Environmentally Aware Printing – Types of Adhesives (continued) – 17th March 2010

Other areas of interest to the industry where considerable investments are being made are those of composting and biodegradability. Work on composting hot melt adhesives has indicated that formulations can be engineered so that their degradability in soil is maximised. The rate and mode of degradation can be altered by careful selection of the appropriate raw materials. The quality of the final compost in tests conducted has not been negatively influenced by the addition of hot melt adhesive.

To accelerate the degradation process, a significant amount of work has been done and will be done on biodegradable polymers and adhesives which are not based on traditional raw materials.

Starch-based hot melts have proven, most recently, to be effective in this area and patented technology now exists for these materials, indicating that traditional problems have thermal stability and formulating compatibility have been overcome. It is anticipated that use of this technology will expand across the industry shortly. A key aspect here is that the starch is derived from freely available renewable sources, thus improving its ‘friendliness’ in environmental terms.

To be continued…

Peter Harrison is Joint Managing Director of The Printing House Ltd, and Print Buying Direct of Crewe, Cheshire, UK.

NEW: We now sell Large Poster Printing and Banner printing online (A1 Posters, A0 Posters etc) and Banner Stands.

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• Environmentally Aware Printing – Types of Adhesives (continued) – 11th March 2010
• Environmentally Aware Printing – Types of Adhesives (continued)
• Environmentally Aware Printing – Types of Adhesives (continued)
• Environmentally Aware Printing – Types of Adhesives – part 3
• Environmentally Aware Printing – Types of adhesives – part 2

Print Buying Direct is the online division and a Trading Name of The Printing House Ltd. One of the UK’s leading quality printing companies for graphic design, short run, long run and large format colour printing. Based in Crewe, Cheshire (Cheshire Printers), in the North West of England – delivering to customers across the UK and Ireland.

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Environmentally Aware Printing – Types of Adhesives (continued) – 16th March 2010
Future work
In the short term in Europe emphasis will be given to approving and commissioning 100% filterable hot melts in order to minimise problems at the mill and maintain/ improve finished product quality. The only product found to meet all the requirements currently is the reactive hot melt already described.

This, of course, does not give us a truly recyclable adhesive but it allows the finished product to be recycled in a ‘safer’ fashion and at the moment this is regarded as a step forward.

Research into the area of dispersible products will continue but this work needs to take a somewhat new direction with the increasing popularity of closed loop systems and restrictive disposal legislation. A water-dispersible product must be 100% dispersed in the pulping system and be carried through to the finished paper with 100% retention on the fibres, without any detrimental effect on paper properties. In fact, the ultimate goal would be to incorporate the adhesive into the paper to give some positive benefit. The adhesive may then be considered totally recyclable. Looking at the alternative definition of recyclable given at the start if this paper, re-use of the adhesive should be investigated; not necessarily as the same adhesive as a binder or filler.

To be continued…

Peter Harrison is Joint Managing Director of The Printing House Ltd, and Print Buying Direct of Crewe, Cheshire, UK.

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• Environmentally Aware Printing – Types of Adhesives (continued) – 11th March 2010
• Environmentally Aware Printing – Types of Adhesives (continued)
• Environmentally Aware Printing – Types of Adhesives (continued)
• Environmentally Aware Printing – Types of Adhesives – part 3
• Environmentally Aware Printing – Types of adhesives – part 2

Print Buying Direct is the online division and a Trading Name of The Printing House Ltd. One of the UK’s leading quality printing companies for graphic design, short run, long run and large format colour printing. Based in Crewe, Cheshire (Cheshire Printers), in the North West of England – delivering to customers across the UK and Ireland.

NEW Product Alert – we now sell Exhibition Stands, Pop Up display stands and A Boards

See our other websites The Printing House, Print Buying Direct, Prospectus printing, Golf Club Centenary Books, Online printing, Printers in Oxford

See Our Latest Press Release about our Web to Print Solution. See us on the RED TIE Web to Print site

Environmentally Aware Printing - Types of Adhesives (continued) – 10th March 2010
C) Water-dispersible hot melt polymers (continued)

The vinyl monomers used in the vinyl/ graft copolymers may be acrylates or vinyl acetate and the grafted component (s) are hydrophilic in nature. Adjustment of copolymer or graft component type or concentration leads, to a range of compositions with varying glass transition temperature, molecular weight and water sensitivity.

