Achieving sustainable digital printing should be an important goal for manufacturers and those in the print industry. The term simply embraces environmental practices that conserves resources and reuse print resources rather than throwing them away. On its own, the term means a balanced approach to human activity as regards to the replenishment of resources. In print terms it could specifically mean examining the life-cycle of products of anything from printing cartridges to the paper that’s used.
You may not know this but every time you print something off there is a carbon footprint to that document. Magazines have a footprint also, as does use of a cell phone. The materials and energy associated with digital media mean it uses a lot of energy, and sometimes we forget about this when thinking about its carbon footprint.
On both a personal and a business level the use of paper, ink and electricity in the print process accounts for a lot of energy. By measuring how much of this is used we’ll be more aware of our own contribution to carbon emissions. Of course, it does not begin and end with measuring usage. Taking concrete steps to cut down on waste is vital. What needs to be taking into account here isn’t just the electricity, but the vast amounts of water that are used to produce the papers for newspapers and magazines. So finding a way of cutting waste could well save water too.
For people who think they won’t make much of a difference it may be a good idea to start small and use recycled paper. The good news is that it’s available almost every on the high street and does not cost that much more than non-recycled paper, and in some instances probably costs less. Another way to do your bit is to use recycled cartridges by buying them from special stockists. Once you have used them you can either refill them or send them back to be cleaned and used again.
Unfortunately, it’ll take a little more than using recycled paper and sending back a few ink cartridges to make a difference. Businesses can take the lead by developing a totally holistic approach to the issue of saving energy and using resources efficiently. Every business should try and look at what they can do to improve the efficiency of their energy usage, ensure their manufacturing processes are friendly to the environment and make sure the products they produce can be recycled or reused in some way.
Of course there are many other environmental initiatives print companies can take, such as reducing carbon emissions by using vegetable oil based inks, eliminating hazardous waste emission in the print process and recycling all waste. One thing all firms might want to consider is generating their own power but using solar panels.
It’s normally the case that if you know how much carbon you’re emitting you’re more likely to cut down your emissions. If both companies and individuals do this it will not only make them think about reducing their greenhouse gas emissions in the print process, but overall too.
There are small things we all can do to encourage sustainable digital printing. The first thing to do is recognize the issues involved and that change starts with both individuals and firms. If people work together for a common goal by recycling, reusing and calculating their carbon usage, then the print industry might be able to achieve sustainability.
Reviewing the published posts at www.rollingpress.com will give you a better idea about sustainable digital printing. To know more, you can reach our website by clicking here http://www.rollingpress.com.