Awareness
Printing is a toxic process. Inks, solvents, cleaning materials and nasty chemicals are all part of the equation. Add to that all the paper we use every single day - and you can start to see the dilemma we face as a society. As a printer, and a design firm, we’re incredibly aware of the process, and want to do everything in our power to minimize the impact, the burden, we create.
So how do we do this? How do we print more responsibly?
First, we print less. Yes, you heard it right. A printer is telling you to take a good look at all the materials your organization produces–and do everything you can to focus your efforts. We’ve found that by taking a long term approach, you can much better manage your print needs.
Does anyone read all that junk in their mailboxes? No, not your email, tons of paper is wasted every day. How can your business accomplish its sales and marketing goals, investor relations, outreach and interoffice communications, and better manage the volume of print?
After determining what we need to print, we examine the how. From designing each piece to maximize function and minimize materials we leave a little smaller footprint.
We then focus on materials. We all know about recycled paper, but there’s as much hype about how ‘green’ some paper is as there is direct mail in the landfills. The key here is knowing your paper. Post-consumer recycled content means we’re truly recycling, and the greater the percentage, the more good we can do.
Inks are toxic, but some are better than others. Many prefer soy or vegetable based inks and we have several options. The ammount of ink we use also affects things when we consider the big picture. Though we’re minimalists at heart, we know you often need full color. We can still help you print that piece more responsibly.
Transportation of your materials contributes as well; We can manage distribution and drop shipping to minimize impact. Aside from all these concerns we work dilligently to keep our shops clean, using responsible methods, procedures and service providers.
Rather than pretending to be the world’s authority on best practices, we realize that there are a lot of people out there doing great work. We’re learning, improving our operations, and simply see the need to move towards cleaner printing. Help us make this site a more valuable resource by passing us articles and share your expertise. We’re committed to making a difference and hope to prove ourselves to you with each and every project we produce for you. Thank you for taking the time to read this. We hope you will join us in printing greener.
