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The weekly Verdigris blog by Laurel Brunner A generous handful of graphics companies are off the grid when it comes to energy. They generally rely on solar power and biomass burners for their electricity and as such are in the vanguard. However they are not alone. A report jointly authored by the World Wildlife Fund … Read more

The weekly Verdigris blog by Laurel Brunner The printing and publishing industries, are just like any other services sector. They are about profit and investments for the future health of individual businesses and of the industry as a whole. But when it comes to the health of the environment, sustainability is just one little fragment … Read more

The weekly Verdigris blog by Laurel Brunner We hear a lot these days about the circular economy, the idea that basically what goes around as goods and resources comes around as raw materials. The circular economy concept is about using waste as a new raw material or as a component in raw materials, like turning … Read more

The weekly Verdigris blog by Laurel Brunner Newspaper publishers should be doing much more to counter the perception that print is bad for the environment. Consumers associate printed newspapers with waste, but correcting this impression doesn’t seem to be a priority for the newspaper industry. This has to change, even though publishers may have other … Read more

The weekly Verdigris blog by Laurel Brunner The more we learn about environmental accountability, the more we realise that this is a massively complex topic. Everywhere we see clever ideas for improving the sustainability of the graphics industry, yet equally we see evidence of how far we have yet to go. How we progress as … Read more

The weekly Verdigris blog by Laurel Brunner Paper is one of the world’s most readily recycled materials. It is based on a renewable resource that aids in the expansion of our planet’s lung capacity. Paper may be our most pervasive substrate, but it is not the only material used in printing and publishing applications. In … Read more

The weekly Verdigris blog by Laurel Brunner We’re gearing up for the next round of ISO meetings, including a couple of days devoted to environmental standards. We’re expecting a packed house, with participants from all over the world, so no pressure. Environmental standards are a delicate area, because some powerful vested interests have much to … Read more

The weekly Verdigris blog by Laurel Brunner The graphics industry is massive and yet the number of printing organisations with more than 500 employees is small. This means that very large customers buy their print from a host of small to medium sized enterprises (SMEs). Such organisations tend to be under the radar for most … Read more

The weekly Verdigris blog by Laurel Brunner Within the graphics industry there are numerous examples of companies’ efforts to improve energy generation and management. And there is ISO 50001, the standard for energy management to which companies such as Agfa and Kodak have certified compliance. But Fujifilm has gone far beyond these efforts at its … Read more

The weekly Verdigris blog by Laurel Brunner Life Cycle Analysis (LCA) is expensive, takes a long time and can be fiendishly complex. Companies who undertake it generally do so in order to demonstrate the environmental credentials of their product or service. But there are other more nuanced reasons for doing LCA, such as providing proof … Read more