One of the key themes at drupa has been the environment. Almost every supplier has a green or sustainability approach and all have a document outlining what they are doing. This is a real difference from drupa 2004 where the green issue was hardly covered.
The following shows some of the things that are happening in this area at drupa. On June 5, 2008, World Environment Day, Heidelberger offset the environmental effects of all print products created in the course of the day at drupa. This included prepress, press, and postpress. All CO2 emissions generated indirectly on that day were offset by investing in a climate protection project complying with the internationally recognized Gold Standard through the Swiss charitable foundation myclimate. This will ensure that unavoidable emissions are offset by climate protection measures elsewhere. In concrete terms, in a region of India, electricity and heat will be generated from biomass that was previously burned on the fields as waste. This will benefit the environment and boost the income of local farmers.
The level of CO2 emissions calculated on World Environment Day was based on the amount of paper printed for demonstration purposes (over 70 tons), the total electrical power required by the equipment used (three MWh), printing plates, ink, coatings, alcohol, dampening solution additive, and cleaning agents.
Océ announced on June 5 that the company has been recognized as an environmental leader in printing and document management through its selection as a Climate Action industry partner. Climate Action is an international organization communications platform that informs a worldwide network of businesses, United Nations, government and non-governmental organizations in promoting organizational and individual actions to limit human-induced climate change to ecologically sustainable levels. As a result of this selection, Océ N.V. will participate in a series of activities focused on protecting and preserving the environment. These include a "Climate Leaders" video interview with Rokus van Iperen, CEO of Océ N.V., which will be broadcast on www.climateactionprogramme.org and featured on www.oce.com on June 5th, 2008 in support of the United Nation's World Environment Day. Océ has been selected as a Climate Action industry partner based on the company's exemplary record of environmentally sustainable products and business practices. These include the CarbonPositivePlus+ project, which provides access to eco-friendly initiatives and carbon offsetting credits for customers who purchase or lease Océ VarioPrint 6000 digital duplex cutsheet printers.
Océ has been selected as a Climate Action industry partner based on the company's exemplary record of environmentally sustainable products and business practices. These include the CarbonPositivePlus+ project, which provides access to eco-friendly initiatives and carbon offsetting credits for customers who purchase or lease Océ VarioPrint 6000 digital duplex cutsheet printers.
In late May Xerox sponsored its European Leadership Summit in Dublin, Eire. From this new research released by Xerox and Forum for the Future reveals that 96 percent of European business leaders believe that running a sustainable business can no longer be considered optional, but is an absolute
necessity for human survival. Nearly every attendee (95%) surveyed at Xerox’s European Leadership Summit claimed that businesses are not doing nearly enough to address social and economic problems. As a result, the majority of respondents (95%) felt personally responsible for finding new business models, policies and processes that will reduce the damage on the environment. At drupa Xerox emphasised their environmental policies and pointed that this is not a new area for them and they have been operating an environmental policy in all areas of their business for many years.
At drupa on Tuesday June 3 The World Print & Communications Forum (WPCF) supported by Heidelberg hosted its Environment Conference. The conference provided a summary of environmental legislation and gave an insight on how printers manage these legal constraints in their daily work. Presentations featured the situation in the US, China, Japan and Europe. Current trends in environmental matters were presented. Heidelberg gave an insight into the contribution that a printing machine manufacturer can make to help printers fulfill the increasingly strict legal requirements as well as the requests by customers for environmental friendly printing. This Heidelberg presentation showed many ways that press suppliers are improving their products to reduce harmful emissions, reduce power usage and reduce paper waste. One interesting presentation at this event came from PIA/GATF and was about its member printers getting accreditation within the SGP (Sustainable Green Printing) Partnership. To be accredited printers have to prove they can adhere to a range of environmental benchmarks and criteria. The accreditation process will be handled by independent experts. The result will be a list of accredited printers that can display the SGP logo. Printers however will be monitored and can lose accreditation if they do not maintain their environmental standards.
