Print Buying Direct

Environmentally Friendly Printing – Environmental issues – 28th June 2010
Where more than one option is available, a careful choice must be made between one system and another with the obvious deciding factors those of capital and general running costs. However, with green issues well to the fore, the environmental impact of using any control technology is increasingly playing a key role in influencing the decision-making process.

The emotional topic of global warming caused by the continued of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere primarily by industry, has often led for calls within the European Community for a surcharge on fuel, or a Carbon Tax as it is often referred to, in a bid to make industry reduce the amount of fossil fuels consumed. Although no agreements have yet been made on such a tax, it must be borne in mind during the decision-making process as it would undoubtedly increase the costs of operating all energy dependent control systems such as thermal and catalytic incinerators.

It should be borne in mind that the combustion of one therm of natural gas will consume 16.95 lbs of oxygen, and as a by-products of the combustion process will produce 11.65 lbs of carbon dioxide. A typical printing company utilising an incinerator which consumes natural gas at the rate of 47 therms per hour would therefore be responsible for the production of 1589 tonnes of carbon dioxide per year.

In addition other gases are also produced as a by-product of the combustion process, notably nitrogen oxides, which are a contributory factor in the production of acid rain.

Environmentally Friendly Printing – Dryer optimisation
One of the principal factors in determining the size of the pollution control system required to comply with the legislation, and therefore in determining its initial capital and subsequent operating costs, is the volume of the waste gases generated by the printing process which require treating. As the volume of the gases increase so too does the size of the system required and it’s running costs.

It can be appreciated that by reducing the volume of gases generated, a much smaller emission control system is required with an associated reduction in its capital and operating costs. For all printing processes, the quantity of the waste gases generated is linked to the operating efficiency of the drying systems utilised. Therefore, as a first step in the selection of a suitable emission control system, a detailed investigation into the operation and performance of the drying system should be implemented and necessary measure carried out to ensure that it operates at peak efficiency.

The results of an intensive study of over 100 flexographic, rotogravure and coating printing plants throughout Europe illustrated that the majority of drying systems are operating well below optimum efficiency. By optimising the operation of the dryers, exhaust air flow rates are reduced significantly reductions of up to 75% can be achieved- and the size of the control system required to clean the gases reduced in scale accordingly and similarly the costs involved in its installation and operation.

Other benefits to be derived by optimising the operation of a typical drying system include:

• Reductions in energy consumption – between 30-50% on average
• Increased press machine speeds-typically up to 40%
• Reduced exhaust flow rates-up to 20% on average-smaller emission controls system
• Improved product quality- reduced solvent retention
• Reduced environmentally impact- lower CO, CO2 and nitrogen oxides.

In deciding upon the type of pollution control to install, a diverse variety of factors must be taken into account. The legislation to be applied throughout the European Community has yet to be finalised and this clearly creates problems when trying to establish a blueprint for the ideal pollution control system for any printing company.

Each system, as outlined, has significant advantages and disadvantages whether relating to their field of application, financial cost, or environmental impact. The long term running costs of a system should be established realistically well before a final decision is made with the figures quoted by the manufacturers checked by independent advisers, for these can vary widely.

Similarly, before deciding upon the size and type of control system to install, it is worthwhile establishing whether the print drying system is operating at optimum efficiency or whether improvements can be made. Failure to do so may result in the specification of a system which is far bigger than that really necessary with its associated additional costs, and which is prohibitively expensive to operate.

Clearly, where pollution control systems are concerned, taking time over the selection process, and looking pragmatically at all the options available can pay notable dividends.

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

We have great online print prices – Print Buying Direct are UK market Leaders and Innovators in Leaflet Printing | Brochure Printing, Large Poster Printing, Banner printing online (A1 Posters, A0 Posters etc) and Banner Stands.

