What is Carbon Footprint and How to Effectively Reduce It?

We have heard about greenhouse gases and how their increasing quantity in the atmosphere can effect the environment adversely. Carbon Footprint is a measure of the total emission of all the greenhouse gases upon the complete combustion of a particular amount of a compound. It is however, very difficult to precisely determine the exact value of carbon footprint of a compound but even approximate values give you a fair idea about the pollution capacity of that particular item.

Carbon footprint of a particular process will be the accumulation of all the emission details of all the chemical compounds used in the process. This value can be effectively reduced by substituting few or if possible all the pollutant chemical compounds by eco-friendly, green compounds. The various other ways to reduce the carbon footprint of a process, like in this case the printing process, can be summarized in techniques like recycling wastes, reduced use of hazardous chemicals, reuse of materials whenever possible to reduce the production of waste, proper and ethical disposal of hazardous waste and so on.

Why Companies Should Take Responsibility For their Environment?

Companies using traditional printing techniques, which do not attempt to reduce pollution and carbon footprint of the processes followed by them, emit a lot of hazardous wastes like VOCs, during a standard printing process. VOC is an abbreviation for Volatile Organic Compounds, which due to their high volatile nature evaporate and escape in the atmosphere, posing danger to the environment immediately. Along with their contribution to the greenhouse gases, the VOCs are carcinogenic in nature and continuous contact with them exposes workers to the risk of acquiring cancer at some point in time.

Alternative Printing Techniques

Alternative printing techniques or green printing is being widely accepted by various printing presses and companies in an attempt to ensure a greener future. Some of the techniques which can be modified are as follows:

Recycling paper and vinyl to reduce waste and energy consumption: Paper containing high amounts of recycled compounds is as good as virgin papers, which are made using tree fibers only. They reduce energy consumption rates considerably. Also paper mills which do not use chlorine to treat paper emit lot less toxic wastes into the environment.

Alternative eco-friendly inks: Conventional inks are all based on petroleum products, which are non-renewable and also do not get disposed well in the environment. Degradation of oil is difficult and they invariably contaminate the ground and water resources near a printing press. Soy-based inks on the other hand provide excellent quality to the printed end product and are a lot less toxic to the environment.

See how Hackworth is reducing our carbon footprint here: gohackworth.com/hackworth-is-green.

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How to make printing more eco-friendly

Generally, a person or a company inclined to green printing should follow few basic rules to see a substantial change in the printing process. Firstly, the person should use the best available eco-friendly paper for the purpose of printing, and then reduce the use of chemical ink and the release of toxic chemicals into the environment. Also, shift to using soy or other vegetable-based inks, which do not require an excess of toxic solvents. The solvents actually cause more harm than to the environment than the paint itself. It is also very important to inform and educate others about the advantages and necessity to shift to eco-friendly printing practices, over conventional methods.

There are various techniques, which present a unique mix of conventional methods and modern practices in printing. Some of the printing techniques that are discussed below will help you produce beautiful printing results that are eco-friendly.

• Offset Printing: This type of printing uses oil based colors, which repel water, to produce real life images that are comparable in quality and longevity to the usually used chemical paints. Texts and images will be photo-engraved on an aluminum plate, and they are rolled over by the paint rollers. This efficiently distributes the ink over the aluminum plate. Then the images obtained on the plate are transferred to a rubber sheet, which is then applied to paper, and is pressed to obtain a long-lasting image.

• Digital Printing: This technique does not use plates to press ink onto a sheet. In digital printing the ink is not absorbed onto the surface of the paper, the ink instead spreads onto the paper to make a distinct layer. This is precisely the reason why the resultant prints obtained through digital printing are richer, and do not fade easily with time. Digital printing, when adopted in eco-friendly settings, uses completely recyclable paper and water-soluble ‘green’ paint.

• Water-less Printing: The conventional lithographic printing process causes the maximum harm to nature. However, water-less printing method eliminates the usual lithographic printing process, which causes considerably less harm to the environment. This process essentially removes water or the dampening process from the printing method. Water-less printing uses modern non-invasive chemicals and mechanical methods to print the colors on the sheet. The mechanical method here uses a unique temperature control system, and a silicon rubber coated sheet. This combination transfers the color onto the paper.

The Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs), which are either present in the runoff water from the printing press or present in the fumes, are the main cause of environmental pollution in printing. They are not only hazardous to human beings, but also to the flora and fauna around us. It has been scientifically proven that a green printing press emits 80% or less VOC into the environment, which is reason enough to switch to a healthy and eco-friendly printing method.

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A company that discusses their recycling practices away from printing is a company customers can trust. Companies that use water coolers reduce the amount of disposed plastic bottles per day. Machines (like computers or printers) should switch to sleep mode soon after ceasing use. Companies should also promote the shutdown of equipment after each work day is finished. Using a printer that is versatile and will allow outdoor and indoor applications can be useful for environmentally conscious customers. Printers that can produce outdoor signage with water based latex inks at high durability and achieve high quality results is a trust worthy company.

Client branding requirements should be no problem for any green printing company. Water based latex inks do not fade fast compared to typical non-environmentally friendly inks. Indoor signage applications should be no problem whether they are for exhibitions or decorations. Whether the indoor or outdoor media is recycled paper, coated, or fabric a green printing company should have no problem. Even vehicle wraps should be no problem for some companies though the ink may have to be coated with some environmentally safe protectant. The right green printing company deals with the most environmentally sound products.

Green printing companies have a lot of options when it comes to equipment. Most green equipment offers ease of use with printers that do not need to be attended to. Many printers have automatic troubleshooting maintenance settings which allow the users to breathe a little easier. Many of the components of these environmentally safe machines are simple replacement if necessary instead of requiring the user to call a service professional and waste gas and pollute the environment in that way. High quality images are consistent with optical sensors equipped in most environmentally friendly printers.

There are many ways that a company can implement green printing strategies. If the environment is a priority for you and your business insure that you partner with a like-minded print provider.

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