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Green Printing with Soy Toner
Some of the hottest new trends in green printing are soy inks. But the latest cool soy printing product is soy laser toner. With most soy inks being targeted towards commercial printers, some companies have come out with soy toners for the individual and small-business consumer market.
The benefits are obvious; soy-printed paper is easier to recycle, it’s green, it’s typically cheaper, and soy is a renewable resource (unlike oil). This is exactly why hundreds of book and magazine publishers use soy-based inks, along with cost-savvy commercial printers.
So, who’s making them for the everyday consumer?
PRC Technologies (Print Recovery Concepts). Based in Standish, Maine, this small company is all about making its soy-based SoyPrint ink cartridges as low-cost as possible. You’ll find them online at www.prctec.com or by phone at (888) 640-0062.
If you want to order PRC’s laser soy ink products online, consider buying through LaserMonksGreen, a website run by an abbey of monks in Sparta, Wis. They use the proceeds to run the money and donate the rest. For every cartridge sold, a tree is planted in Brazil and $1 is donated to end world hunger. And the best part? They cost less than the original HP laser cartridges you can buy at the big box office supply stores.
Of course, PRC won’t be the biggest supplier of soy ink forever. Some major players like Lexmark International are already investigating corn- and soy-based inks for use in their printers, meaning a passing trend could become an industry green printing standard.
If You Say You Do Green Printing, Make Sure You Actually Do It
If you’re going to offer green printing, you have to really offer green printing. You can’t just offer it as an option and then claim you’re a green printer. So many customers these days are all about the all or nothing. And thanks to the power of the Internet, they’ll rat you out in a heartbeat.
Why? Because sending out a 10% off on Green Printing Services for Earth Day flyer just doesn’t cut it anymore with most customers. They want to see a full and serious commitment, one that goes beyond having a carton of recycled paper and non-petroleum based inks “somewhere in the back.”
Your customers want a printer who does more than use environmentally-friendly inks or recycled paper. They want a printer who reuses or recycles scraps, composts, participates in safe disposal programs, maybe even runs biodiesel delivery trucks, and basically does everything they can to be as green as possible.
Get Your Green Out There
So, how do you get beyond the talk and show your clients you’re taking action as a green printer? Simple, tell them. Write out everything you do that makes you a “green” printer and publish it. Post it on your website, stick it on your blog (you DO have a blog, don’t you?), send it out to clients, and tack it to your wall. Just tell them. And then tell them again.
Most importantly, be honest. Don’t say you’re committed to green printing principles if you simply offer environmentally-friendly printing as part of your options roster. There’s no shame in the truth and you should be proud of what you are doing. Remember, customers love transparency and it’s the key to building trust in your business – particularly when it comes to any and all claims of “green.”
Questions to Ask When Buying Green Printing
Hiring a printer may not be as stressful or as important as buying a car, house or business, but it’s no less daunting especially when facing today’s economic stress. Adding to the stress is making the purchase that not only suits your needs, but also the environment.
With anything you buy, you always have to ask questions. Most importantly:
What is the environmental impact of this purchase? What is the financial impact if I buy green?
These are two good questions to ask before you even start the design process. Asking them is a great first step toward reducing the environmental impact of your purchases, and possibly reducing costs as well. The environmental impact from buying comes primarily in the use (and non-use) of natural resources to manufacture the products in the first place. If you don’t buy environmental products, you eliminate its impact.
Consider soy or waterless ink printing.
When buying your printer, explore whether your catalog can be printed with an alternative ink that has a less volatile organic compound like soy ink, a vegetable-based ink.
Per Wikipedia, volatile organic compounds are organic chemical compounds that have high enough vapor pressures under normal conditions to significantly vaporize and enter the earth’s atmosphere.
Waterless printing
The best way to find a good printer is to use one that comes highly recommended and is well-suited to the type of printing you need. Don’t be afraid to ask around. If you know someone who does business printing, find out which print vendors they use and for which types of jobs.
Reduce Your Paper Needs.
Once you’ve selected your paper, determine if you can reduce the amount of paper needed through trim size and weight. First, find out from your printer how well the trim size of your catalog matches its press equipment. Is it an efficient size that produces very little waste, or is significant excess paper being trimmed to produce your catalog? Talk with your printer about what press options are available, and work together to get your job printed on a press that minimizes waste.
Next, see if you can reduce the weight for your catalog and cover. The lighter the weight of the paper, the less fiber used in production. As an added bonus, your postage costs will be lower, as well.
Ask about the paper.
The proper materials are an important component of a good print job. Ink comes in a vast array of colors, and there are almost as many paper types, textures, weights, and name brands to choose from and the great thing is almost all paper companies are using recycled products to produce its paper. You don’t want your great print job wasted on the paper that isn’t recycled.
Other questions to ask are affordability, how complex the jobs the printer will do and will the vendors have proper parts and materials in case they are needed and are they accessible at any time. Evaluate your needs.
Once you decide on a vendor and which materials to use, have the rep walk you through the printing process before it starts. Understand the timeline of the project; be sure you know when you’re able to make changes and at what point the option to make changes costs extra. Cultivate relationships with local businesses. They could help you in your quest to go green.
Together, you will make the proper progress.
Environmentally-Friendly Full Color Printing
Green means “go” in many ways.
On a traffic light, it means to proceed. In auto racing, the green flag signifies the start of the race, and the beginning of full racing after a cautionary period. It means everything is safe to proceed at full speed. In the environmental world, green is the color, symbol, and word for biodegradable and nature-friendly.
Arguably, green is the color of the past decade and one that’s causing a lot of debate between environmentalists and big businesses. And for now it seems the environmentalists are winning this war of attrition.
But that’s a good thing.
And the printing world is paying attention.
Just as other industries are taking a hard look at policies and practices that impact the environment, many in the paper industry have taken this challenge seriously. Some pulp and paper companies, and printers have committed to principles of corporate and social environmental responsibility, and organizations have formed to help define, recognize and credit those efforts.
It’s nothing new. For years printers have used recycled paper and paper products to conduct business. Lately, they’re now using biodegradable soy ink instead of others that could potentially harm the environment and people.
Printers who haven’t gone green yet though have many questions.
“Do I have to request a ‘green quote’ in order to receive eco-friendly printing?”
“Is green printing as good as conventional?”
“Is it expensive?”
“Where can I get the green equipment?”
“Is my competitor going green?”
“If so, how does the customer feel about it?”
“What’s in it for me besides helping the environment, I mean, is it profitable?”
We’ve discussed green printing on other posts here, here, and here (will link to three green posts), and we’ve come to one inescapable conclusion. Green printing is a popular decision and no more expensive than previously “non-green” methods.
Aside from environmentally-friendly paper products, many companies are creating ink from soy ink instead of petroleum, eliminating harmful fumes in the process and allowing for quicker drying. Printing houses produce what are known as volatile organic compounds, which are caused by the use of petroleum-based inks, laminates, varnishes and adhesives.
Past studies have shown that these compounds, when inhaled, greatly increase the risk of asthma attacks and other breathing ailments. As a result, measures are being adopted by many printers worldwide to comply with existing regulations and adopt environment-friendly practices.
By doing this and recycling and reusing paper and other supplies whenever possible, printing companies will be practicing what green printing is.