Environment

WhatTheyThink, the leading news and information site for the graphic communications industry, announces the immediate availability of Printing Continues to Go Green: An Updated WhatTheyThink Primer on Environmental Sustainability in the Commercial Printing Industry. This 68-page report provides an overview of the state of green printing initiatives in the U.S. commercial printing industry.

The report, an update to a special primer report first published in April 2008, provides the results of a June 2009 survey of commercial printing establishments conducted by WhatTheyThink’s Economics and Research Center, descriptions of the leading green certification organizations—such as the Sustainable Green Printing Partnership, the Forest Stewardship Council, and the Sustainable Forestry Initiative, to name but three—and a variety of steps commercial printers can take toward becoming environmentally sustainable and responsible. The report also seeks to dispel the increasingly common notion that print is more environmentally harmful than electronic media.

Printing Continues to Go Green gathers together secondary research that gauges the real “carbon cost” of a Google search, the environmental impact of the myriad servers and workstations that comprise the Internet, the looming e-waste epidemic, and more.

The report also offers conclusions, recommendations, and strategies both simple and complex for companies that are interested in pursuing green initiatives, as well as resources with which to obtain additional information.

Printing Continues to Go Green is available for online purchase at the WhatTheyThink Store in PDF format

Researcher’s Comments...

“How many times have you heard, ‘We’ve cut down on the use of print to save trees’; ‘Electronic media are more environmentally friendly than print’; ‘Print just clogs landfills’; ‘We’re reducing our carbon footprint by printing less’? We don’t grant the premise that print is less environmentally responsible than other media, but the green printing issue is no longer ‘How green is my printer?’ but has now become ‘How green is print at all?’ Every human activity has an environmental impact of some kind, but it now behooves the printing industry to fight back by showing how environmentally sustainable we can be as an industry.”

According to the Report…

— in a June 2009 survey conducted by WhatTheyThink’s Economics and Research Center, the top green practice that U.S. commercial printers say they have currently implemented is “identify itself in marketing and sales materials and promotions as an environmentally sensitive business,” cited by 33% of all respondents, up from the 26% who said this in a March 2008 survey;

— 43% of all responding companies said that sustainable printing initiatives are “critically important to only a select few customers,” up from 41% in March 2008;

— 26% of all respondents say they plan to implement some form of certification from an environmentally sustainable printing authority, up from 20% in April 2008;

WhatTheyThink reports are available for online purchase at the WhatTheyThink Store in PDF format.

Availability

The WhatTheyThink special report, Printing Continues to Go Green: An Updated WhatTheyThink Primer on Environmental Sustainability in the Commercial Printing Industry is available for purchase by visiting the secure WhatTheyThink Store online at https://store.whattheythink.com/operations-management/printing-goes-green. The price for the 68-page report is $195. WhatTheyThink eStore customers can download this report in PDF Acrobat format immediately after purchase. An enterprise site license  for this report is also available for $995.

When Euro clothing retailer Jeans Only needed new in store imagery for their changing rooms it was vital to have graphics with no residual odour and that meet the highest standards of reduced environmental impact for a retail environment. They also needed high quality and the ability to refresh the imagery across all the European wide based stores.

The combination of the HP Designjet L65500 Latex printer and JM Textiles Mediatex Self Adhesive PVC free media provided the ideal solution. The HP Designjet L65500 with its non-toxic, odour free Latex inks has already won awards for its reduced environmental impact such as the European Digital Press award for Best Environmental Digital Printer 2008.

JM Textiles have long been committed to producing innovative and environmentally benign media. The entire JM Textiles range meets the Öeko-Tex Standard 100 standard one of the most stringent in the world. This standard ensures that end users can have total confidence that the media will have no harmful effect on the environment it is used in.

Andrew Edwards, Sign and Display Divisional Manager, ArtSystems, says: "This is typical of the demands we’re seeing now from both private and public sector clients. Not only do they want products that are more resource efficient and have a reduced environmental impact, they also want them to exceed the productivity of their legacy solutions. The HP Designjet L65500 and JM Textiles media do just this. Print service providers are now winning new business with this double benefit."