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 Friendly Printing – Condensing filtration solvent recovery
• Green Printing – Carbon absorption
• Green Printing – Thermal incineration
• Green Printing – Emissions to air

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

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

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

• Print Buying Direct is the UK’s leading Web-to-print Printing Company
• The Customer Experience just gets Better and Better at Print Buying Direct
• Web revolution allows Crewe to ‘Print the World’
• Stay Legal and Give Yourself a Sporting Chance

We have just launched 2 new brands – keep an eye out in the coming months for;

Cheap Banner Stands and Premium Banner Stands

See Our latest press Releases Digital printing in Cheshire,

Crewe Printers in UK First

Also Digital printing in just 15 Minutes

Share
|

Label Printing – Factors influencing choice of Label Adhesives – 22nd March 2010
For some specialist applications, there are a number of British, European or International Standards which can be referred to, for example:

• BS 5609 for Marine-related label applications.
• BS 5665 or EN71 Part III Toy Safety Regulations
• FDA (USA) or BGA (Europe) Indirect and Direct Food Contact

But a printer can no longer assume performance or meeting specifications are the only criteria he should influence and consider. With the impending European Packaging Legislation, forcing a move away from land-fill to reuse/ recycling, self adhesive labels will have to be recyclable or re-usable in combination with an increasingly diverse number of plastics and board.

To make the most appropriate ‘green’ adhesive selection, the printer must be aware of the life cycle of the product he converts, including:

• Raw materials selection.
• Formulation of adhesive.
• Coating of laminate.
• Conversion.
• Application.
• End use.
• Ultimate disposal.

This selection of adhesive must involve laminator, printer and customer.

Laminators who use materials/ processes which could result in emissions to air or waterborne hazardous substances are controlled by increasingly rigorous legislation. However, environmentally- responsible laminators have been controlling and limiting emission for many years. Often to lower limits than those now set by law.

For example, solvent systems are often viewed as environmentally unfriendly, due to the negative effect emissions have on the environment.

Solvent recovery is practised by environmentally-conscious laminators to:

• Prevent emission of solvents into the waste disposal system.
• Allow reclamation of solvent for re-use

Effective solvent recovery significantly reduces or eliminates any potential threat to the environment.

Next time – more on Label Printing…

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;

• Label Printing – Factors influencing choice of Label Adhesives
• Environmentally Aware Printing – Types of Adhesives (continued)
• Environmentally Aware Printing – Types of Adhesives (continued)
• Environmentally Aware Printing – Types of Adhesives (continued) – 11th March 2010
• Environmentally Aware Printing – Types of Adhesives (continued)

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

Letterhead Printing: We now have a new selection of Letterhead Templates Available. Choose from Traditional Letterheads, Modern Letterheads and Professional letterheads

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

• Print Buying Direct is the UK’s leading Web-to-print Printing Company
• The Customer Experience just gets Better and Better at Print Buying Direct
• Web revolution allows Crewe to ‘Print the World’

Recycled Paper – Print appearance – 21st January

In areas printed as solids there can be an uneven appearance and a poor ink lay due to uneven ink absorption and the roughness of the surface. A surface profile in which the peaks and valleys of the paper are greater than the thickness of the ink film is common, and as a result the ink fails to ‘bottom’ the valleys of the paper surface.

The surface is likely to be ruptured at many points where the fibre bonds have failed to resist the tack forces of the ink during impressions, and the tendency of quickest inks to ‘tack up’ as the low-viscosity components of the vehicle drain into the surface only makes matters worse. Solids are also likely to appear a little duller, with less floss, than on a comparable standard paper.

Set-off is possible, especially in overprint areas, owing to the heavy ink weights that must be run to achieve an acceptable print density on highly absorbent stocks. High surface acidity on some stocks can exacerbate drying problems. Halftones suffer considerably as dot gain is higher than on papers made from virgin fibre.

At the same time, reduction is brightness and maximum print densities will cause a loss of print contrast. It is often necessary to print halftones with coarser screen rulings is required on other stocks. Tints suffer in the same way but can also be noticeably uneven, for the same reasons as solids.

Type is affected by the paper absorbency, appearing thicker and less crisp. On smaller type sizes counters are prone to filling in, and some faces can become legible. Colour work suffers from the reduction in print contrast referred to earlier, appearing duller and less saturated than on standard stocks, and colour balance can be influenced by the hue of the paper.

Despite the difficulties, some printers have produced first class, award winning work in recycled paper. To obtain optimum quality, and process the materials as efficiently as possible, it is necessary to treat recycled papers a little differently from their standard counterparts.

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

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;

• Recycled Paper – Printability
• Recycled paper – Availability
• Recycled paper- uses
• Paper Recycling legislation as it concerns the print industry
• Printing and Recycling- definitions and legislation

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

Recycled Paper – Printability – 20th January 2010
Given the enormous variation in the paper types that include fibre, and the different uses to which they are put, it is impossible to suggest guidelines for printing which will apply to every paper. In practice, however, the structural changes that cellulose fibres undergo cause some broadly similar changes to physical properties and thus to appearance and printability. Most papers containing a high proportion of recycled fibre have a significantly greater bulk and porosity than similar stocks made from virgin fibre.

