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The weekly Verdigris blog by Laurel Brunner Does this sound like an impossible task? Of course it does, but it has to be done if the media industry wants to be able to benchmark and monitor its carbon footprint. We have managed to develop an ISO standard for calculating the carbon footprint of print media … Read more

The weekly Verdigris blog by Laurel Brunner For people who are obsessive recyclers and composters, it’s very annoying when organic matter refuses to cooperate. Instead of rotting quietly away in the depths of the bin, things like avocado skins and lemons just sit there, defiant and unchanging. No matter how long you leave them, they … Read more

The weekly Verdigris blog by Laurel Brunner Prepress used to be an expensive and time consuming business. But over the years, process automation has steadily ground down prices. Software now takes care of much of what high ticket professionals used to handle. This means that today the most expensive bit of prepress is in making … Read more

The weekly Verdigris blog by Laurel Brunner The US based Sustainable Green Printing Partnership (SGP) provides certification to confirm a printing company’s conformance to specific sustainability goals. The organisation has now certified over 50 American printers for compliance to its programme. What makes the SGP initiative interesting is the range of criteria it uses for … Read more

The weekly Verdigris blog by Laurel Brunner The European Commission is forging ahead with its plans to develop its own Product Environmental Footprint (PEF) and Corporate Environmental Footprint (CEF) rules. This must be costing taxpayers a bomb, but it’s proceeding even though the need is questionable. The EU is ignoring existing and proven specifications such … Read more

The weekly Verdigris blog by Laurel Brunner The printing and publishing industries have been pretty immune to consultants and their management buzzwords. But maybe it’s time to put the scepticism aside as there’s a lot they can offer, especially for managing environmental impact. Coming slowly into favour are the principles of supply chain management which … Read more

The weekly Verdigris blog by Laurel Brunner Books are surely one of life’s greatest pleasures. Whether its shopping for them, sending them to people as presents, looking at them on the shelves, or even just reading them. The yumminess of a well-produced book may be why the number of people in the US who read … Read more

The weekly Verdigris blog by Laurel Brunner Nearly 8,000 small, medium and large companies, including printers and publishers from 140 countries have signed up to the UN’s Global Compact, ten principles which cover human rights, labour, anticorruption and of course the environment. Principle 7 says that businesses should support a precautionary approach to environmental challenges; … Read more

The weekly Verdigris blog by Laurel Brunner Industry everywhere suffers from bureaucracy intended to make life safer, less corrupt and more fair and efficient. The graphic arts industry is not alone in having to cope with excessive, unproductive yet necessary administration and regulatory compliance. In several regions around the world the printing industry must comply … Read more

The weekly Verdigris blog by Laurel Brunner In many economies, curbside recycling is becoming the norm. Actually we can recycle virtually anything: in developed economies technology takes care of it, and elsewhere innovative entrepreneurs do the work. The biggest consideration ought to be the environmental and economic impacts of the recycling process itself. In some … Read more