Where there’s muck there’s brass

The Verdigris blog by Laurel Brunner It’s an old saying, but in this age of resource management and monetisation never has it had such resonance. Even in the graphics sector. The scrap metal business has come a long way since crusty old geezers drove horse drawn carts through the streets calling for scrap. Today’s printing … Read more

How to assess and report your environmental sustainability

The Verdigris blog by Laurel Brunner ISO’s committee for standards relating to the printing industry has approved a new project supporting the industry’s sustainability. The new work, ISO 19311, provides requirements for sustainability assessment reporting and the idea is to make it easier to evaluate sustainability reports, like for like. Currently it’s almost impossible to … Read more

Remote support and environmental sustainability

The Verdigris blog by Laurel Brunner Automation has been a buzzword in the graphics business for many years. Automated preflight checking, colour management you name it software has it covered. We’ve talked about it a lot, but we haven’t given much attention to the importance of automation in remote hardware support.  This goes beyond automatic … Read more

Ecodesign for Sustainable Products Regulation

The Verdigris blog by Laurel Brunner What does the European Union’s (EU) Ecodesign for Sustainable Products Regulation (ESPR) mean to you? Your likely answer will probably be, not a lot, but that could be a mistake even if your business is not based in the EU. Much of the printing industry’s output is collateral work … Read more

Printing is a blindspot

The Verdigris blog by Laurel Brunner As ISO standards writers, it’s always interesting to us to find that lists of industrial sectors rarely include printing. The British Standards Institute (BSI) for instance, boasts of standards for a range of categories but printing is not identified as one. Finding standards such as the ISO 12647 series … Read more

FESPA and ISO 20121 Sustainable event management certification

The Verdigris blog by Laurel Brunner Management systems standards such as IS0 9001 (Management Systems) and ISO 14001 (Environmental management systems) are amongst the International Standards Organisation’s (ISO) best sellers. But these documents are also the most onerous and demanding for companies going for formal certification. ISO 20121 is for sustainable event management systems. Since … Read more

The Global Reporting Initiative (GRI)

The Verdigris blog by Laurel Brunner Sounds gripping and for most printing companies the GRI is just that. Not. But it not being gripping doesn’t mean that the GRI isn’t important, or that it will have no impact on the printing and publishing industries. The organisation behind the initiative is large and well supported and … Read more

How sustainable are trade shows?

The Verdigris blog by Laurel Brunner In the printing and publishing industries, the exhibition business had many years of growth and fat success. We can look back on the glory days of IPEX, Imprinta, Ifra, ANPA, and of course drupa just to name a few. And we can remember their powerful pull on all parts … Read more

Change your thinking

The Verdigris blog by Laurel Brunner Printing companies, print buyers, print users, all of us are stuck in a sustainability rut. Recent technology advances, mainly in inkjet printing and finishing, follow massive upheavals digital technology has wrought on all three communities, and have made the industry more sustainable. Increased commercial sustainability has definitely driven increased … Read more

2K/Denmark getting back to basics

The Verdigris blog by Laurel Brunner It’s been a long time since we heard a company talk about typesetting, rather than page layout. However a small Danish company is doing just that, with a view to improving print’s sustainability. 2K/Denmark has not so much developed a new technology. Rather it leverages digital prepress technology to … Read more