Bind me. Use me. Recycle me. Kugler-Womako’s new concept in binding – paper rings – allows printers of reports and presentation materials to offer their customers the environmental value-add of total recyclability. Traditional types of bindings, such as spiral, double-wire, plastic-coated wire and plastic comb, must be removed from their documents if the paper in those reports and presentations is to be recycled. It’s a time consuming process and, since time is money, it disincentivizes recycling. With Kugler-Womako’s paper ring binding, the entire report or presentation can go straight into the paper recycling stream at the end of it's useful life. Interestingly enough, ease of recycling wasn’t the primary driver in the development of the paper ring approach. Instead, says Olaf Wallner, Kugler-Womako’s head of sales, the goal was to develop a binding solution that was appropriate for emerging markets, where conventional spiral binding materials are frequently scarce, expensive, and inconsistent in quality. Paper, Wallner notes, is readily available and inexpensive the world over. The Kugler-Womako system can make its rings from a wide range of paper types. That could include bindery trimmings of a specified width, notes Mirjam Rolfe, Communications Manager for Körber AG, Kugler-Womako’s parent company, making “reuse“ another environmental value-add of the system. Since the binding solution relies on available paper, there are no real limits to the color choices available. Rolfe adds that the paper binding rings can be printed individually, allowing customization on a book-by-book basis, if desired. The Kugler-Womako paper binding system will be on display at the Körber PaperLink booth at GraphExpo 2010.