Absorbency
Absorbency consistently undergoes substantial change. The relatively low moisture content of most recycled stocks makes them prone to absorption of moisture from the air, and their reduced density gives them a larger volume of air spaces that exert capillary suction on both ink and moisture.

The ink absorbency affects the gloss, the drying characteristics (high absorbency assists drying but also demands high ink weights, which can lead to set-off) and dot gain. As with most papers, smoothness and rigidity fall as bulk increases. Litho and flexo can compensate for surface and roughness to a degree, but lack of rigidity can cause problems with feed and delivery on sheet-fed presses.

Brightness
Brightness is reduced in proportion to the amount of contaminants present, including ink particles and lignin from any mechanical fibre present. Surface strength is reduced owing to the poor bonds between fibres and as a result recycled stocks are prone to linting and picking. Contraries can be present in large numbers in some stocks.

Whiteness is often poor, especially on stocks made from post- consumer waste. It also tends to be inconsistent even on some of the higher grades as the papermaker is unable to control adequately the type and proportion of discolouring contaminants.

Stability
Dimensional stability, as one would expect from low moisture content and high absorbency can be very poor. Since the actual expansion of the sheet takes time, its effect is minimised when printing wet-on-wet on a multi-colour press. On the worst sheets, expansion is not confined to the cross-grain direction and serious register problems can result.

Opacity tends to be higher on recycled stocks when comparing sheets of a similar substance and in combination with the higher bulk makes recycled papers highly suitable for certain applications such as book printing. Interestingly, mechanical fibre suffers less degradation than chemical fibre. When used for newsprint, the maintenance of fibre properties and the inclusion of some wood free fibre from periodical and magazine waste actually results in improvements to smoothness, strength and density, and printers find that drying characteristics are improved.

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

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;

• Recycled paper – Availability
• Recycled paper- uses
• Paper Recycling legislation as it concerns the print industry
• Printing and Recycling- definitions and legislation
• Print and paper industry – Other emissions to water

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

Paper Recycling legislation as it concerns the print industry – 14th January 2010

Achieving an eco label that will work throughout 12 countries is one thing. Co-ordinating waste paper legislation across Europe is another.

The pressure is building up. There is scarcely any landfill left in some parts of western Germany – in other parts there is none, and the building of new incineration systems and waste disposal sites in opposed powerfully by the public.

Green Dot

The ‘green dot’, printed on packaging is an attempt to divert some of the waste stream back into paper and board manufacture. If you are a conscientious German, rubbish is not just something to be thrown away before close inspection. If the package has a green dot, it goes into a special yellow bin, instead of into the usual black container.

Printed on 80% of all packages sold in Germany, including wine bottles, food wrappings, cans and cartons, the green dot has become the most visible sign of the ambitious German scheme which aims to sort, collected and recycle the bulk of household waste. The law, introduced in 1992, effectively coerces manufacturers into recovering and re-using the ever increasing quantities of packaging waste.

But recycling capacity is in no way sufficient to cope, leaving volumes of unwanted waste paper flooding European Markets. And what may worry UK waste merchants even more is that it has been considered by the EC as a possible blueprint for a Europe-wide packaging directive.

Eco-emballage

Other EC countries are trying to similar systems. Last September, France set up an ‘eco-emballage’ system which requires municipalities to collect packaging products already marked for sorting. So far there is little sign of enthusiasm among the French for sorting their own rubbish, but these are early days.

Eco-emballage has a target of a recycling rate of 75% by the year 2000. This compares to 80% for the German Green Dot system and 60% set by the European Commissions’ packaging waste directive.

The movement is spreading. Aiming to increase the use of recycled fibre, the Belgian Government proposed in January 1993 to introduce a broad ranging eco-tax on the sales of products ranging from batteries, disposables razors, pesticides, PVC and most paper grades. It would apply, from January 1994, to domestic production and imports of newsprint, magazine paper, corrugated case materials, carton board, tissue, copy paper and leaflet printing paper.

