In today’s economy, it makes sense to work with the least expensive materials. But as the push for environmentally-friendly manufacturing and printing increases. it also makes sense to work with green materials.
The term “green” is widely used to describe any material designed and constructed with minimal negative impact to the environment and with an emphasis on conservation of resources, energy efficiency and healthier.
Green printing techniques have been around for many years, but have only begun to really become mainstream recently. Some of the main components of green printing include using recycled paper, recycling any paper waste produced while printing, switching to vegetable based inks that have low volatile organic compounds (VOCs), and using new technologies such as digital printers.
But with all the attention turning to “going green” in every day items, one thing that prohibits many from switching to green totally is the costs. It isn’t cheap and it doesn’t figure to get any cheaper in today’s recession.
According to a March 17 Graphic Arts Online article, printers are intensifying their
green efforts, but economic pressures are curbing customer zeal for paying the up-charge for sustainable printing. Pricing is the issue and as a result, there’s been a decrease in the use of green printing.
Despite this, it’s still important for printing companies to switch to new eco-friendly printing technologies. This benefits everyone, especially future generations, but the important thing is that ultimately the price will go down. New technology, whether it’s printers, computers, DVD players or other mechanical devices, are all expensive at first, but as demand goes up and competition increases, prices will ultimately come down.
The impact will be huge. New digital printing equipment combined with soy-based inks and recycled paper can make a different for the environment. Petroleum products are being eliminated from this process, helping eliminate any harmful emissions. This includes VOCs that can cause serious problems when inhaled by humans as well as significant damage to the ozone.
Recycling is also a huge factor when it comes to green printing as it really help save trees from being cut down. A major concern with using recycled paper is the quality of the paper. As it turns out, there is no longer a quality difference in normal paper as compared to recycled.
Many companies that have started to use these environmentally-friendly printing techniques without sacrificing quality or raising there prices.
One company, PS Print in Oakland, Calif., has provided green printing with affordable prices for years. They use recycled paper on many of their products, but they also recycle any paper waste that is made during the printing process. PS Print also makes heavy use of soy-based inks on all of their printing products. They also have printing locations on the East Coast, which reduces shipping costs for the company, thus reducing costs and carbon emissions.
So while the concern that green prices are going higher, PS Print and other companies are showing that it’s possible to stay green and without going in the red.