These types of copolymers do not suffer from the inherent oxidative and thermal stability problems of other dispersible systems. Water sensitivity and dispersibility are key factors in the performance of such a product and, using Tappi UM 666, it can be seen that the graft copolymer is significantly more dispersible than standard polyethylene-based hot melt. It is also seen that increasing the processing temperature or the hydrophilic component concentration increases the water sensitivity of the polymers.

Products based on this vinyl graft technology have been developed for a variety of applications including bag making, roll wrap, bookbinding and case/ carton sealing. Laboratory scale tests and trials at recycling mills around the world have revealed excellent results with regards to dispersibility and recyclability. Under the right conditions the product has been proven to be totally dispersible with a large percentage of adhesive by weight (more than 20%) being incorporated into the paper with no adverse effects or stickie problems.

A question of backwater saturation still remains in closed loop systems but calculations indicate that saturation cycle at typical addition levels is several months. This is probably comparable with the usual cleaning cycle in a mill and would therefore not cause significant problems.

To be continued…

Peter Harrison is Joint Managing Director of The Printing House Ltd, and Print Buying Direct of Crewe, Cheshire, UK.

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• Environmentally Aware Printing – Types of Adhesives (continued)
• Environmentally Aware Printing – Types of Adhesives – part 3
• Environmentally Aware Printing – Types of adhesives – part 2
• Environmentally Aware Printing – Types of adhesives – part 1
• Environmentally Aware Printing – Dealing with the stickies problem Part 4

Print Buying Direct is the online division and a Trading Name of The Printing House Ltd. One of the UK’s leading quality printing companies for graphic design, short run, long run and large format colour printing. Based in Crewe, Cheshire (Cheshire Printers), in the North West of England – delivering to customers across the UK and Ireland.

See our other websites The Printing House, Print Buying Direct, Prospectus printing, Golf Club Centenary Books, Online printing, Printers in Oxford

See Our Latest Press Release about our Web to Print Solution. See us on the RED TIE Web to Print site

Environmentally Aware Printing – Types of Adhesives (continued) – 9th March 2010
C) Water-dispersible hot melt polymers

A wealth of literature exists describing supposedly water-dispersible or soluble polymers which can be used as adhesive bases for a range of market applications. Polymers such as functionalised polyesters, acrylic acid homopolymers/ copolymers, vinyl methyl ethers, maleic anhydride/ acids, polyvinyl alcohols and vinyl-pyrolidone copolymers are among those investigated, but such polymers from inherent problems which are usually related to the thermal and oxidative stability of the product during manufacture/ application and/ or the water sensitivity/ humidity resistance of the glue film when applied. Obviously, poor humidity resistance could give rise to a rapidly degradable spine if used in a bookbinding application.

To overcome these problems, patented technology has emerged where hot melt adhesives are based on a unique class of graft copolymers of various vinyl monomers. These products can be considered as dispersible in the mill system under shear; pH and temperature but remain stable to moisture at ambient temperatures.

Rather than forming tacky agglomerates and therefore stickies, the finely divided particles of the vinyl graft copolymer-based hot melt may then become incorporated into the reclaimed paper without any adverse effects.

To be continued…

Peter Harrison is Joint Managing Director of The Printing House Ltd, and Print Buying Direct of Crewe, Cheshire, UK.

NEW: We now sell Large Poster Printing and Banner printing online (A1 Posters, A0 Posters etc) and Banner Stands

Also – checkout our new online print prices Print Buying Direct are UK market Leaders in Leaflet Printing | Brochure Printing. For more free articles on Printing and Graphic Design see our Online Printing | Print Buying Direct Website. For more information on printing and graphic design please see some of our recent blog articles;

• Environmentally Aware Printing – Types of Adhesives – part 3
• Environmentally Aware Printing – Types of adhesives – part 2
• Environmentally Aware Printing – Types of adhesives – part 1
• Environmentally Aware Printing – Dealing with the stickies problem Part 4
• Environmentally Aware Printing – Dealing with the stickies problem Part 3

Print Buying Direct is the online division and a Trading Name of The Printing House Ltd. One of the UK’s leading quality printing companies for graphic design, short run, long run and large format colour printing. Based in Crewe, Cheshire (Cheshire Printers), in the North West of England – delivering to customers across the UK and Ireland.

