The weekly Verdigris blog by Laurel Brunner
Developing a green economy and making sure that development is sustainable is important for all businesses, including the printing industry. Print is embracing a green agenda not just because printers care about the environment. The sustainability message is a matter of survival for the printing industry in some developed markets. Large corporate customers want to be accountable to shareholders , so printers need answers. This much is obvious, however the recent EcoPrint Report, “The Business of Sustainability”, raised a number of other related concerns for the printing industry.
The EcoPrint organisers commissioned the white paper in order to understand how the industry as a whole feels about sustainability. The findings are to be explored at the show in Berlin this coming September. According to the study, the printing industry’s biggest problem is coming up with a common voice. Too many end users of print see efforts to promote print media as being more about the vested interests of paper manufacturers than about print’s relatively benign environmental impact.
How to get print’s sustainability messaging across is one of the topics to be addressed at EcoPrint. It is a topic that should involve all printers as well as industry associations. The study found that printers are confused about the numerous standards available to them, but here again this is a matter of understanding and knowledge development. It is also important that printers are able to separate true standards from those invented and promoted by organisations looking for commercial gain. Standards for sustainability are at a nascent stage in their development however they are necessary if the printing industry is to be able to measure carbon footprints in different business sectors and geographies.
The study also found concerns about the focus on the carbon footprint of paper which makes up about 70% of the carbon footprint of print media. The advances press manufacturers and other equipment suppliers are making to calculate the carbon footprints of their machines, tend to get lost in discussions about paper. Paying attention just to the paper means that the overall sustainability message may be lost, failing to see the wood for the trees indeed!
EcoPrint is an extremely important event for printers and their customers because it is the only industry event dedicated to print’s sustainability. It is structured to provide forums, debates and workshops where printers and their customers can learn more about how to communicate print’s sustainability. There will also be sessions on standards and discussions about how to apply them.
– Laurel Brunner
This blog is yours to use if you want, as long as you fully credit the Verdigris supporters who make it possible: Agfa Graphics (www.agfa.com), Canon Europe (www.canon-europe.com), Digital Dots (www.digitaldots.org), drupa (www.drupa.com), EcoPrint (www.ecoprintshow.com), HP (www.hp.com), Ricoh (www.ricoh.com), Splash PR (www.splashpr.co.uk) Unity Publishing (http://unity-publishing.co.uk), EFI (www.efi.com), Pragati Offset (www.pragati.com) and Xeikon (www.xeikon.com).