Lean & Green Leaders

The weekly Verdigris blog by Laurel Brunner With astonishing speed, Ricoh has gone from new entrant to market leader in many areas of the graphics business. It saw a three-fold increase in printing systems turnover between 2003 and 2013, and is the first digital press company to achieve certification to ISO 12647-2, the reference standard … Read more

Print for Good for Print’s Future

The weekly Verdigris blog by Laurel Brunner Improving the green credentials of the graphics business can take many forms. Most motivations for doing so are economic rather than philanthropic, however the future of the printing and publishing industries depends on both social and economic improvements. Digital press and print consumables manufacturers such as Agfa, Fujifilm … Read more

ISO 16759 for Textiles

The weekly Verdigris blog by Laurel Brunner When ISO 16759 for calculating the carbon footprint of print media products was under development, we mostly had in mind paper based prints. It is interesting to see this standard being deployed for other types of print media, which is what a Taiwanese supplier of textiles has done.  … Read more

Environmental Product Declarations

The weekly Verdigris blog by Laurel Brunner In the graphics industry, the idea of making Environmental Product Declarations (EPD) is basically an alien concept. But, from printed matter through to the machinery and systems used to produce print media, EPDs are becoming increasingly important to procurement. An EPD is a standardised way of quantifying the … Read more

Epson & Oeko-Tex Certification

The weekly Verdigris blog by Laurel Brunner Our industry is seeing massive improvements in ink technologies, especially to suit new print methods and substrates. Technology advances are taking print into all sorts of new applications. One of the most attractive for all concerned is textiles, particularly those produced digitally with devices such as the Epson … Read more

Reinventing paper

The weekly Verdigris blog by Laurel Brunner Now does that sound silly or what? As if paper was not always undergoing reinvention, an Israeli technology company is claiming to have reinvented it. The premise is that paper needs to be reinvented, so that it better supports the circular economy. Having got over our initial befuddlement … Read more

Making a Difference with Renewable Energy

The weekly Verdigris blog by Laurel Brunner A generous handful of graphics companies are off the grid when it comes to energy. They generally rely on solar power and biomass burners for their electricity and as such are in the vanguard. However they are not alone. A report jointly authored by the World Wildlife Fund … Read more

Rwanda and the Montreal Protocol

The weekly Verdigris blog by Laurel Brunner The printing and publishing industries, are just like any other services sector. They are about profit and investments for the future health of individual businesses and of the industry as a whole. But when it comes to the health of the environment, sustainability is just one little fragment … Read more

An Environmental Declaration for Print

The weekly Verdigris blog by Laurel Brunner We hear a lot these days about the circular economy, the idea that basically what goes around as goods and resources comes around as raw materials. The circular economy concept is about using waste as a new raw material or as a component in raw materials, like turning … Read more

Newspapers and Change

The weekly Verdigris blog by Laurel Brunner Newspaper publishers should be doing much more to counter the perception that print is bad for the environment. Consumers associate printed newspapers with waste, but correcting this impression doesn’t seem to be a priority for the newspaper industry. This has to change, even though publishers may have other … Read more