Environmental Awards for Printers

The weekly Verdigris blog by Laurel Brunner Awards are an excellent way of communicating a company’s prowess to customers and prospects. They can be used to celebrate business performance and product quality, and because they are pretty simple to understand, they are a convenient tool for marketers to use. But awards have to be rigorous … Read more

ISO 14001-2015 is Go!

The weekly Verdigris blog by Laurel Brunner Printers and publishers and everyone in their supply chains have a new version of ISO14001 to grapple with. This is one of the world’s leading standard for Environmental Management Systems and it’s being adopted by all types of organisations.  The rationale for going ISO 14001-2015 is simple: control … Read more

Comparing Corporate Social Responsibilities

The weekly Verdigris blog by Laurel Brunner We recently came across an interesting site that uses market data to rate the environmental sustainability of leading corporations. We had a look for the best known names in the graphic arts, and were pleased to find that all the founder members of the Verdigris project are on … Read more

Ricoh On Top

The weekly Verdigris blog by Laurel Brunner The Dow Jones Sustainability Indices (DJSI) is a suite of the world’s most influential indicators for corporate sustainability. They are considered the gold standard for sustainability and they are strict, with external audits, so they matter. Volkswagen has just been dumped because of its cheating on emissions tests, … Read more

Wheys & Means

The weekly Verdigris blog by Laurel Brunner We are very good at recycling in the graphics industry: paper and aluminium are widely returned to the supply chain to be used as raw materials in other products. And manufacturers such as Ricoh and HP have programmes in place to reuse components in printing devices. But these … Read more

LED Curing Takes Another Step Forward

The weekly Verdigris blog by Laurel Brunner For years the graphics industry has been improving its environmental footprint, but not shouting about it much. Heidelberg’s introduction of LED drying technology for the European market is a case in point. LED drying of UV inks is an energy saver in more ways than one. LED technology … Read more

Prioritising Environmental Thinking

The weekly Verdigris blog by Laurel Brunner ISO is currently reviewing an important document, the ISO Guide 64. For the printing industry, and indeed all product manufacturers, this snappy tome makes for interesting-ish) reading. Its purpose is to explain how to take environmental concerns into account when creating product standards. The idea of Guide 64 … Read more

Japan’s Federation of Printing Industries Leading the Way

The weekly Verdigris blog by Laurel Brunner There are many approaches to paper recycling, but as a rule printing industry associations rarely get involved. The Japanese Federation of Printing Industries (JFPI) is an outstanding exception to this rule. One of the biggest difficulties for recycling supply chain efficiency is sorting. The JFPI has developed a … Read more

The Drinkable Book

The weekly Verdigris blog by Laurel Brunner Silver has been known to be antimicrobial since antiquity when water was stored in silver jugs to kill bacteria. More recently, silver nanoparticles are used in clothing to prevent socks and teeshirts getting stinky. Adding them to cardstock, as Dr. Theresa Dankovich post-doctoral associate at Carnegie Mellon University … Read more

The Recyclability of Everything

The weekly Verdigris blog by Laurel Brunner We have been much occupied of late with a project to ensure that printed matter can be effectively recycled. It has to be said that standards work, and this work in particular, can be tedious beyond words. Other so very much more tempting options beckon. There’s the temptation … Read more