See our other websites The Printing House, Print Buying Direct, Prospectus printing, Golf Club Centenary Books

See Our Latest Press Release about our Web to Print Solution.

Environmentally Aware Printing – Types of adhesives – part 1 – 4th March 2010
Adhesive technologies in use within the printing industry can be broadly classified into the following groups for the purposes of this discussion:

1. Aqueous/ emulsions e.g. PVA, dextrine, starch, latex, PVOH etc.
2. Animal glue – water soluble
3. Hot melts

1. a)    EVA based.
2. b)    Acrylic/ pressure sensitive’s.
3. c)    Water-disperible hot melts polymers.
4. d)    Reactive systems.

1.    Aqueous systems

The need for recyclability centres mostly around polyvinyl acetate (PVA) emulsions, the other categories generally being considered as repulpable.  Currently, PVA is treated using one or several of the techniques already described to inhibit the formation of stickies.

Patented technology is, however, available which allows vinyl acetate homopolymers and copolymer-based emulsion adhesives to become almost totally water-dispersible. This is achieved by the addition of specific water soluble ionic salts, such as magnesium chloride.

To be continued…

Peter Harrison is Joint Managing Director of The Printing House Ltd, and Print Buying Direct of Crewe, Cheshire, UK.

NEW: We now sell Large Poster Printing and Banner printing online (A1 Posters, A0 Posters etc) and Banner Stands

Also – checkout our new online print prices Print Buying Direct are UK market Leaders in Leaflet Printing | Brochure Printing. For more free articles on Printing and Graphic Design see our Online Printing | Print Buying Direct Website. For more information on printing and graphic design please see some of our recent blog articles;

• Environmentally Aware Printing – Dealing with the stickies problem Part 4
• Environmentally Aware Printing – Dealing with the stickies problem Part 3
• Environmentally Aware Printing – Dealing with the stickies problem Part 2
• Environmentally Aware Printing – Dealing with the stickies problem – Part 1
• Environmentally Aware Printing – Definition of recyclability of Adhesives

Print Buying Direct is the online division and a Trading Name of The Printing House Ltd. One of the UK’s leading quality printing companies for short run, long run and large format colour printing. Based in Crewe, Cheshire (Cheshire Printers), in the North West of England – delivering to customers across the UK and Ireland.

Also see our other websites The Printing House, Print Buying Direct, Prospectus printing, Golf Club Centenary Books

See Our Latest Press Release about our Web to Print Solution

Environmentally Aware Printing

Dealing with the stickies problem – Part 1

Consumers and therefore the industry will not accept lowering of finished product standards and at the same time there is a clearly identified need to increase the waste/ virgin stock usage ratio. This means that dealing with contraries satisfactorily in recycling will become an increasingly important issue. As concentrations increase, control and removal efficiency of contraries must be improved in order to take advantage of the commercial opportunities presented.
The typical repulping mill will contain a vast array of contraries in the system and, certainly in the newer mills, an associated complex system of methods either to remove or minimise the effects of these impurities. It is fair to say that in many mills permanently high background levels of contraries exist, but these are known and controllable. This perhaps highlights the impact of non-adhesive entities such as pigments, fillers, plastic films etc. adhesives, however, in the form of ‘stickies’, still constitute the major problem in most mills.

Traditionally, the term stickies has been applied to permanently tacky pressure sensitive adhesives but has latterly encompassed all adhesives types which are considered reactivatible at elevated temperatures. In some cases the intrinsic tack of the adhesive may be non-existent or acceptably low, but complexed with components of other coatings and/ or chemical paper additives, the adhesives components may be chemically activated. Common constituents of adhesives and therefore stickies are ethylene vinyl acetate (EVA), polyvinyl acetate (PVA), acrylic and styrene containing polymers. Deposits will often contain rosin or rosin-based tackifying resins but it is not always clear whether it originates from the adhesives or waste paper fibres themselves.

If the stickie particles remain in the solid form during processing they are comparatively easy to deal with using the sophisticated screening systems of modern mills. However, if the particle is soluble or colloidal in nature, it becomes more difficult to handle.

Peter Harrison is Joint Managing Director of The Printing House Ltd, and Print Buying Direct of Crewe, Cheshire, UK.

