The weekly Verdigris blog by Laurel Brunner
Welcome to our weekly Verdigris blog. This is the first of our blogs about what is going on with the Verdigris project, dealing with matters environmental for the printing industry.
As we slide into the last few weeks of the pre drupa madness however, we are all being hit with waves of technology news that threaten to overwhelm the environmental initiatives happening at the show. There will be several worthy efforts to engage printers and their customers with a green agenda, ranging from the rather posh event hosted by the World Print & Communication Forum which costs €175 for a session running 09:00 to 15:00 on the 10th May. The €175 is to cover the cost of lunch and expenses, as this is a nonprofit event. Possibly matters green could get superceded by matters spargel and Riesling!
On the show floor HP has organised a couple of free sessions on the 5th and 8th May at 15:45, to which we are contributing. Also speaking are Fraser Chesterman of EcoPrint, Marci Kinter of the Sustainable Green Print initiative and Matthias Hausmann, responsible for environmental policy at Cewe Color one of the largest digital printing companies in Europe. The objective is to share knowledge and to provide a forum in which people can raise questions in an informal setting. It should be a good session and a great opportunity to learn more about progress with the US SGP work and EcoPrint’s objectives for its event coming to Berlin this September. It will also give people a chance to learn more about the work underway to develop a standard for calculating the carbon footprint of print media.
Much of the technology news coming out predrupa has an environmental theme. Instead of the worthy “green is good” tone to this news, manufacturers are presenting their green products on the basis of their potential to increase production efficiency and reduce waste. Overall this adds up to less cost which is a far more meaningful message for printers. After drupa we hope the printing industry’s perception of matters green will change. Developing environmentally friendly production workflows, business policies and supply chain strategies, should be viewed in the light of cost savings and commercial benefit, rather than as an expensive whim.
– 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).