When you're campaigning for change, it's a common practice to adopt a position that is the polar opposite to that of your rival. Barack Obama's campaign team used his measured eloquence to highlight the goofy antics of McCain and Palin, the left-leaning press habitually targets the Daily Mail and the environmental lobby frequently targets print as an industry failing to do its bit.

But while McCain may have been the ying to Obama's yang and while the Daily Mail is certainly antithetical to left-leaning thinking, print's reputation as an environmental washout is completely wide of the mark. In fact, print is one of the leading manufacturing industries in terms of its efforts to clean up its act, with technological advances bringing ever-greener processes and kit.

Waterless printing was one of the first such developments. It removed the use of water and dampening solution from the press, bringing environmental benefits in the form of reduced water consumption and a significant reduction in the release of potentially harmful volatile organic compounds (VOCs) into the atmosphere. East Sussex-based Beacon Press was one of the first printers to take it up. 

"We looked at waterless and we were very interested in the apparent advantages it had to offer both environmentally and in terms of the finished product," explains Richard Owers, business development director at Beacon Press. "By the end of the 1990s, our printing was completely waterless."

However, by that time, technology was already moving on. Computer-to-plate (CTP) technology entered the mainstream. This eliminated several parts of the pre-press process, removing the use of film and radically reducing waste. This was a major breakthrough as it allowed print to streamline its processes, making it more efficient and less wasteful.

"The move away from film and towards CTP obviously brought numerous environmental benefits," says Patrick Headley, GI Direct sales director. "Not least because you removed the need for the plastic film. In addition, the plates over the years have got much more environmentally friendly, they are using less alloys and chemicals. The whole thing has been positive."

Chemistry conflict
Positive, that is, except for waterless printing. The emergence of CTP caused waterless printers some issues as the plates were very sensitive and were liable to scratch when printing without water. It forced Beacon Press into a difficult decision.
"We were the first UK printer to put in a waterless CTP plate," explains Owers. "It proved rather troublesome and for various reasons the plate was imaging inconsistently, which was bad for the environment in terms of waste and for our business. So we had to choose between CTP and waterless. Both had their own benefits and we are now offering both waterless and non-waterless printing.

"Fortunately, around this time we had set up detailed environmental data gathering and we found that our water consumption was half what it was when we were a 100% waterless company. This suggested our water use was mainly domestic rather than press use, so water didn't appear to be that big an issue. The principle of waterless was attractive, but ultimately as it is such a niche product and did not have the economies of scale, both environmentally and financially other routes are more effective."

These ‘other routes' included the use of alcohol on press. Beacon installed an alcohol-optimisation system that enabled it to gradually eliminate its IPA (isopropyl alcohol) use. Removing IPA from the process eradicates, as going waterless does, one of the main sources of VOCs in the pressroom. Unlike waterless, the print quality remains good with CTP.
"Reducing alcohol made a big difference to the environment and still allowed us to use standard consumables, so there were economic benefits to it as well," says Owers.

However, these benefits are dependent on you doing things properly. With IPA-free printing, the chemistry can be corrosive and so can cause problems with pipes and the seals on presses. But, do it properly, and printing IPA-free is definitely a significant green advance.

Proof positive
Less effective is the dawn of soft proofing as in reality you are only saving on two or three sheets of paper each time. However, multiply that by the number of proofs produced each year in the UK and it does add up to a significant waste saving. Similarly, with remote proofing you may be only saving yourself a courier's journey each time, but on the larger scale the reduced carbon emissions could be significant. Both these advances in technology should not be sniffed at in terms of their eco benefits, minimal though they may seem.

In the future, more substantial benefits could come with the rapid increase in digital printing. Here the major gain is ?
in the reduction of waste. Beacon Press' Owers estimates that with litho 20% of paper printed will never reach the customer, but will instead find itself in the bin. For digital, he reckons as little as 5% of print is wasted.

He points to the fact that, with litho, it is cost-effective to print longer runs and so clients will print more than they need as it works out cheaper. With digital, you have the ability to print as and when you need. Also, the growth in web-to-print and brand asset management, means the number of times you have to dispose of thousands of copies of unwanted or incorrect stock because the wrong document went through the press, occurs less frequently.

Image improvements
Headley adds that digital allows personalisation and variable data printing, two things that will ensure direct mail only hits the right people at the right time. As unwanted DM is one of the major reasons the public generally regard print as environmentally unfriendly, digital could prove to be a way to rehabilitate print in the public consciousness.

"Digital printing is potentially a massive leap forward as you can feasibly print less but sell more through better targeted mailings," says Headley. "However, we are about 10% digital print at the moment. To increase that, the [cost-per-page] price of digital print would have to come down."

But it's not just the print process where the industry is looking to go green - it is also examining the ink options. Vegetable-based inks, which don't use petrochemicals and therefore score highly with the environmental lobby, have improved in availablity and, to a lesser degree, in quality.

Unsurprising then that GI Direct is looking at curbing its use of oil-based inks entirely. Headley explains: "We would like to go to all-vegetable inks, but the problem is that, currently, they are not as good quality in terms of colour. There is also the bigger picture. If we had the extra space to grow the vegetables to create the oils then everything would be fine, but the truth is that if you are converting food production or forest space to the production of vegetables for inks, or other crops for environmentally friendly processes, then the larger impact is negative."

Overview
Looking at the larger impact is crucial. For every eco-benefit there is a potential eco-negative and so it's crucial that printers don't blindly install new technology for green reasons without considering the wider impact.

Also, Clare Taylor of Clare Taylor Consulting adds that environmental practice does not have to be focused on the big things. "Improving environmental performance doesn't have to cost, you can do things that don't cost you money. You can turn computers off, reduce waste and just concentrate on general housekeeping," she says.

 There is also room for more eccentric innovation. Bishops Printers in Hampshire called on packaging and recycling giant SCA to help install an extraction system - basically a series of tubes that suck paper waste from the finishing machines up to the ceiling and out of the building into a compactor. Managing director Gareth Roberts says it has not only reduced printing times by at least an hour and a half by eradicating the need to pause production to remove skips, giving an energy saving, but it has also reduced the number of trips the waste lorries have to make. "In terms of transport, SCA now visit twice a week instead of six times a week so there has been an incredible saving in carbon emissions," he explains.

What with more and more customers asking printers to show them their eco-credentials, be it through FSC or PEFC accreditations, carbon offsetting schemes or other green badges, the technological advances print has made to clean up its act have proved crucial. Whatever the environmental lobby might believe, far from being antithetical to desire to preserve the planet, print has consistently shown itself willing to take on new technology and push for better ways of reducing its environmental footprint.

THE NEW GREEN

Biodegradable laminate Bishops Printers are currently testing biodegradable laminates and hope to find one with the quality to usurp standard laminate

Power perfector Beacon Press has installed this system that monitors how much power you actually need to run your presses, which is generally far lower than what you are supplied with, and sends the excess back to the national grid

Combined heat and power (CHP)  Using CHP technology, the heat produced during power generation is recovered, usually in a heat recovery boiler and can be used to raise steam for a number of industrial processes. CHP systems make extensive use of the heat produced during the electricity generation process: they can achieve overall efficiencies in excess of 70% at the point of use. Tullis Russell has started construction on a CHP Biomass power plant at its Scottish mill

Innovative recycling  For those willing to make the effort, there are plenty of uses for waste print products. Cambiran Printers has been known to send used print blankets to work as protection on horse riding jumps, while its aluminium engine blocks and pallets have, in the past, become dolls’ houses