideas and investment from major players in our industry to capitalise on the economic as well as the environmental gains.
Laurel Brunner
This article was produced by the Verdigris project, an industry initiative intended to raise awareness of print’s positive environmental impact. This weekly commentary helps printing companies keep up to date with environmental standards, and how environmentally friendly business management can help improve their bottom lines. Verdigris is supported by the following companies: Agfa Graphics, EFI, Fespa, HP, Kodak, Kornit, Ricoh, Spindrift, Unity Publishing and Xeikon.
As we all know, process control is fundamental to every aspect of the circular economy. But publishers, printers and all other players in media supply chains can only benefit, if they can work out a solid business model and make money from it. In order to do this several structural elements must be in place. The first is widespread consumer awareness, a societal norm that encourages end users to only buy products which can be recycled or reused within a zero waste model. But this is an enormous ask.
Getting consumers to invest in products based on environmental considerations takes investment into an intangible goal, but not all global brands are keen to stump up the readies for this. Take Coca-Cola as an example. The company boasts of its commitment to recycling PET beverage bottles and recently announced a new packaging plan whereby it will increase the amount of recycled content in its bottles by 50% by 2020. This is just too low an ambition, but it is in line with the tepid commitments of Coca-Cola’s competitors. Greenpeace says that Coca-Cola, PepsiCo, Suntory, Danone, Dr Pepper Snapple and Nestlé have a combined average of a mere 6.6% of recycled PET in their bottles. This figure is based on data provided by the top six, excluding Coca-Cola which means the combined average might be a bit higher. So step one has to be ambitious commitment from brands working with consumers to jointly support the reuse and recycling of PET.
The next thing that’s vital is validation of the processes involved, certification on a scale that allows consumers to trust what brands claim so that end users can have a clear conscience. Process control and management must start at the design stage, so certifications must also start there, working through the processes and tracking each step of production, use and end of life. This is another huge ask, and one that depends on governmental support to make it happen.
Certification programmes, environmental awareness, commercial gain for brands and governmental support all need to be in place if we are to make progress towards circular economies within the many sectors of the graphics industry. It’s a start that the paper industry has made such progress towards improving print’s environmental impact. But bolder steps and engagement are required by each of the many links in media supply chains, especially the behemoths. We know that we must come up with new models to encourage reentry of printed matter into production cycles as new raw materials. We also know that we need some big ideas and investment from major players in our industry to capitalise on the economic as well as the environmental gains.
Laurel Brunner
This article was produced by the Verdigris project, an industry initiative intended to raise awareness of print’s positive environmental impact. This weekly commentary helps printing companies keep up to date with environmental standards, and how environmentally friendly business management can help improve their bottom lines. Verdigris is supported by the following companies: Agfa Graphics, EFI, Fespa, HP, Kodak, Kornit, Ricoh, Spindrift, Unity Publishing and Xeikon.
The splintered nature of modern communications has encouraged ever more people to become eco warriors of one sort or another. But these fragmented efforts are really not much good, because they are largely uncoordinated or aligned. Far better to get the world’s biggest companies to commit to ambitious global campaigns. Graphics professionals can do their bit by supporting projects such as RE100, a collaborative, global effort that brings together businesses committed to 100% renewable electricity.
RE100 is supported by The Climate Group, an international non-profit organisation set up to “deliver a world of net zero greenhouse gas emissions”. RE100 members include some of the world’s biggest print buyers, so printing companies, system manufacturers and suppliers have good reasons to look at how they can support RE100 objectives. The organisation has been around for about three years and the 100 members include Adobe, HP and Ricoh, and lots of insurance companies, banks and investment groups. Beverage companies such as Heineken and Coca-Cola, consumer products companies such as Unilever plus a handful of car manufacturers also support RE100.
All of these companies, whatever their primary businesses, are print buyers one way or another. And all of them are leading the way for industry to move from fossil fuels to renewables. The weight of corporate effort to mitigate the effects of climate change is creating its own momentum and driving change. The more companies who join this initiative, the more powerful that momentum will be and the faster change will happen. The likes of Heidelberg and Fujifilm could also get involved, encouraging more companies from the graphics industry to work towards a greener future.
The collective goal of RE100 members, and almost a requirement of membership, is to commit to exclusively using 100% renewable energy, referably sometime soon. HP Inc, a huge player in the graphics market, has for instance committed to source 40% of its energy from renewable sources by 2020 and Ricoh aims to source 100% renewable electricity by 2050, with at least 30% by 2030.
RE100 members are massive organisations where environmental commitments are subject to considerable scrutiny, both from regulators, customers and shareholders. If these mega corporations can manage their processes towards reduced dependence on fossil fuels, surely the SMEs that are the bulk of the graphics industry could manage it too?
