Green Printing : Staying Responsible and Environment Friendly

There's an unfortunate and erroneous impression that green printing is expensive, difficult to access and hard to do repeat orders with, leading to lack of consistency in the look and feel of business stationery. However, green printing practices are today blending seamlessly into the CSR and eco-friendly behavior of most modern corporate and small business houses. Individuals in the higher echelons of management are also attempting to bring in a green culture into their companies. With this background in mind, using technologies that are eco-friendly and reduce the company's carbon footprint have become part of fulfilling corporate social responsibility criteria.

Recycling paper and printing cartridges, sourcing eco-friendly paper locally and finding out ways to use more organic products instead of petroleum based are part of this shift. Identifying the right people to partner in this effort may take time and effort but it pays off in the long run.

Printing technology is extremely water-intensive, uses petroleum based inks and uses paper extensively. Green printing focuses on these three key areas.

Waterless printers: Traditional offset printers use ink/water to fix images on paper. Cooling the printing plates is also water-intensive. A host of chemicals are used to do this and make the process easier for technicians. Waterless printing uses only special waterless inks on special waterless plates which can be temperature-controlled digitally. This means that by using such technology, a precious resource like water can be conserved. It is also cleaner, without any harmful chemical industrial waste effluents. Such printers are also more efficient, simpler and give a markedly sharper image than traditional litho or offset.

Paper: Consciously choosing eco-friendly paper, which is chlorine-free, recycled and FSC certified paper are good choices. Avoid coating your own print-jobs with adhesives, chemical gums and inks. Similarly, varnishes used to give glossy finish, foils, plastic lamination and packaging can make your own paper un-recyclable.

Inks: Ink-technology has moved into more green options. Toxic inks and petroleum-based are becoming less preferred. Vegetable dye-based, soy-based and low-polluting or recyclable inks should be part of your green printing philosophy. You may find that some inks and paper are not suitable for your particular printing needs and you may have to compromise a bit sometimes. However, all your print products should be labeled “Green” and “Recyclable.”

Using green printing technology can send a strong message about your corporate responsibility and also promote the use of alte
ate energy sources like wind and solar power. Working with a printer who is a green believe
and also an expert in the advances in this sector can be the start of an exciting and challenging route to making your company think green.