The pressure is on companies to improve environmental sustainability practices throughout their processes and the supply chain. This impacts operating practices, materials and products used, production processes and regeneration or compensation practices. If sustainability is to be considered holistically for the print industry, we are faced with the daunting task of tracking the full range of direct and indirect contributors:

The challenges of managing sustainability and the measures and criteria used are often oversimplified. There are tradeoffs between the environmental friendliness of materials and the energy consumption needed to process them, or the recyclability of the resulting product. Like the overarching discussion of sustainability, each component needs to be considered in holistic terms.

Consider inkjet inks, for example, where aqueous inks are “cleaner” than UV or solvent-based inks. Aqueous inks do carry fewer volatile organic compounds, but the chemistry of water-based inks varies widely, with some containing significantly more glycols, surfactants, and biocides than others. Aqueous inks also require significant energy use to process these additives and to purify the water. The water content also makes the inks heavier to transport and more costly to dry when printed.