NEW: We now sell Large Poster Printing online (A1 Posters, A0 Posters etc) and Banner Stands

Also – checkout our new online print prices Print Buying Direct are UK market Leaders in Leaflet Printing | Brochure Printing. For more free articles on Printing and Graphic Design see our Online Printing | Print Buying Direct Website. For more information on printing and graphic design please see some of our recent blog articles;

• Environmentally Aware Printing – Definition of recyclability of Adhesives
• Environmentally Aware Printing – Inks | Adhesives | Bookbinding adhesives
• Environmentally Aware Printing – Adjusting to alcohol free printing
• Environmentally Aware Printing – Alcohol free benefits
• Environmentally Aware Printing – Alcohol in fount solvents

Print Buying Direct is the online division and a Trading Name of The Printing House Ltd. One of the UK’s leading quality printing companies for short run, long run and wide format colour printing. Based in Crewe, Cheshire, in the North West of England – delivering to customers across the UK and Ireland.

Also see our other websites The Printing House, Print Buying Direct, Prospectus printing, Golf Club Centenary Books

Environmentally Aware Printing – Definition of recyclability of Adhesives – 16th February 2010

For an adhesive to be truly recyclable is must either be:
(i)    Re-used completely – this requires the adhesive to be totally separated from fibres, re-formed and used again in a secondary application. Or
(ii)    Fully incorporated into the finished product- this implies that all the adhesives must travel through the mill system to give 100% retention on the fibres in finished paper.

A combination of (i) and (ii) may also be acceptable.

Currently as a result of technological limitations, the term recyclable is applied to adhesives which are dispersed or soluble in alkali or water or indeed, filterable in the pulping process.

In both cases adhesives must be removed from the system and disposed of. With dispersed or soluble adhesives, build-up and removal from the backwater system is the main problem, involving costly water treatment programmes. In the case of adhesives which are screened out during the process, screen rejects, usually attached to fibre, must be disposed of either in landfill sites or by incineration.

Whilst these approaches cannot be considered to produce a totally recyclable adhesive, they are certainly a step forward from the traditional problems with soft, tacky adhesives in mill systems. These approaches, one can say, allow the finished products to be recycled more effectively.

Other variables which must be considered when trying to produce a totally recyclability are mill systems and test methods. The wide range of different mills inevitably employs slightly different systems which can affect the ability to recycle certain materials with regards to handling contraries. Process variables such as pulping shear forces/ speeds, temperature, consistencies, pH, dispersion/ screening capabilities, de-inking processes and cleaner efficiency can have a major impact on the quality of the finished product and recycling efficiency in the mills. The bottom line here is that an adhesive which is acceptable to one mill may cause problems at other mills. This will become evident in subsequent sections.

Due to the complexity and variability of different mill systems, it is difficult to imagine how a standard test in the laboratory can be developed and validated. Many recyclability tests exist utilising both laboratory and small scale pilot plant equipment, but none really truly reflect the adhesives’ ability to be recycled since they cannot accurately simulate the whole mill treatment system. Tappi UM 666 is most widely quoted as an adhesive recycling test nevertheless this is still only a simplistic, laboratory scale test which can only be used as an initial guide or screening process. Currently, the only true test of a product’s recyclability is to run a full scale mill trial.

Development of a suitable standard test method is a project which industry research organisations, recycling mills and adhesive manufacturers must investigate if significant technical and economic advances are anticipated.

Peter Harrison is Joint Managing Director of The Printing House Ltd, and Print Buying Direct of Crewe, Cheshire, UK.

NEW: We now sell Large Poster Printing online (A1 Posters, A0 Posters etc) and Banner Stands

Also – checkout our new online print prices Print Buying Direct are UK market Leaders in Leaflet Printing | Brochure Printing. For more free articles on Printing and Graphic Design see our Online Printing | Print Buying Direct Website. For more information on printing and graphic design please see some of our recent blog articles;

• Environmentally Aware Printing – Inks | Adhesives | Bookbinding adhesives
• Environmentally Aware Printing – Adjusting to alcohol free printing
• Environmentally Aware Printing – Alcohol free benefits
• Environmentally Aware Printing – Alcohol in fount solvents
• Environmentally Aware Printing – Citrus-based washes

Print Buying Direct is the online division and a Trading Name of The Printing House Ltd. One of the UK’s leading quality printing companies for short run, long run and wide format colour printing. Based in Crewe, Cheshire, in the North West of England – delivering to customers across the UK and Ireland.