In Europe there is an initiative being sponsored by a number of organizations including HP and Fujifilm. This is the Verdigras project run by the publishing and consulting organization Digital Dots. This company is run by Laurel Brunner who in a previous period was European Managing Director of Seybold. The Verdigras initiative will work with vendors and printers to assess the carbon footprints of printing equipment and plants and evaluate potential carbon offsetting for these. It will also endeavor to compare the environmental impact of different printing and publishing activities compared with electronic forms of publishing such data. Verdigras will also be compiling a list of environmentally friendly printers, in this case it is using the ISO 14001 standard as its standard of excellence.
Some people may still wonder why this is so important to this industry, however these appear to be in the minority today. The printing industry is moving to position itself as a very green industry, and one of the world's greenest industry to counteract the ridiculously skewed information that is presented by so-called environmental gurus like Al Gore in slating the use of print. Just remember it is a lot easier to recycle paper that to recycle an old computer monitor, computer or printer. The electronics industry is trying to conform to environmental regulations in Europe like ROHAS (reduction or elimination of hazardous substances in devices) and WEE (recycling of electronic equipment). The more that this industry can do to show that print is environmentally friendly the better it will be for all in the industry. We are already seeing demands on the industry from its print buying customers who are looking to only use environmentally excellent printers for their work.
I apologize to suppliers not included in my outlines above. There is just not sufficient space or time to mention everyone that is working hard in this area. The suppliers mentioned above are just an indication of what everyone is doing.
Discussion
By Patty Calkins on Jun 06, 2008
Andy, I really enjoyed your commentary. It’s encouraging to see so many companies making an effort to advance sustainable business practices. We see it as a business and social imperative, not a cost of doing business but a way of doing business that benefits us all. What’s most impressive is that not only are companies embracing the challenge but they’re moving beyond discussion to action. The print industry continues to make great strides and with continued focus from all involved—throughout the value chain from print vendors to print procurers and all in between – together we can really make a difference. Thanks for sharing all the environmental sustainability news going on at drupa!
By Axel Fischer on Jun 06, 2008
Andrew,
It is "a lot easier to recycle paper" - yes, if it has been printed with offset or gravure or dry toner. But not if it has been printed with current inkjet. This is the discrepancy at this year's drupa: Green and inkjet are the main topics, but they do not match. Waterbased does not necessarily mean environmentally friendly. Because many waterbased inks cannot be recycled.
This is especially true for inkjet inks, no matter whether they are dyes or toners. They are not only unrecyclable for new graphic paper - even in small amounts, inkjet printed papers can spoil a load of recovered paper dedicated to be recycled for new newsprint or office papers. The current inkjet inks dissolve in the process water and dye it like a red sock (or here black sock) in the white wash. There it is the underwear that turns pink, here the fibers that turn so dark that the paper screened out of this broth will not meet any brightness specification any more.
Most inkjet manufacturers close both eyes and try to ignore that problem. But a green process is not only one using a machine with a recyclable hood. It is also a process that spits out printed products which do not harm the environment. You have to think "green" not only productionwise, also productwise. Especially for high volumes with a short life that are likely to end up in the household collection. How should a consumer know that the inkjet mailing is not "green" at all? Probably only if it will carry a "red" label?
That might be the ultimate solution that legislation at least in Germany already provides - to mark products that do not fit in the established paper recycling system. Imagine a printer having to label every product leaving his shop as unrecycleable, as harmful for the recycling process? Which customer would want to buy these products? So better think twice what kind of machine you think is an "environmentally excellent printer".
By Eddy Hagen on Jun 08, 2008
Interesting question: how green is my print shop... How do you calculate e.g. the carbon footprint? Do you look at the production (e.g. energy consumption) of the print job itself? Or do you also look at the transportation of the finished job to the customer? And what about the manufacturing of the machine, of the consumables, of the paper? And the transportation of all these things you need to produce the print job? And what about the internet, to shift your digital files? And the treatment of waste?
