Sustainable Printing Technologies: A Practical Guide to Greener Print Solutions

Sustainable Printing Technologies, I have been in commercial printing most of the last fifteen years, and I will tell you the truth the business was never good to the environment. I recall going through manufacturing sectors where fumes of chemicals filled the air, cartons of waste ink were loaded onto trucks and mountains of paper waste were going to the landfills. However, the situation has changed radically, and I have been one of the first-seat observers as sustainable printing technologies transform the manner in which we will think concerning the centuries-old art.

The Change of Environmentally-friendly printing.

Printing industry contributes about 1 percent of carbon emission in the world which may not appear much but when you consider the fact that it is similar to the aviation industry. This is because when I began to pay attention to such numbers about ten years ago, I realized that it would not be enough to make incremental changes. The sector had to be radically changed.

The reason behind this change is not simply environmental awareness – but that is also a factor. Customers are more on evidence of sustainable practices. I have observed significant contracts being given and lost under the grounds of environmental qualifications of a printer. In Europe and North America, regulations have become quite stricter and sustainable practices are not as optional as before but rather as compulsory.

Vegetable-Based and Soy Inks

Conventional inks made of petroleum are volatile organic compounds (VOCs), which pollute the air and are also dangerous to the health of workers. I have also heard of press operators who got respiratory problems due to years of working with traditional inks.

Ink made of soy began to appear in the market in the 1970s, although it began to take off in the last twenty years. They yield colors that are usually richer than their petroleum counterparts, and may be covered with little ink to give the same effect, and when recycled make paper much easier to handle since they are easier to strip out during the de-inking process.

One print shop that I contacted in Oregon made the transition to vegetable inks three years ago. The first factor that they considered was cost, soy inks are normally more expensive by 5-10 percent compared to the traditional versions. However, they discovered that the better color saturation saved on the total use of ink, which basically canceled out the difference in prices.

Waterless Technology of Printing.

Traditional offset printing involves the use of water with isopropyl alcohol and repels non-image portions. This results in polluted wastewater to be carefully disposed. Waterless printing does away with this completely by the use of plates that are coated with silicone that repells ink naturally on empty spaces.

I visited a plant in Germany that was converted to waterless printing five years ago. They removed up to 100,000 liter of wastewater per year- a huge volume of wastewater in a mid sized operation. The technology needs more regulation regarding temperature as there is no water to control the heat, but the current climate systems can manage this effectively.

I was most surprised by the improvement in the print quality. Colors were more distinct and dot gain was much lower when no water affected the distribution of ink. This is critical in the case of in-depth commercial activity.

UV and LED Curing Systems

With conventional printing, the inks are dried by using heat which is a big source of energy. UV curing involves the use of ultraviolet light to cure inks immediately, whereas there are LED-UV systems which do the same with even more energy efficiency.

Led-uv curing consumes less power, about 70 percent less than the traditional drying techniques. The systems produce little heat, do not need any warm-up phase and the bulbs have a life span of 10-20 times that of mercury-vapor UV lamps. One of the commercial printers in Texas informed me that their power bills were reduced by four thousand dollars every month because they converted their four presses to LED-UV curing.

The systems also allow printing on heat sensitive material which would be warped and discolored during conventional drying processes and this would add new market opportunities.

Recycled Substrates and Alternative Substrates.

Paper is the main material used in printing and sustainable sourcing of paper has been enhanced significantly. Commercial paper supplies now come in large portions certifiable by FSC (Forest Stewardship Council) and PEFC. Recycled content papers no longer have a gray, rough, image- recycled contents are bright and smooth like modern virgin papers.

In addition to paper, I have observed that there are impressive advances in the agricultural waste substrates. Sugarcane bagasse, wheat straw, and cotton scrap papers are also a possible alternative, and they do not require any cutting of trees. One wedding stationer that I know only uses cotton rag paper that is manufactured using the scraps of the textile industry. Her customers are so impressed with the tale of the material as much as it is soft and luxurious.

The Green Benefits of Digital Printing.

Digital printing will do away with the plates, chemicals and setups waste associated with offset printing. On short-runs, of less than a thousand copies, digital printing in general incurs a smaller environmental footprint although the energy used per piece is higher.

Perhaps the most significant impact of the environment is the printing on demand. I was employed by a publishing company that changed their traditional print runs to their on-demand digital output. They stopped warehousing 50,000 books (and remaining books being pulped inexorably) and printed exactly what sold. The returns have decreased by 80 percent and very little goes to waste.

Issues of Practical Implementation.

I am not going to claim that the process of the sustainable printing technologies transition is smooth sailing. Equipment is still not cheap, a new LED-UV system costs 50000-150000 allowable. Specialty substrate supply chains are not as strong as the conventional paper distribution networks. There are clients who are still unwilling to pay higher premiums in order to get something sustainable.

Smaller print shops have the most difficult times. They do not have funds to upgrade to major equipments and are unable to take advantage of volume discount of sustainable materials. There have been responses by industry associations and equipment manufacturers in terms of financing programs and arrangement of cooperative purchases, however, deficits still exist.

Frequently Asked Questions

Which type of printing is the most environmentally friendly?
Most applications using digital printing with LED-UV curing with vegetable-based inks on recycled paper or FSC-certified paper have the lowest environmental impact at present.

Are inks made of soy more costly?
These inks are usually 5-10% more expensive than petroleum inks, although better coverage and less wastage usually equalize the difference.

Is sustainable printing compromised with quality?
No. Sustainable technologies of today are often able to provide higher results especially in color richness and sharpness of detail.

What cheques are to be made of sustainable printers?
FSC Chain of Custody, Sustainable Green Printing Partnership (SGP) and ISO 14001 environmental management certification.

Is it possible to recycle all the paper once it has been printed?
Newspapers that are printed on vegetable inks are easier to recycle. Some recycling facilities may not accept UV-treated and densely-coated papers.

Will waterless printing benefit the environment?
It destroys wastewater pollution and eliminates the necessity of isopropyl alcohol which reduces water pollution and VOC emissions.