Here you will find blogs from Digital Dots and Verdigris covering technology and sustainability advances in the graphics industry over the last 25 years.
The weekly Verdigris blog by Laurel Brunner Conventional label printers and sellers of label printing equipment and consumables face yet another existential threat. A new printing technology is being used in various European countries to replace stickers on fruits and vegetables. The technology is a sort of direct to object technique, however this is not … Read more
The weekly Verdigris blog by Laurel Brunner Next month CeBit opens its doors in Hannover to an international audience of tech nerds and their followers. Japan will have a big presence at CeBit, showcasing itself as a driving force in the digital transformation. The star attraction for the graphics industry will be PaperLab, Epson’s paper … Read more
The weekly Verdigris blog by Laurel Brunner Green prizes are an excellent way to encourage improved environmental habits, but in the graphics business we aren’t exactly awash with them. That may be because sponsors find it hard to specify award winning criteria. Or it may be because not enough companies can be bothered to submit … Read more
The weekly Verdigris blog by Laurel Brunner According to the European Union over fifty percent of all goods in Europe are packaged with plastic. This amounts to 39% of the 57 million tonnes of plastics produced in Europe every year and works out at around 30 kg per person per year. Worldwide the numbers are … Read more
The weekly Verdigris blog by Laurel Brunner There is much anticipation surrounding the new American president and the extent to which his actions match his rhetoric. One especially worrying set of decisions relate to the 45th president’s views on climate change in general and the Paris Climate Agreement within the United Nations Framework Convention on … Read more
The weekly Verdigris blog by Laurel Brunner That headline might suggest some major advance in printing methods, or perhaps some clever new substrates. But in fact the way packaging technology can reduce emissions is by taking a machete to waste volumes. There is a lot that can be done in the supply chain to cut … Read more
The weekly Verdigris blog by Laurel Brunner A major argument for using print instead of e-media, is that print has a one off carbon footprint: you don’t need energy to use it or store its content. In 2015 the online monster that is Google used 5.6 terawatt hours of energy to power its data servers … Read more
The weekly Verdigris blog by Laurel Brunner Environmental awards recognise excellence and raise environmental awareness. They also demonstrate the wider commitment a specific industry sector has to environmental improvement. The WWF Environmental Paper Awards are a special set of prizes for the paper industry to acknowledge continual improvements and in 2016, the WWF recognised 124 … Read more
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
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