In the current economic climate resource efficiency and reduced environmental impact are becoming the core management tools to controlling costs and maximising profits. Solutions like the HP Designjet L65500 and JM Textiles Media are just one example of their practical application.

Décor, POS and display panels are essential to create the ambience, style and sophistication of in-store presentation associated with the leading retail names. More ‘environmentally conscious’ retailers aim is
to reduce their impact on the environment across the whole of their operations.  This philosophy if often relected in their choice of substrates including display boards which increasingly have to be FSC certiied
whilst providing all the traditional beneits of stunning print associated with promotional displays. Enter Beautiful Board, created to exacting speciications especially for this purpose by Robert Horne and their
manufacturer and printed by SP Group for one of their clients, a leading UK retailer.

Louise Howard, Account Director for SP Group in Redditch explained why the production of Beautiful Board  was nothing short of a “minor miracle” ensuring SP Group was able to meet the demands of their client.

“The request from our exclusive client was short but speciic; they required a POS display board that was both high quality but also FSC certiied. In this case they had a promotional deadline which required the sourcing, trialing and printing of this new material in six weeks!  Robert Horne ensured that this could be done, speeding up the timescales involved and developing this new product from scratch in a matter of weeks. Beautiful Board provided exactly what they were looking for and ensured that SP Group was able to provide the environmental credentials, quality and impact required within the times scales expectations of our client.

To complete the whole chain of custody procedure, Robert Horne was paramount to SP Print gaining FSC, with their help and guidance we were able to push through our certiication. The success of this project has ensured that SP Group will continue to provide quality POS work for our clients, especially those who require FSC certiied options in the future.”

The Robert Horne Group is delighted to announce the launch of revive display board made from 100% recovered fibre of which a minimum is 65% post consumer waste. revive display board has been developed exclusively by Robert Horne, answering the vital market need for an environmentally preferable alternative to traditional display boards.

Due to growing pressure driven by both corporate social responsibility and commercial needs, demand for environmental boards has been growing significantly. It is well publicised that the UK's leading retailers are looking to promote a more environmentally conscious image and are increasingly becoming more committed to responsible sourcing.

This philosophy is reflected in their choice of recovered fibre substrates, including display boards, which must be made from 100% recovered fibre content. At the same time there can be no sacrifice in terms of print quality - particularly for promotional display purposes. Robert Horne has been actively working with major retailers to develop a product that can meet these demanding requirements. The launch of revive display board represents the culmination of 12 months work and now means that these boards are available as a nationally stocked range.

The revive family was established in 2000 and has built a strong reputation for providing a choice of recovered fibre content levels for gloss, silk, matt and uncoated papers and boards.

revive display board has a smooth coated surface with a silk finish and a bright white appearance providing superb colour lift and reproduction. It is even sided making it very stable during printing and conversion. Suitable for litho (thinner calipers), screen-printing and flat bed digital printing, it is the perfect substrate for all quality POS, construction, hanging signs, show cards and other display applications.

The range will initially comprise of 1000mic - 2000 mic boards in range of sheet sizes with special makings also available

Steve Lister, Business Development Director for Robert Horne Sign & Display, explained the rationale behind this exciting launch "Research has shown a real demand for environmentally friendly display boards that are comparable with virgin fibre products in terms of both quality and price. We firmly believe that revive display board will be a major player in unlocking this niche and will really help bring environmental boards into the mainstream of the retail display sector. It will also assist our customer to differentiate their business offering to their clients, offering them a real choice of an environmentally conscious product for the first time with the quality reassurance associated with the revive range."

For more information on the NEW revive display board or for samples please contact your local Robert Horne branch.

Epson, a leading manufacturer of printers, LCD projectors and other imaging products, is extending the box collection element of its Collect&Recycle initiative to include empty ink cartridges from its Large Format Printers (LFPs). The initiative starts in the second half of September and will cover all models in the range.

During a press conference in Brussels, Belgium, Akihiko Sakai, Executive Officer, Corporate Strategy Office, Seiko Epson Corporation, unveiled the company’s Environmental Vision for the next generation. Speaking on the eve of the European Green Week, Sakai outlined an ambitious multi-part program to address some of the most pressing environmental concerns facing the global community looking towards 2050 and how Epson intends to tackle them over the next 10 years.