Use of Azura chem-free plates and other eco-initiatives earn Virginia printer environmental honors    

Elmwood Park, NJ – The Salem Printing Company, Inc., of Salem, Virginia, has become one of the latest printers in North America to join the Agfa Graphics environmental recognition program, GreenWorks™. The program honors customers who demonstrate their commitment to the environment while promoting sustainable technologies, products and practices within the graphic arts industry.

Salem Printing chose Azura plates, the chemistry-free plates from Agfa Graphics that are as easy to use as traditional plates. Azura is a thermal, negative-working plate designed for commercial sheetfed applications where simplicity, robustness and reliability are important. The elimination of chemical processing with Azura, combined with a new Avalon CtP system, simplifies platemaking, effectively removing all process variables for clear, consistent results.

“The environment is very important to us. We do what we can to make it better. In addition to using Azura plates, we actively recycle just about every consumable that we use and look for better ways to improve our presses to run soy-based inks. We even purchase back the ink that we recycle to use as black ink after the converting process,” said John Mitchell, Managing Partner, Salem Printing. “When we communicate to our clients about the eco-friendly changes we make to our processes, we get nothing but positive feedback.  It’s our way of making printing a more environmentally conscious art.”

Salem Printing also recycles all paper waste, plates, ink, and cardboard.  The company has “grey out” periods in the production facility and storage area to reduce electrical usage. By shutting down all computers and digital production machines every night, Mitchell says he is proud to be part of a corporate culture that takes responsibility for the world that “our children will inherit.”

“Salem Printing is raising the bar for printing companies around the world when it comes to providing high-quality printing services with the environment in mind,” said Deborah Hutcheson, director of Marketing, Agfa Graphics. “When common-sense activities such as recycling and decreased energy usage are combined with Agfa Graphics’ chem-free and low-chem plates, everyone comes out ahead.” 

To become a member of GreenWorks, printers must use one of the following eco-friendly plates from Agfa Graphics: 

Azura TS – market-leading chemistry-free plate based on Agfa’s Thermofuse technology suitable for most commercial applications with run lengths up to 100,000 impressions 

Amigo TS – award-winning low-chemistry plate based on Agfa’s Thermofuse technology for commercial applications with run lengths up to 250,000 impressions

Energy Elite / Pro – high-speed, high-quality thermal, no-bake plates suitable for commercial  applications up to 350,000 – 400,000 impressions 

Azura Vi – the first violet photopolymer chemistry-free plate for commercial applications with run lengths up to 150,000 impressions 

N94-VCF – industry-leading chemistry-free violet photopolymer plate for newspaper production with run lengths up to 200,000 impressions

To learn more about GreenWorks or how to qualify, visit www.agfagraphics.us/greenworks. Agfa Graphics provides GreenWorks members with marketing support materials to promote green efforts on their websites, in direct mail campaigns and other marketing communications opportunities. All GreenWorks accredited customers are listed on Graphic Design USA magazine’s website.