Opportunities for printing companies?

The Verdigris blog by Laurel Brunner The European Union’s (EU) Ecodesign for Sustainable Products Regulation (ESPR) is where opportunities for printing companies could be lurking. But we’re getting ahead of ourselves. Let’s start with the facts. The ESPR establishes sustainability requirements for products placed on the EU market and aims to encourage the making of … Read more

Changing behaviour

The Verdigris blog by Laurel Brunner Never forget that people are the difference between success or failure, whatever the endeavour. And the line between the two can be very dodgy. The way people respond to legislation, for instance, determines if it can work or not. This is especially true with the European Union’s (EU) slew … Read more

Calculating environmental footprints

The Verdigris blog by Laurel Brunner It’s a sad fact that doing business these days involves a tremendous amount of admin. It’s annoying but unavoidable that in the digital age, pretty much everything has to be accounted for. Whether it’s proving your identity as a company director with the government or applying for support funding, … Read more

Communication is key

 The Verdigris blog by Laurel Brunner Sharing information about your sustainability credentials with people who care is a faff. This is mainly because communications is a faff unless you are a marketing whizz or good at public relations. The problem for people who are rubbish at communications is where to start. It’s like when you … Read more

Standards make a difference

The Verdigris blog by Laurel Brunner Sustainability is vital for printing and publishing companies who want to make a difference and thrive. Improving environmental sustainability will also shape economic and societal sustainability. This much we know, but few organisations in our sector are taking an active sustainability lead, especially in the event space. Apart from … Read more

Textile printing opportunities

The Verdigris blog by Laurel Brunner It’s being pushed hard and fast by the developer community as a big new market for digital printing. But printing companies have long since embraced direct to garment and direct to fabric printing. Their preferred printing method has, however, generally been screen printing. But digital printing adds a different … Read more

Progress through partnerships

The Verdigris blog by Laurel Brunner Looking through a list we’ve got of nearly 1300 installations of new kit in the printing sector, a subtle trend becomes clear. Sustainability is increasingly cited as a benefit of new kit, especially over the last couple of years. Sometimes the claims are a bit dodgy, but there’s no … Read more

Making progress with sustainability

The Verdigris blog by Laurel Brunner How do you know if the printing and publishing industries are getting more sustainable? Well you don’t, because we have no universal metrics or common references. But what we do have is a growing number of tiny little signs of improvement. When taken together they suggest we are indeed … Read more

Farewell to PFAS

The Verdigris blog by Laurel Brunner The combination of regulatory pressure and customers who want to be able to tell a solid environmental story, drives sustainability in the printing industry. Regulatory pressure recently increased. Under the European Union’s (EU) Registration, Evaluation, Authorisation, and Restriction of Chemicals (REACH) regulation more per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) are … Read more

Listen to the bees

The Verdigris blog by Laurel Brunner We all know how important bees are for the planet’s sustainability, but this has to be a first. Paper and packaging company DS Smith is using bees to monitor natural habitats at thirteen of its packaging plants in France. The question is why? DS Smith is a massive company … Read more