Laurel Brunner
This article was produced by the Verdigris project, an industry initiative intended to raise awareness of print’s positive environmental impact. This weekly commentary helps printing companies keep up to date with environmental standards, and how environmentally friendly business management can help improve their bottom lines. Verdigris is supported by the following companies: Agfa Graphics, EFI, Fespa, HP, Kodak, Kornit, Ricoh, Spindrift, Unity Publishing and Xeikon.
Lees verder....
The splintered nature of modern communications has encouraged ever more people to become eco warriors of one sort or another. But these fragmented efforts are really not much good, because they are largely uncoordinated or aligned. Far better to get the world’s biggest companies to commit to ambitious global campaigns. Graphics professionals can do their bit by supporting projects such as RE100, a collaborative, global effort that brings together businesses committed to 100% renewable electricity.
RE100 is supported by The Climate Group, an international non-profit organisation set up to “deliver a world of net zero greenhouse gas emissions”. RE100 members include some of the world’s biggest print buyers, so printing companies, system manufacturers and suppliers have good reasons to look at how they can support RE100 objectives. The organisation has been around for about three years and the 100 members include Adobe, HP and Ricoh, and lots of insurance companies, banks and investment groups. Beverage companies such as Heineken and Coca-Cola, consumer products companies such as Unilever plus a handful of car manufacturers also support RE100.
All of these companies, whatever their primary businesses, are print buyers one way or another. And all of them are leading the way for industry to move from fossil fuels to renewables. The weight of corporate effort to mitigate the effects of climate change is creating its own momentum and driving change. The more companies who join this initiative, the more powerful that momentum will be and the faster change will happen. The likes of Heidelberg and Fujifilm could also get involved, encouraging more companies from the graphics industry to work towards a greener future.
The collective goal of RE100 members, and almost a requirement of membership, is to commit to exclusively using 100% renewable energy, referably sometime soon. HP Inc, a huge player in the graphics market, has for instance committed to source 40% of its energy from renewable sources by 2020 and Ricoh aims to source 100% renewable electricity by 2050, with at least 30% by 2030.
RE100 members are massive organisations where environmental commitments are subject to considerable scrutiny, both from regulators, customers and shareholders. If these mega corporations can manage their processes towards reduced dependence on fossil fuels, surely the SMEs that are the bulk of the graphics industry could manage it too?
Laurel Brunner
his article was produced by the Verdigris project, an industry initiative intended to raise awareness of print’s positive environmental impact. This weekly commentary helps printing companies keep up to date with environmental standards, and how environmentally friendly business management can help improve their bottom lines. Verdigris is supported by the following companies: Agfa Graphics, EFI, Fespa, HP, Kodak, Kornit, Ricoh, Spindrift, Unity Publishing and Xeikon.
Lees verder....
When it comes to claims relating to environmental certifications, always question the source. There has been a glut of announcements recently by manufacturers claiming that their products are certified to international standards. One ink company is offering products that meet the Cradle to Cradle standard, a standard which has been invented by a group in California called the Cradle to Cradle Products Innovation Institute which sounds very impressive. This unaccredited organisation provides its own certification for products, thereby helping companies to demonstrate to customers and regulators that they are committed to sustainability. The Cradle to Cradle Products Innovation Institute’s reference document is one of its own invention and is based on continual improvement. In this respect it is much like ISO 9001, the international quality management standard but that is where the similarities end.
The Cradle to Cradle Products Innovation Institute is a nonprofit organisation funded by foundations and “individuals who share common values and hope for the future”. But the group also has revenues from training, certification and logo licensing fees. This is where matters get murky, because for an environmental label to be robust there must be a crystal clear demarkation between the training and consulting part of a business and its certification programmes. Otherwise it’s just a nice little earner, no matter how grand the organisation sounds.
Coming back to the ink company, its certification confirms that print products printed using the offset process and the company’s inks can be “reintroduced into the biological cycle as compostable waste” or that they can be recycled into new board and paper. That printed matter is compostable and recyclable not news to anyone, but rather more important is the fact this certification also addresses a company’s manufacturing process. This actually matters far more since energy and water handling need to be managed to minimise their usage, along with their environmental impact.
The ink company would be better off with a certification to ISO 14001 which confirms continual improvement in managing environmental aspects and impacts over time. The process of certification is tough and expensive but this is why it is one with solid market credibility. ISO 14001 demands a proven management commitment to both environmental management and to managing the risks associated with doing so. The market continues to embrace this standard because it works, it’s credible and it delivers tangible, quantifiable market benefits. That is what environmental certifications should be all about.
