The Age of the Eco-Friendly Printer
“Going green” is far from a new phenomenon. Since the very first Earth Day celebration in April of 1970, the sustainability movement has been consistently gaining momentum. At the core of the sustainability movement is the concept of shifting our collective lifestyles and business practices to make a healthier planet for the generations to come.
The print industry has not been an exception to this momentum. Because of the material, energy, and chemical processes involved in the lifecycle of printed goods, sustainability is an unavoidable matter for the print industry to reckon with.
Great strides have been made in the industry towards becoming greener and leaner. But there’s still plenty of progress to be made. Let’s take a look at this topic from three angles:
- Why Is the Print Industry “Going Green”?
- How are Printers Becoming More Sustainable?
- Why Is Sustainable Print More Complicated Than It Appears?
Why Is the Print Industry “Going Green”?
On an individual level, reasons for pursuing a more sustainable business model may vary (and can often be deeply personal). But on the industry-wide scale, it’s a matter of momentum and consumer demand. As sustainability becomes an increasingly pressing issue, it will increasingly influence consumer action and business direction.
Let’s talk about consumer demand first. Public awareness of sustainability and environmentalism has been steadily rising since the 70s. In the past decade, it’s made it past the crucial tipping point where the average consumer cares enough about the issue to let it affect their purchasing decisions.
A recent study from Nielsen found that:
“73% Of Consumers Say They Would Definitely Change Their Consumption Habits to Reduce Their Environment Impact.”1
And companies across all industries are catching on. A study by Xerox found that “American businesses with formal green programs in place is up 54%.”2 Sustainability has become a prime issue for consumers and that makes it a prime issue for businesses.
As more print companies start to adopt green practices into their business, the incentive to adapt will grow. In a study by the Printing Industries of America, ALL of the participants that were surveyed said they had some sort of recycling policy in place and 40% had an active sustainability policy.3
If only for the sake of not being behind the times, we will see more print companies “going green” in the upcoming years. It’s a new opportunity for printers to differentiate themselves and get ahead curve.
Now that we have a little context on the WHY let’s look at the HOW. There are two main ways that print providers can pursue a more sustainable business model:
- Reducing Energy
- Reducing Waste
How Are Printers Using Less Energy?
For just about every industry, reducing energy consumption takes up a large portion of the sustainability discussion. Luckily for printers, new technology does a lot of the heavy lifting. Simply replacing the biggest energy hog machines in the print shop is a great first step for printers looking to reduce energy.
Energy efficiency is a win-win for both the environment and for the printer’s bottom-line. The migration towards greater utilization of digital print illustrates this. Digital printing equipment is often designed and built with energy efficiency in mind. This saves printers money on energy costs and helps reduce their carbon footprint.
Some of the work that can be put into using less energy is the same that businesses in any industry can do. That’s because, according to a report from Two Sides, the three biggest contributors to overall energy use by commercial printers are, production equipment, transportation, and building energy.4 That last one refers to simple things like lighting, heating, insulation, ventilation, etc. These are things that any business can work to optimize.
How Are Printers Reducing Their Waste?
Finding new and innovative ways to reduce print production waste is a ripe area for printers to become greener.
There are a few big ideas to talk about with waste reduction. The first is that just like with energy efficiency, new print technology helps reduce waste and environmentally harmful by-products. Take, for example, vegetable-based eco-solvent inks. These inks are made from soybeans, which make them both easier to recycle and less toxic.
Recycling waste paper has become normal procedure in the industry as well. The resource Two Sides talks about this topic at length. They say, for example, that in Europe, the “paper recycling rate is 72%, which is approaching the practical theoretical maximum recycling rate of 78%.”4
Another way new technology reduces waste is by making the supply chain more efficient. Advancements in print software like web to print solutions and MIS systems have given printers the means to squeeze more and more efficiency out of their presses. That means producing only what is needed, when it’s needed, and getting more output for less energy.
The last idea to touch on is a little broader. The stratospheric rise of the internet in the past few decades has altered the print industry in more than a few ways. One big way is that it has raised the bar for the value print needs to bring. The ubiquity of digital marketing hasn’t pushed aside print marketing so much as changed the role of print. Printers are distinguishing themselves not just by being able to print more for less, but by bringing a high level of quality, creativity, and personalization to their customers’ campaigns. This means fewer huge runs of cheap print that will swiftly find its way to a garbage bin and more targeted, impactful print that’s worth something.
Sustainability Is Complicated
If you look at the march towards a greener print industry from a bird’s eye view, it’s easy to underestimate the complexity involved. It looks like a straight line of progress made up of straightforward solutions. In a sentence, you could define sustainability in print as: utilizing better technology to make high-quality print with fewer materials, less waste, and less energy.
But that definition leaves a lot out of the equation. Even accurately monitoring how much progress is being made isn’t so simple. There is no one authoritative body with clear benchmarks, standards, and auditing capability, even within specific nations, much less globally.Different types of print providers have different challenges and variables that affect their carbon footprint and their green initiatives.
Hidden or forgotten variables can muddy the waters when trying to pin down the effects of green initiatives and practices. In a great article on FESPA.com, Laurel Brunner illustrates this with the example of ink, saying “EFI and other companies claim massive reductions in the amounts of Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs) contained in their inks. The reductions are achieved through the use of less solvents, but no one talks about the environmental impact of cutting solvents in inks such as longer drying times or more waste because customers aren’t happy with the color rendition of aqueous inks.”5
Sometimes those hidden variables can push the scale all the way to other side. Take recycling for example. Depending on the material, the quantity, and the recycling process, there are situations where the energy required to recycle something outweighs the carbon footprint savings. This recycling paradox isn’t specific to print production, nor does it mean recycling is never worth it. It just means the pursuit of greater sustainability in print cannot be done by applying catch-all solutions to every situation.
Nevertheless, we are seeing the rise of the eco-friendly printer and we shouldn’t expect this rise to slow down. From every perspective, financial, environmental, and social, this is a global pursuit that deserves our focused attention. It will be interesting to see how technology and business models continue to adapt to meet this challenge.
Citations:
- https://www.nielsen.com/us/en/insights/report/2018/unpacking-the-sustainability-landscape/
- https://blog.shawmutdelivers.com/the-year-of-sustainability-why-more-companies-are-going-green-in-2020
- https://www.rit.edu/affiliate/nysp2i/sites/rit.edu.affiliate.nysp2i/files/docs/resources/Printing_Industries_of_America_The_Magazine_0.pdf
- https://twosides.info/resources/Two-Sides_Myths-and-Facts.pdf
