PrintRoundTable

Green Printing

Filed under Printing Industry Events

Throughout the world there is an ever rising trend to go green. No matter what you do, there is a way to do it in a more eco-friendly manner. When it comes to the printing business, there are many opportunities to incorporate green practices. Contact My1Stop to learn about the many ways to incorporate green practices into your printing needs. Paper: Think about all the paper you use; printing paper, pads, business cards, folders, brochures and so much more. When you add it all up, that’s a lot of paper and a lot of trees. There are many ways to reduce your environmental impact in the printing business. One way is to use recycled paper. Recycled paper is not new, but is being implemented by more and more people and businesses as the fight for the environment becomes more mainstream. Ink: Using recycled paper is just the start. In order for your printing to really be considered green, you need to eliminate the use of conventional petroleum based inks. During the dying process, petroleum based inks emit harmful Volatile Organic Compounds (VOC) into our environment. Aside from the effect they have on the environment, VOC’s can also have negative effects on your health. A great alternative to conventional ink is vegetable based inks; the most popular being Soy-based. Studies have shown that Soy-based inks emit 82% less VOC’s then petroleum based ink. Another benefit is that it is easier to remove soy-based ink from paper during the recycling process. This leads to brighter and overall higher quality recycled paper. Here are some GREEN statistics: - 35% of the worldwide wood harvest ends up as paper - The United States threw out 20% of all paper made in the world - 1/5 of all the tropical rainforests in the world disappeared between 1960 and 1990. - Only 3% of the Earth’s water is fresh - America and Europe have less than ½ of their original forest cover. - It takes approximately 31 million BTU’s to make a ton of paper, which is enough energy to power a home for 2 months. Contact us to learn about the many ways to incorporate green practices into your printing needs.