Print Buying Direct

Printing – Where in the world are we? - 4th March 2009

It should be noted that there is a very different story when considering the two major sectors that make up this industry- print and paper.

Whilst paper is very heavy duty manufacturing, featuring massive machinery and vast resources, it is very mature in its environmental standards- perhaps because of the emotive issue of cutting down tress, it simply has to be. It is not surprising then that the vast majority of mills are certified to high environmental standards, managements philosophies take the environment as read, and closed loop recycling takes place. Water is returned to its sources cleaner than when it was drawn out, and chemicals are kept to the minimum.
When it comes to the print industry, even the biggest print companies cannot compete with the massive scale of papermaking, but it is still a highly energy intensive industry, a chemical user and producer of a lot of waste. However, it is still very much in its infancy in the move towards being green.

Key issues for paper makers are energy use, emissions, water use, disposal of sludge, deinking and the quality of raw materials from the recycling process, and chemical treatments.

The main issues for printers include energy use, the disposal of plates and waste paper, treatment and disposal of used inks, chemicals and cleaning solutions, as well as atmospheric release linked to solvent based inks.

It is also interesting to look from the outside in and really see how the industry is perceived. A recent survey carried out by the NAPM into how the general public perceive paper shows that 90% of respondents believe that the public is poorly informed about the industry’s environmental impacts, with 58% stating that they didn’t know enough about paper’s carbon footprint and environmental impact to make informed purchasing decisions. Alistair Gough, president of the NAPM said, ‘Every day we are hit by new environmental claims about the detrimental effects of paper, which are clearly having an impact on us all in the communications industry. This survey has enables us to reveal the true extent of the misunderstanding of these facts, as well as understand the key issues taken into consideration when professionals purchase their communications media’.

However, there were some positives. Some 60% of respondents indicated that they still had preference for paper based communication over digital alternatives.

The survey also found that ‘Twenty-seven percent of respondents believe that paper production is a major cause of deforestation’, showing that all the hard work carried out by paper companies to plant more tress than they harvest is falling on the deaf ears of the public in general.

The survey clearly shows a lack of understanding about paper’s environmental impact and the vast number of misconceptions that still abound.
According to a separate report from a leading print management company, the environmental damage that print produces equates to a cost of £80 million each year, with indirect environmental costs of excess of £500 million. These costs are at present borne by society, but, things must change as the ‘application of the ‘polluter pays principle’ by government in the form of new legislation and green taxes will likely internalise these costs in the long run to the print sector’ the report states.

So just what is causing that financial burden? According to the report most significant problems are greenhouse gas emissions ‘Printers emit in excess of 690 000 tonnes of greenhouse gases annually, mainly due to use of fossil fuels for heating’. However, the industry’s carbon intensity is lower than that of several other sectors such as utilities, energy and materials.

The nest biggest problem is waste, followed by emissions of volatile organic compounds (VOCs).
The report summary states, ‘The key findings of this research represent a strong call to action for our industry as a whole. An internal focus on processes and practices to minimise or actively reduce the carbon footprint simply isn’t enough. Organisations must take a more holistic approach, extending their focus throughout the supply chain if they are to make true progress in pursuing the environmental agenda as part of their CSR programme’.

Slowly, this principle is beginning to trickle down through the industry, so that more and more companies are starting to implement environmental practices. The Defra (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, www.defra.gov.uk) report on Environmental Protection Expenditure by Industry paints an interesting picture. The survey, carried out between April 2007 and June 2008 for costing in 2006, analysed expenditure and identified costing in the following areas:

• Operating expenditure, including the in-house operating costs of a company’s own environmental protection activities, and also payments to others for environmental protection services such as waste disposal;
• Capital expenditure, consisting of expenditure on equipment to clean up at the end of the production process and equipment that reduces or eliminates emissions and discharges as part of the production process;
• Income and savings resulting from environmental protection activities (the highest cost savings came from improved energy usage (43%), followed by improved or substitution of raw materials with approximately one-third of the overall saving. Cost savings from improved water use, waste and ‘other’ accounted for the remaining 24%);
• The environmental areas affected by spending- waste air, solid waste, soil/groundwater, noise/vibrations and nature protection;
• The use of Environmental Management Systems. The report states that ‘Gross spending on environmental protection in 2006 by UK industry amounted to an estimated £4.2 billion’. This spending was offset by an estimated income of £173 million and an estimating cost saving of £351 million from the sale of by-products.

Some of 44% of larger companies stated they held certification to an environmental standard such as ISO 14001. The number of environmental management systems (EMS) in place was more widespread in larger companies, where the use of separate management systems is at 56%, compared to 20% for smaller companies.

But, what about print and paper? The point about maturity of environmental ethos was played out in this report- pulp and paper was amongst the sectors scoring highest for response to the survey, whilst print and publishing was amongst the lowest!

According got the Defra report, the UK pulp and paper industry spent around £100 million in 2006 on environmental protection measures. Capital spending in 2006 was dominated by equipment to clean up at the end of the production process. The UK industry also spent approximately £0.8 million on environmental research and development. The sector spent more than £72 million dealing with solid waste and almost £18 million on water protection measures these are not insubstantial for an industry that it given a bad press for its green stance by some environmental groups.

How did printing and publishing fare?
The report states that the publishing and printing sector spent almost £76 million in 2006 on environmental protection. This included almost £34 million for dealing with solid waste and approximately £29 million on water and air protection measures.

To be continued…..

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Don’t forget The Printing House also specialise in Printing for Schools, especially School Prospectus. We have a vast range of experience design and print of primary, secondary, 6th form, college and universtity prospectus. Visit our School Prospectus Made Easy website to see examples of our work and more about our products.

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This entry was posted on Wednesday, March 4th, 2009 at 8:32 am and is filed under Banners, Business Stationery, Calendars, Christmas Cards, Leaflets and Brochures, News, Newsletters, Postcards. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.