Also see our other websites The Printing House, Print Buying Direct, Prospectus printing, Golf Club Centenary Books

Environmentally Aware Printing – Alcohol free benefits - 9th February 2010
Running without alcohol is clearly cheaper than running with it providing that press speeds and print quality are maintained. Not only is the cost of the initial charge of alcohol saved, but there is also the replenishment required to replace evaporation to be considered. When a concentration of no greater than 15% alcohol is being used, the elimination of this evaporation replacement cost multiples the savings by a factor of four.

Solutions of 25% isopropanol or above are classified as flammable liquids (having a closed cup flash point of 100 ºF or below) and Dahlgren damping users in the USA frequently used these concentrations in the 70s. Therefore, eliminating alcohol reduced fire hazard and allowed for a reduction in fire insurance premiums.

It was also observed early in the work that a reduction in the level of alcohol was one of the most powerful means of improving ink lay, reducing ink consumption and increasing print gloss.

The driving force behind alcohol elimination in the latter half of the 80s and during the 90s became an environmental concern. The reduction of ozone in the lower atmosphere was mandated in the USA in the clean Air Act. Similar concerns are behind the Environmental Protection Act in the UK. The reduction in ozone is assisted by emitting less volatile organic compounds and, by eliminating alcohol from their damping solutions, litho printers greatly reduces their VOC burden in a regulatory sense.

Printer’s Services Inc has been a major player in the development of the alcohol substitutes. A collaborative effort between GATF, Union Carbide and Printer’s Services in the 70s and 80s gave rise to Techfount, an alcohol substitute which has since been refined and incorporated into the Prisco line of alcohol substitution products.

This range, which includes one-step fountain concentrates, meets the needs of a diverse market from small duplicators to large publication web offset printers. The development process is an unending one- as trends in ink formulation, government legislation and printing technologies change, new products are developed.

Alcohol substitutes come as a separate product to be used with the fountain solution concentrate or may be incorporated into the fountain solution concentrate itself. Whether you choose the ‘two-step’ or ‘one-step’ approach will depend on your need for greater control or convenience.

Peter Harrison is Joint Managing Director of The Printing House Ltd,
and Print Buying Direct of Crewe, Cheshire, UK.

NEW: We now sell Large Poster Printing online (A1 Posters, A0 Posters etc) and Banner Stands

Also – checkout our new online print prices

Print Buying Direct are UK market Leaders in Leaflet Printing | Brochure Printing.

For more free articles on Printing and Graphic Design see our Online Printing | Print Buying Direct
Website.

For more information on printing and graphic design please see some of our recent blog articles;

• Environmentally Aware Printing – Alcohol in fount solvents
• Environmentally Aware Printing – Citrus-based washes
• Environmentally Aware Printing – Chemicals in the pressroom
• Environmentally Aware Printing – Getting rid of empty ink containers – 3rd February 2010
• Environmentally Aware Printing – Disposing of inks

Print Buying Direct is the online division and a Trading Name of The Printing House Ltd. One of the UK’s leading quality printing companies for short run, long run and wide format colour printing. Based in Crewe, Cheshire, in the North West of England – delivering to customers across the UK and Ireland.

Also see our other websites

The Printing House, Print Buying Direct, Prospectus printing, Golf Club Centenary Books

Environmentally Aware Printing – Alcohol in fount solvents – 8th Feb 2010
The other area of concern is the presence of isopropyl alcohol in the litho fount solution and its evaporation into the pressroom during use. As with so many other ‘environmental issues’, the origins of the search for replacements for isopropyl alcohol in the fount solution had nothing to do with health and safety or protecting the environment. Like vegetable oil-based inks, it started with the oil crisis in the early 1970s.

The need to try and eliminate isopropyl alcohol began in 1974 when the first Arab oil embargo placed a server restriction on supplies. The resulting panic triggered a tremendous research effort on the part of suppliers as well as academic organisations like the Graphic Arts Technical Foundation (GATF).

Many approaches to replacement were based upon surfactants that would improve the wetting of the plate. Others utilised higher molecular weight alcohols and alkyl glycols which could be used at very low concentrations and, due to their low vapour pressure, did not evaporate so much into the atmosphere and did not need regular replenishment.

As is usually the case, the crisis stimulated a lot of research into the basics of the lithographic process, especially into the interaction between the ink, press and fountain solution, not only did the industry gain more understanding into the mechanism of alcohol’s beneficial properties but some of the negative contributions to damping were seen more clearly.

