How Green is Green?

Being ‘green’ is a popular ambition among businesses nowadays, partly because business leaders believe it is a valid objective and partly because it is increasingly expected by governments, consumers and shareholders. For that reason, most companies want to demonstrate that they care about their impact on the environment and consumption of resources. It ties in with being sustainable.

Businesses that pollute and over-consume are not likely to be popular among these external stakeholders or their neighbours and even their own employees. Achieving a truly green status, however, can be more complex than at first it seems. For example, avoiding the release to the atmosphere of potent greenhouse gases from solvents seems an obvious winner. But, if the alternative requires a substantial increase in the consumption of electricity, the benefit may be wiped out by the impact of power generation. To be sustainably green requires a balanced consideration of all the consequences of change, locally and remotely.

In the printing world, ‘sustainability’ considerations apply mainly to the use of resources, these being primarily inks, media and power — and to the impact of waste produced in the form of gaseous, liquids and solids. There is no escape from the fact that the overall picture is often complex. Thus, simplistic solutions should be treated with caution.

Because, in the printing industry, we only recently started to climb the “green” learning curve, we are faced with fragmented information and an array of guidance and regulations. There is no one-stop source of rules and regulations; instead they come from European, national and local governments with added input from environmental and health & safety organizations.

Part of the answer is to work with partners that have already studied these requirements and are able to provide facts and information for you and your customers to make a considered choice, balancing business performance with environmental responsibility.

The purpose of this white paper is to provide print providers and end-users with an insight on ‘green’ issues relating to wide-format digital printing.