Get Your Factories in Shape

The weekly Verdigris blog by Laurel Brunner Energy emissions are obviously fundamental to any carbon footprint calculation, regardless of industry sector. Apart from improving carbon footprint energy management saves money. Manufacturing emissions are generally massive in scale so for the printing and publishing industries it is more than a good idea for manufacturers to promote … Read more

ISO 16759 Approved!

The weekly Verdigris blog by Laurel Brunner After what feels like forever but what is really only a couple of years, ISO 16759 (Quantification and communication of the carbon footprint of print media products), has been approved. Yay!!  This is very exciting, but it marks only the beginning of an important journey for our industry. … Read more

European Sustainability Simmering for All

The weekly Verdigris blog by Laurel Brunner The European Commission is turning up the heat on its sustainability policies, so the rest of the world should take note since it will affect international trade. We heard about the EU’s Product Carbon Footpring (PCF) and Organisational Carbon Footprint (OCF) earlier this year. Neither are regulations yet … Read more

The Beast that is the European Union’s Eco-Label

Introduced on the 16th August 2012, the European Union EcoLabel is a voluntary scheme designed so that consumers can identify products and services that have a reduced environmental impact. The EcoLabel is based on life cycle analysis and is increasingly appearing on products. Most visible are textiles, many of them from India produced for European … Read more

Tougher Than It Looks

The weekly Verdigris blog by Laurel Brunner When standards makers started working on ISO 16759 for quantifying the carbon footprint of print media, there were two primary reference documents: PAS 2050 and a working draft of what was supposed to become ISO 14067. Both documents were written to help companies quantify and calculate the carbon … Read more

Taking Another Step Forward with ISO 50001

The weekly Verdigris blog by Laurel Brunner Agfa Graphics has had a sustained commitment to improving its carbon footprint for many years. It has also made considerable efforts to help the industry do so as well, particularly with the Azura line of chemistry-free plates. And we’re proud to say Agfa is one of the Verdigris … Read more

Photosynthesis & Bio Batteries

The weekly Verdigris blog by Laurel Brunner For most of us, the idea of using paper for energy is limited to throwing it on the fire and enjoying the warmth. However scientists at Sony Japan are working on a far more interesting development. They have come up with a battery powered by waste paper.  Sony’s … Read more

A New Green Print Certification

The weekly Verdigris blog by Laurel Brunner We recently came across a new take on the idea of certified green products. As a rule of thumb we generally don’t go for self-certification, but we make exceptions for ideas that help drive home the importance of environmental impact reduction. Idea Print, a printer in Russia, is … Read more

ISO 16759 Racing Into the Final Furlong

The weekly Verdigris blog by Laurel Brunner The news that ISO16759 (calculating the carbon footprint of print media) is galloping towards its final furlong prior to publication has caused a flurry of interest. We have recently been contacted by a number of European companies interested to be certified for compliance to this standard. Certification is … Read more

Slow & Steady Making Progress

The weekly Verdigris blog by Laurel Brunner Since we started the Verdigris project in 2008, obviously much is different in the printing industry. Five years of economic mess and confusion have forced change on all of us. One of the apparent casualties of the rubbish commercial environment has been environmental impact reduction initiatives. However all … Read more