Environment

To many printers what Consolidated Printing founder Marilyn Jones has to say on the issue environmentalism is an alien concept. But should we be learning from it?

When other printers come to visit Consolidated Printing in northwest Chicago, they invariably spot that one thing is missing. Why, they ask, is their no external exhaust fan in the pressroom? The answer is simple: the company, which produces everything from media packs to digital colour printing and signage, doesn’t need an exhaust because it doesn't produce any harmful emissions when printing.

Two Sides is doing a great job at distributing the environmental facts about print. But Digital media is still getting away with too much when it comes to the sustainability argument. Could that be changing?

Does an iPhone use more energy than your fridge? Mark Mills, CEO of Digital Power, made that claim in a study about Cloud computing two years ago, sparking a furious online debate. American think tank, the Breakthrough Institute, crunched the numbers and concluded that a typical iPhone consumed 388kWh of energy a year whereas some household refrigerators used as little as 322kWh.

… for environmental action. A look at what makes Fujifilm Speciality Ink Systems a ‘Sustainable Innovation’ award winner.

When it comes to environmental credentials and programmes, the wide-format sector can hardly claim to be at the forefront, despite all the pro-green arguments.

Walter Hale looks at why wide-format print companies should reassess their environmental and sustainability strategies.

“You cannot do business on a dead planet.” That was the stark warning Hunter Lovins, author and president of a non-profit organisation called Natural Capitalism Solutions, gave at a recent United Nations symposium on sustainability.

So what’s Lego and Levi Strauss got to do with me? Quite a lot as it happens when it comes to environmental messaging and direction.

- By Walter Hale.

“I, as a designer, made the problem. I made the mess. If we can think of ways of designing without making the messes, we will be ahead.” This observation by Paul Dillinger, head of global product innovation at Levi Strauss, was one of the high points at the Sustainable Brands conference in San Diego this summer.

How Stylographics is turning its own waste into donation drop-boxes for KitAid.

Stylographics has always had a bit of a thing about environmentally friendly products and pushing them into the marketplace. In keeping with that mentality it introduced 100% recycled, recyclable and sustainable Re-board into its portfolio a while back, and now it’s taking its caring ethos a step further - Re-board cut-offs are used for a charitable project called KitAid. 

Fespa encourages printers to adopt sustainable practices with the launch of 11 Planet Friendly mini guides

Fespa has re-launched its Planet Friendly Print Guide in the form of 11 new ‘mini’ guides as part of its wider Planet Friendly Print programme.

The University of Sheffield is purifying the air around a poster it is displaying for a year. What’s more, it says the technology used to do it could be cheaply applied to other printed billboards.

A 20m x 20m printed banner hanging on the side of the University of Sheffield’s Alfred Denny Building is cutting pollution thanks to the use of a new technology that its developer says could be applied to other billboards.