Transport over larger distances can have a big impact on carbon footprint. Did any book publisher ever calculate the ecological impact of his decision to produce his books in China, not in his own country? There is a lot of CO2 emission involved with transport, and China is a long way from Europe, from the US. And China has only a very limited amount of forests, therefor they have to import paper, pulp, wood. Which makes the carbon footprint even larger.
So, calculating how green your print shop is, is a very complex endeavour.
But there is one thing every printer can do to be greener: produce less waste. Manufacturers have made their equipment more efficient, with fewer setup time and setup waste. But that's only one part of the issue, there are also those jobs that need to be reprinted due to errors... In the past VIGC has asked in several surveys how many jobs need to be reprinted due to errors. In one of the surveys VIGC found that over one third of the print shops had to reprint more than 2% of their jobs... About 5% even had to reprint more than 15% of their jobs. That's a lot. In a more recent survey we asked how many people use preflight to check digital files. Over 20% doesn't, although many digital files contain (fatal) errors. I know even big printers (among which a web offset printer) that don't use preflight...
In that first survey we also asked why errors occured. The result was also amazing: due to communication errors. Communication errors with customers, between different departments. These are all errors that can - even quite easily - be avoided. And avoiding these errors is of course good for the environment. And for the profit of the printing company. Go green! Go for extra profit! Avoid reprints due to errors.
Regards,
Eddy Hagen
VIGC
By Erik Nikkanen on Jun 29, 2008
Now the issue is the environment and sustainability. Previously the issues were operator skill levels, short run printing, lean manufacturing, waste reduction, process control, etc. It goes on and on. Of course they are all related and all are important but why is there no interest in understanding the critical problems that affect all these issues.
Drupa is about products. After all it is a trade show and not a science conference. But the history in the printing industry has tended to be that technical products move ahead without much of a concern about the science of the problems that are trying to be solved. The pattern is that technologies are being applied to symptoms of problems and not to fundamental causes. This results in expensive and not always successful outcomes.
In many industries, the science is out ahead of the technologies. Sometimes, by hundreds of years. In computers, hardware and software, aerospace, chemistry, medicine, etc. the potential is known due to a developed science well before the technologies are available. This is not the case in the printing industry.
Theoretical science has always been a very practical guide for developing continuously improving technologies in other industries but the printing industry has at best a weak theoretical culture and in some cases none at all.
In offset lithography, one of the most critical problems is the one related to ink water balance and its related density variation problem. This results in a lack of consistency and predictability. Now-a-days, one does not hear about ink water balance much but it still is a prime problem in the process.
If one wants to have a sustainable and environmentally sound process and progress in all those other issues stated above, this problem of ink water balance and density variability must be solved. Since the same fundamental cause to this problem also exists on waterless presses, solving it will help there too.
Most people know that density variation is a problem but the industry has no explanation for it happening. What is worse is that they have no interest in developing an explanation. They don’t mind describing the observations but they have no theoretical explanation. It has never come up as a goal to have an explanation. All that is wanted is a product that promises to reduce the symptoms.
My point here is that the industry is not really so interested in science but only in products. The equipment and chemical vendors are not interested nor are the graphic arts institutions, technical associations, or the trade press. None of these groups will spend a minute thinking about why density changes. Saying that a process has many variables is not an explanation.
Where is the open discussion about this problem. It is no where. The reason for this is that as a community, you are happy in your ignorance.
Now as an example, let’s take a simple mind experiment. The press prints a large solid. The density is at one level. Nothing is changed except that the water is adjusted higher. The density drops to a new steady state level. The drop in density is directly related to less ink being printed. Now the question is, “Where did the missing ink go?” If you don’t know, then you don’t understand the process.
I would suggest that students ask their professors that question and see how they answer it. Do they know? Can they explain it in a clear way or do they give a confusing answer. If you can’t get an answer that makes sense, then you know you paid too much for your so called education.
When will the trade press bring this up as an issue? Maybe never because they are too much interested in products and are too impressed with technology. They have done a disservice to the industry by avoiding a public debate and not expecting answers to this critical question.
Discussion
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