With easing of the restrictions on alcohol supply, the vast majority printers returned to their normal alcohol consumption. However, the supply industry, seeing new opportunities to utilise these technologies to establish a new niche market, continued to develop the fountain solutions that would eliminate or at least reduce alcohol requirements in continuous damping systems. But the marketing thrust was now on economics, safety and print quality.

Peter Harrison is Joint Managing Director of The Printing House Ltd,
and Print Buying Direct of Crewe, Cheshire, UK.

NEW: We now sell Large Poster Printing online (A1 Posters, A0 Posters etc) and Banner Stands

Print Buying Direct are UK market Leaders in Leaflet Printing | Brochure Printing.

For more free articles on Printing and Graphic Design see our Online Printing | Print Buying Direct
Website.

For more information on printing and graphic design please see some of our recent blog articles;

• Environmentally Aware Printing – Citrus-based washes
• Environmentally Aware Printing – Chemicals in the pressroom
• Environmentally Aware Printing – Getting rid of empty ink containers – 3rd February 2010
• Environmentally Aware Printing – Disposing of inks
• Environmentally Aware Printing – Water-based inks and coatings

Print Buying Direct is the online division and a Trading Name of The Printing House Ltd. One of the UK’s leading quality printing companies for short run, long run and wide format colour printing. Based in Crewe, Cheshire, in the North West of England – delivering to customers across the UK and Ireland.

Also see our other websites

The Printing House, Print Buying Direct, Prospectus printing, Golf Club Centenary Books

Environmentally Aware Printing – Citrus-based washes – 5th February 2010
The most widely-favoured option at the moment is to use citrus-based by products to produce washes that are effective in their cleaning action, are miscible with water, have low volatility and, incidentally, smell nice. Such products are available from many sources and are typified by Keane Graphic Products’ Bio-Graphic range.

These water-miscible blanket and roller washes are commonly totally free of organic solvents yet are fully as effective as the solvent-based counterparts, as the growing number of regular users are finding. They are formulated from natural products that are fully biodegradable.

The action of these washes is different from solvent-based products but no less effective. It is particularly useful for dealing with lint and gum glaze. It dissolves ink to a very high degree and yet is safe to use on blankets and plates. Regular use will prevent build up of a glaze and remove the need for cleaning with stronger, more damaging solvents.

Vegetable- oil based
A more recent approach that is, as yet, less widely available is to use vegetable-oil based cleaners. These are effective in cleaning off inks, as long as they have not been allowed to dry hard, yet do not have such an aggressive effect on the skin and are not volatile. This non-volatility does mean that greater care needs to be taken to dry off the rollers or blanket after cleaning.

An example of this type of product for those printers who want to eliminate VOCs but are uncomfortable with water-based products, are the range of Prisco Enviroklene blanket and roller washes from Printers Service of Newark, New Jersey and distributed in the UK by Keane Graphic Products. They surpass the most stringent limits on VOCs imposed by any state of the USA, let alone the UK, without having to rely on toxic chlorinated hydrocarbons or emulsification with water. Enviroklene does not swell blankets or rollers, is significantly less toxic than conventional solvent washes and is suitable for any size of web or sheet fed press.
Peter Harrison is Joint Managing Director of The Printing House Ltd,
and Print Buying Direct of Crewe, Cheshire, UK.

NEW: We now sell Large Poster Printing online (A1 Posters, A0 Posters etc) and Banner Stands

Print Buying Direct are UK market Leaders in Leaflet Printing | Brochure Printing.

For more free articles on Printing and Graphic Design see our Online Printing | Print Buying Direct
Website.

For more information on printing and graphic design please see some of our recent blog articles;

• Environmentally Aware Printing – Chemicals in the pressroom
• Environmentally Aware Printing – Getting rid of empty ink containers – 3rd February 2010
• Environmentally Aware Printing – Disposing of inks
• Environmentally Aware Printing – Water-based inks and coatings
• Environmentally Aware Printing – Ultraviolet (UV) inks

Print Buying Direct is the online division and a Trading Name of The Printing House Ltd. One of the UK’s leading quality printing companies for short run, long run and wide format colour printing. Based in Crewe, Cheshire, in the North West of England – delivering to customers across the UK and Ireland.

Also see our other websites

The Printing House, Print Buying Direct, Prospectus printing, Golf Club Centenary Books