A key issue in the print world is that many printers generate a lot of waste throughout their lifetime. Waste substrate, toner cartridges, ink, office waste and leftover stock - these all add to your carbon and environmental footprint. Sustainability is quickly becoming essential in a business’ core ideals and also something customers specifically search for.
So how is sustainable printing becoming an important service?
- Changing the World for the Better
- Improving Your Brand Image
- Modern Techniques Make Green Practices Measurable
- The Benefits Outweigh the Risks
- Greater Efficiency for Resources
- The Impact of Unsustainable Print
Changing the World for the Better
Pollution, waste and a runaway climate are affecting ecosystems across the globe. To help combat this you can look at the way you choose to print.
By utilising sustainable printing techniques, you’re bringing eco-friendly benefits to the industry. These include an increase in efficiency and most importantly, a decrease in your carbon footprint.
By creating greener printing option, we’re not only helping ourselves as businesses but also our future. We can do this across the board, improving every part of the print journey.
Improving Your Brand Image
In today’s competitive markets, sustainability is a desirable factor to look for. Consumers want to buy from businesses that utilise eco-friendly processes throughout their organisation. They're also looking for companies that implement actions such as high-efficiency recycling, use organic materials and carbon balance their production.
Even simply adopting recycled paper for printed products can boost the green credentials of a business. This helps attract new customers who represent the buying requirements of today’s modern markets.
Improving your image also helps to retain existing customers. They respect you’re doing more for the environment and are more likely to keep doing business with you, helping you remain relevant in an ever-changing marketplace.
Carbon Balancing your print and paper can reduce your carbon impact and enhance your brand. Taking positive action by choosing Carbon Balanced Print can help combat global warming and delivers against your corporate social responsibility.
You will be issued with a unique World Land Trust Carbon Balanced Print logo that you can use on your printed materials to demonstrate and communicate your commitment to reducing your carbon impact.
Modern Techniques Make Green Practices Measurable
The good thing about sustainable printing and other ethical practices are you can measure them.
So you've been asked to calculate your overall carbon footprint - But it sounds overwhelming, where do you start?
Fortunately, there are print suppliers who calculate their CO2 emissions so you can be confident in the numbers. They can even help you out with your numbers if you choose to work with a Carbon Balanced Printer. They will issue you with a certificate to advise the amount of CO2 balanced and the area of land protected as a result of your positive action.
The Benefits Outweigh the Risks
One risk when trying to go green can be finding a trustworthy print supplier. This process also might take a lot of time, eating into your project’s efficiency.
The economics of supply and demand can’t fully capture the value of sustainability within a business. Sustainable products offer a range of intangible benefits, such as the feeling a customer gets when they know their items are eco-friendly. Results like this are more than just numbers on a page.
Faster turnarounds, improved brand image, and the eco-friendly print solutions offered by techniques such as LED UV drying technology and Carbon Balanced Print on Carbon Balanced Paper - these are the things that increase a customer base.
A trustworthy print company will have all the credentials and will have the authority to use the appropriate registered logos on your work. If you are unsure, ask to see their certificates before you place your order.
Greater Efficiency for Resources
Sustainable paper is created from wood fibre sourced from responsibly managed forests, meeting high environmental, social and economic standards. It doesn’t have a negative impact on our planet like we are sometimes led to believe.
All the paper we use here at B&B Press is FSC® and has a certified chain of custody that tracks the timber through every stage in the supply chain - from the forest to the final user.
Eco-friendly printing processes such as LED UV uses LED UV lamps and they don't require any warmup or cooling downtimes. These features lead to greater energy savings and environmental friendliness with no infrared light or ozone emitted. As the LED’s are a fairly new technology in the printing industry, it’s one to look out for.
The Impact of Unsustainable Print
If you aren’t working with a sustainable commercial printer, you’ll miss out on all the benefits and advantages above. Your print may still be visually appealing and you can still gain from a quick turnover, but the environmental impact of your print will be much larger.
Waste production, more harmful chemicals, more consumption and more energy use - these are all inevitable with unsustainable printing practices.
If you want to benefit from these environmentally-important advantages of your printing needs but you’re unsure about what to look for in a printing process, we’ve got the checklist to help.
Download the Checklist to Sustainable Print
Our helpful checklist covers all the ways a print solution can be made eco-friendly. Go through each point and tick them off to see if your print will be green. If not, use the checklist to discover what type of print provider you should work with.
Click on the link below to get started.