– Laurel Brunner
This article was produced by the Verdigris project, an industry initiative intended to raise awareness of print’s positive environmental impact. This weekly commentary helps printing companies keep up to date with environmental standards, and how environmentally friendly business management can help improve their bottom lines. Verdigris is supported by the following companies: Agfa Graphics, EFI, Fespa, HP, Kodak, Kornit, Ricoh, Spindrift, Unity Publishing and Xeikon.
Lees verder....When it comes to claims relating to environmental certifications, always question the source. There has been a glut of announcements recently by manufacturers claiming that their products are certified to international standards. One ink company is offering products that meet the Cradle to Cradle standard, a standard which has been invented by a group in California called the Cradle to Cradle Products Innovation Institute, which sounds very impressive. This unaccredited organisation provides its own certification for products, thereby helping companies to demonstrate to customers and regulators that they are committed to sustainability. The Cradle to Cradle Products Innovation Institute’s reference document is one of its own invention and is based on continual improvement. In this respect it is much like ISO 9001, the international quality management standard but that is where the similarities end.
The Cradle to Cradle Products Innovation Institute is a nonprofit organisation, funded by foundations and “individuals who share common values and hope for the future”. But the group also has revenues from training, certification and logo licensing fees. This is where matters get murky, because for an environmental label to be robust there must be a crystal clear demarkation between the training and consulting part of a business and its certification programmes. Otherwise it’s just a nice little earner, no matter how grand the organisation sounds.
Coming back to the ink company, its certification confirms that print products printed using the offset process and the company’s inks can be “reintroduced into the biological cycle as compostable waste” or that they can be recycled into new board and paper. That printed matter is compostable and recyclable not news to anyone, but rather more important is the fact this certification also addresses a company’s manufacturing process. This actually matters far more since energy and water handling need to be managed to minimise their usage, along with their environmental impact.
The ink company would be better off with a certification to ISO 14001 which confirms continual improvement in managing environmental aspects and impacts over time. The process of certification is tough and expensive but this is why it is one with solid market credibility. ISO 14001 demands a proven management commitment to both environmental management and to managing the risks associated with doing so. The market continues to embrace this standard because it works, it’s credible and it delivers tangible, quantifiable market benefits. That is what environmental certifications should be all about.
– Laurel Brunner
This article was produced by the Verdigris project, an industry initiative intended to raise awareness of print’s positive environmental impact. This weekly commentary helps printing companies keep up to date with environmental standards, and how environmentally friendly business management can help improve their bottom lines. Verdigris is supported by the following companies: Agfa Graphics, EFI, Fespa, HP, Kodak, Kornit, Ricoh, Spindrift, Unity Publishing and Xeikon.
Lees verder....
Marks & Spencer, a global retailer best known for knickers, socks and divine foods, has recently reported on progress with its Plan A. The 107 environmental commitments enshrined in this plan were originally outlined in 2014, with a goal of achieving them all by 2025. So far 64 have been achieved with a further 25 on track, 11 lagging and six apparently abandoned. The global graphics industry has many reasons to engage with Marks & Spencer from signage and packaging, through to commercial print applications, so being aware of Plan A might help when bidding for new business or striving to hold on to existing work.
The Plan includes social as well as environmental goals, and this has meant that 80% of the company’s products can now be deemed to have an enhanced ecological or ethical quality. Marks & Spencer has trained over 800,000 people in its supply chain to comply with Plan A goals and has reduced overall waste by 28%. It has announced that all electricity the company uses comes from renewable sources and that 27% of its gas consumption has been replaced with bio-methane. Marks & Spencer operates as zero waste to landfill business and is the only major retailer in the UK that is carbon neutral.
But where in all this is print? Plan A does not include much information about how Marks & Spencer is managing print buying operations, so that the print they invest in is more environmentally friendly. But it does say in Plan A that “we will be ensuring that all the packaging we put on the market is easy to recycle”. Note the future tense. This is an excellent reason for graphics professionals, including designers and printers, to prick up their ears. Design is more important for packaging than for almost any graphics application, so helping Marks & Spencer to fulfil this part of Plan A will require materials and ink awareness, as well as an understanding of different print processes.
Retailers are the first line of attack when it comes to improving environmental impact awareness, so it is fantastic that Marks & Spencer is working to such an ambitious plan. Successful partnering with companies like this will be a powerful means of improving print’s environmental accountability. Partnering to achieve common goals is also a means of helping large print buyers to manage their own environmental aspects, especially those associated with print.
Laurel Brunner
This article was produced by the Verdigris project, an industry initiative intended to raise awareness of print’s positive environmental impact. This weekly commentary helps printing companies keep up to date with environmental standards, and how environmentally friendly business management can help improve their bottom lines. Verdigris is supported by the following companies: Agfa Graphics, EFI, Fespa, HP, Kodak, Kornit, Ricoh, Spindrift, Unity Publishing and Xeikon.
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