digitaldots.info

Digital Dots is an independent graphic arts research group specialising in digital prepress, printing and publishing technologies. The company is a collection of like-minded consultants and professional journalists with decades of experience working in the graphic arts industry. We publish a range of articles and reports and we also manage The Verdigris Project.

United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (UNSDGs)

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The Verdigris blog by Laurel Brunner We’re hearing more and more about the UNSDGs. ISO makes compliance with at least one of them mandatory in new document development. Large corporates such as Fujifilm and HP make sure to mention them in their sustainability communications. Marketing managers across the industry name check UNSDGs, but there is … Read more

Big brands mandating sustainability

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The Verdigris blog by Laurel Brunner We are finally starting to see big name brands taking a real stand on sustainability for printed products, specifically for packaging. There has been plenty of greenwashing over the years but rather less progress when it comes to supplier obligations, and especially for print service providers (PSP). For printers … Read more

Sustainability through automation

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The Verdigris blog by Laurel Brunner Kodak recently announced installation of the world’s biggest computer-to-plate system. It’s at WKS Group’s web offset printing site in Essen, Germany and counts as the world’s biggest, because the Magnus Q4800 imagesetter is nearly 19 meters long. Four pallet loading systems each with plates of a different format complete … Read more

Asian Pulp & Paper still trashing the planet

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The Verdigris blog by Laurel Brunner It’s been some time since we took a look at Asian Pulp & Paper (APP) and its progress towards improving its enviromental impact. This company is a division of Sina Mas, one of China’s massive conglomerates, and it has been destroying Indonesian ecosystems for many years. In 2020 APP … Read more

Technology drives progress

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The Verdigris blog by Laurel Brunner Heading into the twilight zone of my career in the graphics industry has lead me to some curious ponderings. Some of them, like the early days working with Apple and Adobe, have been shamelessly nostalgic. But others have been laced with deep frustration. The frustration comes from the fact … Read more

Emissions reductions too often fudged

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The Verdigris blog by Laurel Brunner The New Climate Institute recently published its Corporate Climate Responsibility Monitor 2022. The report assesses “the transparence and integrity of companies’ emission reduction and net-zero targets”. It’s pretty dry reading. It’s findings mostly they remind us of two important facts. First of all there can be no room for … Read more

The changing face of fashion

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The Verdigris blog by Laurel Brunner It’s amazing how many options Print Service Providers have when it comes to business diversification. But perhaps the most risky and revolutionary is the move into bespoke apparel manufacturing. It’s risky because there is no hard evidence that consumers are willing to move en mass away from an environmentally … Read more

Is paper doomed?

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The Verdigris blog by Laurel Brunner A belated welcome to 2022 and the year when technology makes possible the synthesising of paper using bacteria and carbon emissions. Not a joke. A company called LanzaTech has announced a deal with IndiTex, one of the world’s clothing giants, to develop a polyester fibre based on bugs and … Read more

Is Print on Demand Fashion a More Sustainable Model?

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The Verdigris blog by Laurel Brunner Digital textile production technology developers Kornit Digital has recently published its 2020 Impact and Environmental, Social, and Governance (“ESG”) Report. It finds that the fashion business overproduces by about 30% and is responsible for 20% of global waste water per year. This makes the fashion and textile industries amongst … Read more