Regardless of the industry in which a business is operating, conserving the environment is today a necessity for one to remain in business. Consumers are now more concerned about the environment and favor products originating from businesses that share the same concerns. The printing industry is one of the areas that has come under pressure to make changes. As an individual business, there are various ways of adopting sustainable digital printing.
Ink is an important component of any printing process. Traditional inks are derived from petroleum and have a high amount of volatile organic compounds (VOCs). These compounds react with atmospheric gasses and lead to formation of smog. Fortunately, environmental-friendly inks that are vegetable based and biodegradable have now been developed. These natural alternatives have the same range of colors as the petroleum based types.
Petroleum based inks are also known to have a significantly high amount of heavy metals. Examples include cadmium, nickel, chromium, mercury and selenium among others. These metals are known contaminants of soil and water when released through effluents. This is likely to occur if they are released in large quantities or there is prolonged use. Most vegetable based inks have very little of these metals if at all.
Using recycled paper is beneficial to the environment as well as the business. Whereas virgin paper has to be produced directly from trees, recycled paper is the product of waste paper. This means that the need to cut trees is reduced. The cost of purchasing and processing recycled paper is lower than what is seen with virgin paper. Another advantage is that the effluent that is produced by waste paper is less.
There are several other raw materials that can be recycled other than paper. Water is among those that are easiest to recycle. In a normal process, close to 60% of this precious commodity goes to waste. Reusing the water would, therefore, contribute to huge savings by the firm. Ink and aluminum plates that have already been used in this process can also be put back to good use.
Efficiency in the use of power is an aspect that has to be closely monitored to ensure that wastage is put at the minimum. Strive to reduce your use of hydropower and petroleum based fuels and increase utilization of wind, solar and other renewable sources of energy. One of the decisions that you may need to make is to get rid of old, inefficient equipment and replace it with that which has higher output for every product produced.
Sustainability can also be adopted in fabric printing. In the pretreatment stage, urea and other chemicals are used. When urea is broken down during the steaming stage, it releases carbon dioxide into the environment. Carbon-dioxide is a well-known greenhouse gas that can directly damage the ozone layer. Alternative methods that are free of urea are now commercially available in the market.
Sustainable printing is associated with numerous benefits. The most important is that the environment will be conserved. The specific benefit to the business is that operational costs are significantly lowered which may help increase the profit margins. For the consumer, the benefit is that the reduced operational costs may be passed on to them in the form of more affordable products.
Ink is an important component of any printing process. Traditional inks are derived from petroleum and have a high amount of volatile organic compounds (VOCs). These compounds react with atmospheric gasses and lead to formation of smog. Fortunately, environmental-friendly inks that are vegetable based and biodegradable have now been developed. These natural alternatives have the same range of colors as the petroleum based types.
Petroleum based inks are also known to have a significantly high amount of heavy metals. Examples include cadmium, nickel, chromium, mercury and selenium among others. These metals are known contaminants of soil and water when released through effluents. This is likely to occur if they are released in large quantities or there is prolonged use. Most vegetable based inks have very little of these metals if at all.
Using recycled paper is beneficial to the environment as well as the business. Whereas virgin paper has to be produced directly from trees, recycled paper is the product of waste paper. This means that the need to cut trees is reduced. The cost of purchasing and processing recycled paper is lower than what is seen with virgin paper. Another advantage is that the effluent that is produced by waste paper is less.
There are several other raw materials that can be recycled other than paper. Water is among those that are easiest to recycle. In a normal process, close to 60% of this precious commodity goes to waste. Reusing the water would, therefore, contribute to huge savings by the firm. Ink and aluminum plates that have already been used in this process can also be put back to good use.
Efficiency in the use of power is an aspect that has to be closely monitored to ensure that wastage is put at the minimum. Strive to reduce your use of hydropower and petroleum based fuels and increase utilization of wind, solar and other renewable sources of energy. One of the decisions that you may need to make is to get rid of old, inefficient equipment and replace it with that which has higher output for every product produced.
Sustainability can also be adopted in fabric printing. In the pretreatment stage, urea and other chemicals are used. When urea is broken down during the steaming stage, it releases carbon dioxide into the environment. Carbon-dioxide is a well-known greenhouse gas that can directly damage the ozone layer. Alternative methods that are free of urea are now commercially available in the market.
Sustainable printing is associated with numerous benefits. The most important is that the environment will be conserved. The specific benefit to the business is that operational costs are significantly lowered which may help increase the profit margins. For the consumer, the benefit is that the reduced operational costs may be passed on to them in the form of more affordable products.
About the Author:
When you are searching for the facts about sustainable digital printing, come to our web pages online here today. Additional details are available at http://www.rollingpress.com now.
No comments:
Post a Comment