Belgium uses less waste paper than any other EC country – 23% in 1993. This compares with an overall average for the EC countries of over 50%.  BF10 will be charged for each kg sold of the undesignated papers unless they contain a minimum quota of recycled fibre by certain dates between 1994 to 1999. The minimum quotas range from 15% on tissue paper by (by 1997). If it can be shown that the pulp used in the manufacture of a paper grade was leached without chlorine gas, the proposed eco-tax will be reduced to BF5 per kg. Adding up to BF5, 000 per tonne, that is a considerable price incentive.

The industry has responded with howls of protest. The recycling levels are ‘arbitrary and incapable of verification’, according to Cepi, the Confederation of European Paper Industries. And the level of 50% recycled fibre for A4 copier paper is not technically possible without increasing costs and reducing quality, it says. Moreover, it is incapable of verification because it would require the calculation of material input at mill, so imports cannot be checked.

The success of these ventures will depend on the public’s response. And as a taste of what’s in store, European households could be treated to the sight of ‘Hugo the bin’ and ‘Egon the sack’, tow comic characters used on German children’s television to publicise the Green Dot.

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

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;

• Printing and Recycling- definitions and legislation
• Print and paper industry – Other emissions to water
• Print and Paper Industry Environmental Facts
• Paper for Printing – Other areas of environmental impact
• Sustainable forestry and the Print and Paper Industry

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

Printing and Recycling- definitions and legislation – part 1- 13th January 2010

There are 800 environmental managers now employed by UK corporations, all seeking out ways in which their companies can perform better environmentally. They are asking some tough questions of their suppliers. As part of that network, should printers be bothered with environmental labelling schemes for paper and board? The answer is clearly yes, if they want to stay in business.

But, tiers of juggling the claims of the recyclers (waste fibre good, virgin fibre bad) versus the foresters (we plant three seedlings for each tree we cut down), printers could be forgiven for not knowing who to believe.

Matters are not helped by the plethora of ‘labelling schemes’ which have leapt forward – mostly uninvited – with ‘the facts’. Each purports to clarify, but they often add to confusion and create scepticism.

None of them has a truly independent stamp of approval at national or international level. The NAPM scheme involves a fee, and the German Blue Angel has both a registration fee and an annual renewal charge.

But environmental printers need to hear what their clients want, and to explain the choices of paper available to them in environmental terms. That means they have to be label- literate. The first two schemes outlined below deal with recycled papers, the last three aim to assess all types of paper.

The ABCD scheme
This is a contents labelling scheme which makes no judgement on what is really recycled. It allows the user to make up his or her own mind. The BPIF is known to favour the approach.

This grades the recycled content of papers. By including within its parameters four different types of waste, including the mill’s own production waste, known as ‘mill broke’, it avoids passing judgement on whether or not its use is a good thing.
Peter Harrison is Joint Managing Director of The Printing House Ltd,
and Print Buying Direct of Crewe, Cheshire, UK.

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;

• Print and paper industry – Other emissions to water
• Print and Paper Industry Environmental Facts
• Paper for Printing – Other areas of environmental impact
• Sustainable forestry and the Print and Paper Industry
• Printing – Raw materials for Paper sourcing

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

Print and Paper Industry Environmental Facts – 12th January 2010

Emissions to air

Increasingly tight legislation will determine the permitted levels of atmospheric pollution and it also fair to rate products as better environmentally if their pollution levels to the atmosphere are lower than their competitor’s. Sulphur and carbon dioxide emissions are currently the key elements of concern. Oxides of nitrogen may also be a consideration, and others may be added in years to come. This overall energy efficiency of the production plant may be worth taking note of – naturally, the more efficient the production process, the lower will be the emissions per tonne of paper produced.

Bleaching

One of the most contentious issues of all surrounding the paper industry has been the use of chlorine in the traditional bleaching process. In recent years it was found that, as a by-product of the use of chlorine gas, minute quantities of dioxins might be release into waterways. Although the amounts were tiny, and within levels that were generally regarded by experts as harmless, there was public concern – so the industry has reacted significantly. Two things have happened. Firstly, traditional bleaching systems that used (elemental) chlorine gas have been modified to reduce significantly the consumption of bleaching chemicals. Secondly, in most cases chlorine dioxide is used now rather than chlorine gas in its pure form. This might be linked to a dilute form of chlorine, and the result of bleaching with this new system means that the chlorinated organics in effluent from most pulp mills have been reduced to a fraction of their former levels. This is measured in AOX (standing for ‘absorbable organic halogens’ in kilograms per tonne of pulp. Whereas 4.0kg per tonne was typical a few years ago, today most mills are below 1.0 and are expected in general to be 0.5 or less very shortly. This new process which avoids the use of pure elemental chlorine is termed ‘elemental chlorine free’ (ECF).

Some types of pulp can be produced without any chlorine or chlorine compounds at all in their bleaching process. These are described as ‘totally chlorine free’ (TCP) pulps, but they are currently in limited supply. Some of these may not have the same paper-making qualities as the traditional types of pulp so some product differences could be noticed. In general the chlorine issue within pulp mills is well on the way to being resolved, although naturally, it takes time and money.

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

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;

• Paper for Printing – Other areas of environmental impact
• Sustainable forestry and the Print and Paper Industry
• Printing – Raw materials for Paper sourcing
• Environmental impacts of paper for printing
• Printing – Areas of environmental impact – Emissions to air and Bleaching

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

Paper for Printing – Other areas of environmental impact 11th January 2010

Energy

The next issue for consideration could be energy use. Most energy is fossil fuel based and has a direct impact in two ways. The natural reserves of fossil fuels are, by definition, finite. Some would argue, therefore, that is sensible to judge a product’s environmental impact on the type of fuel used to make it, weighted according to the known reserves of the particular fossil fuel involved. If a renewable source is used, e.g. hydroelectric power, this would be seen as significantly better than a fossil fuel-based power source. In Geographic; political and broad economic factors quite often tend to dictate fuel source, rather than companies themselves.

However, technology is helping to reduce the use of energy – it is estimated that the average energy consumption per tonne of paper produced has come down by over 25% over recent years,

Fossil fuels also contribute significantly to atmospheric pollution, although sophisticated cleaning systems can be installed by power producers minimise this. This is, inevitably, very expensive.
Peter Harrison is Joint Managing Director of The Printing House Ltd,
and Print Buying Direct of Crewe, Cheshire, UK.

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;

• Sustainable forestry and the Print and Paper Industry
• Printing – Raw materials for Paper sourcing
• Environmental impacts of paper for printing
• Printing – Areas of environmental impact – Emissions to air and Bleaching
• Printing – Areas of environmental impact – Energy

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

Printing – Raw materials for Paper sourcing - 6th January 2010
The issues concentrate on two areas:

1. Recycling

The extent to which waste has been used. This normally equates to paper waste (more on this shortly), but recently other types of waste fibre, it has been suggested, should also be taken into account.

2. Sustainable forestry

Sustainability, and the environmental management of forest resources, has become a major debate. Unfortunately it remains a rather subjective issue.

Recycling
The two are, of course, interlinked. The concept of attributing environmental merit to the use of waste products- particularly waste paper – is founded on the twin benefits of conversing forest resources and, at the same time, minimising the enormous problem in the whole of the developed world of waste disposal. Reusing waste kills two birds with one stone if – and sometimes it’s a big ‘if’ – the finished product provides the same level of customer utilisation and satisfaction (i.e. it does not, in itself, increase wastage in use), and if the waste material would, in fact, have been wasted: that’s its use for example, to make a recycled printing or office paper has not merely diverted the materials from some other type of use. To be of real value, recycled paper should show a direct relationship to reducing waste disposal. The same concept should be applied to assessing the merit of using sawmill waste or forest trimmings and thinning (i.e. branches, etc) as fibre source. A smaller direct savings of waste may be preferable to a larger indirect saving.
Because of the issues around the type of waste paper going into recycled products, a classification system was adopted by leading suppliers in the industry. This classifies the type of waste used to make printing and office papers into four categories, as follows:

A- Waste produced within the paper mill itself, e.g. trimmings from guillotines, sheeters, etc; damaged stock etc. but excluding ‘mill broke’. This is very high quality material, but has traditionally been recycled within mills.
Negligible environmental benefit.

B- Printers’ and converters unprinted, wood free waste. Again high quality waste, traditionally usefully recycled within the industry.

Small environmental benefit.
C- Woodfree, printed waste – particularly office waste. This almost certainly would have gone to landfill traditionally and its use represents the best opportunity of producing a high quality printing and office paper that will provide customer satisfaction and at the same time make a direct contribution to reducing the waste stream. The increasing number of office waste collection schemes provides the hope of increasing the availability of this type of material in the UK.

Significant environmental benefit.
D- Mechanical fibre products of all kinds, e.g. newspapers, magazines, directories, etc. this grade is normally associated with domestic and waste and. Of course, is in the most plentiful supply. Used primarily for the manufacture of packaging materials, its use for printing and office papers is a relatively new concept. The technology of producing high quality papers from such unpromising raw material is brilliant, but in the UK significant consumer resistance to the poor shade and appearance of such products holds back demand. British attitudes would need to change significantly or the technology will need to develop still further, for this to become a major opportunity.

Greatest environmental benefit.

Against each of these four categories a percentage number indicates how much is in particular brand, e.g. 100D; 40B/40C, etc.

Naturally, the percentage of recycled fibre contained in the sheet is of interest as much as the source, but the relative importance between the two may be a subjective matter. Which do you feel is better; a paper made from 20A and 80B, or a paper made from 50C (the balance in this case would be assumed to be new fibre)? You many well have firm opinions, but others may well have a different view.

In order to provide a degree of conformity and consistency, the industry has come up with the notion that to be called a recycled paper it should contain at least 50% recycled fibre regardless of the type of fibre used (‘mill broke’ [i.e. waste from the paper-machine itself] is excluded). In order to gain the additional accolade of a Seal of Approval from the National Association of Paper Merchants, it needs to contain 75% recycled fibre not including any mill waste at all (category A). Some have argued that to make a paper from 40C may well have greater environmental benefits and concentrated too much on the percentage without differentiating sufficiently on the fibre source is unwise. It is printed waste that will normally go into the waste stream, and unprinted waste whenever available in economic quantities would almost always find its way back into a paper of some kind. De-inking, of course, has to be of a high technical standard and shouldn’t create waste problems of its own. Some mills have developed intriguing uses for de-inked sludge – ranging from cat litter and soil conditioner to improving the insulating properties of building blocks. Perhaps such ingenuity in waste stream minimisation needs greater recognition!

There is no doubt at all that the use of recycled paper fibre will continue to increase significantly. The technology for cleaning and de-inking has developed the technology for incorporating increasing amounts of waste fibre in a wide range of papers continue apace, and the infrastructure for waste collection has the ability to improve. Not least is the increasing legislation in many countries that will pressurise paper makers to reuse more of their own waste- particularly in Germany. Tax incentives have also been discussed to add a bit of carrot to the stick, and vice versa in some cases!

The paper and print industries are major contributors to the problem of waste disposal. Around a third of municipal solid waste is made of paper products, usually printed ones. It is in our mutual interests to work together to improve our recycling record, if only to minimise the improve of any future legislation.

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

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;

• Environmental impacts of paper for printing
• Printing – Areas of environmental impact – Emissions to air and Bleaching
• Printing – Areas of environmental impact – Energy
• Sustainable forestry in paper making for printing

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

PR: wait… I: wait… L: wait… LD: wait… I: wait… wait… Rank: wait… Traffic: wait… Price: wait… C: wait…

Environmental impacts of paper for printing – 6th January 2010

How do you assess a product?
Everything we do has an environmental impact- and they are almost always negative ones. Environmental assessment of any activity or product must therefore measure as many of these impacts as possible in an objective way. The judgement of the comparative importance of different impacts, however, tends to be subjective. There is little general agreement, for example, on the relative importance of pollution to water or air. How does one judge two processes, one of the high chemical oxygen demand (COD) against the other which produces little COD, but a lot of greenhouse gases? There is no agreed methodology, but the closet approach is what is termed ‘life cycle analysis’ (LCA). LCA is not an exact science, but it attempts to provide a methodology to evaluate in a scientific and objective way all the environmental impacts of a product or process from the cradle to the grave. This analysis should highlight a number of key areas within the life cycle that account for the greatest impact, and which may well provide the key to assessing the relative performance of competing brands or alternative processes.

When looking at the various stages of the life of a paper, it is widely accepted that it is in the areas of raw materials and production that attention should be concentrated. The utilisation of paper has little environmental impact in itself, and it is not possible to differentiate between papers in terms of the way they perform. Disposal is an issue, but again this is in a general sense. With minor exceptions, normally relate to how the products have been processed, it is juts as easy – or difficult- to dispose of one paper as any other.

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

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;

• Printing – Areas of environmental impact – Energy
• Sustainable forestry in paper making for printing
• Marketing Offline to increase website revenues
• Environmental printers – Environmental Issues and Printing – Introduction

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

PR: wait… I: wait… L: wait… LD: wait… I: wait… wait… Rank: wait… Traffic: wait… Price: wait… C: wait…