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ImageWelcome to Verdigris. This site provides information about environmental initiatives for the international printing community. It has a range of articles and reference links for printers, publishers, technology providers and anyone else who’s interested.

Articles cover all sorts of topics from explaining the basics of carbon footprinting for printers, to describing how individual printing companies are doing their bit to minimise their impact on the envrionment. This is an educational site that includes reference material and links to industry associations and environmental organisations around the world.

Is paper doomed?

Mon, 21/03/2022 - 08:15

medium_laurel2015.jpgThe Verdigris blog by Laurel Brunner

A belated welcome to 2022 and the year when technology makes possible the synthesising of paper using bacteria and carbon emissions. Not a joke. A company called LanzaTech has announced a deal with IndiTex, one of the world’s clothing giants, to develop a polyester fibre based on bugs and smoke. This story is probably of most interest to manufacturers and owners of digital textile printers. However the underlying technology has fascinating possibilities for substrates of all kinds.

Is Print on Demand Fashion a More Sustainable Model?

Mon, 07/03/2022 - 09:09

medium_2015_Laurel B.jpgThe Verdigris blog by Laurel Brunner

Digital textile production technology developers Kornit Digital has recently published its 2020 Impact and Environmental, Social, and Governance (“ESG”) Report. It finds that the fashion business overproduces by about 30% and is responsible for 20% of global waste water per year. This makes the fashion and textile industries amongst the most polluting on the planet. These numbers are surely unacceptable in this day and age.

Kodak’s Sustainability Report

Mon, 21/02/2022 - 07:39

Laurel-2018.jpgThe Verdigris blog by Laurel Brunner

A few years ago, it was tempting to write Kodak off as a spent force. And yet the 130 year old company is still here and its 4300 employees are collectively still making a difference. Not all of those people contribute directly to the graphics industry but amongst the companies many patents, 2500 are print related. Kodak recently published its sustainability report for 2020, covering 2018 to 2020. The most striking thing about this report is the reminder that sustainability is as much about a company’s survival as it is about the environment.

Sustainability begins at home

Mon, 07/02/2022 - 08:07

medium_laurel2015.jpgThe Verdigris blog by Laurel Brunner

Sustainability is entering business peoples’ consciousnesses in such a way that they actually invest in it. The environment is slowly rising up the agendas of print service providers and suppliers alike, but it has to be said that the graphics industry has tended more to the green washing than the actual greening end of the spectrum of environmental initiatives. But recently we have seen more organisations investing in environmental sustainability. It’s not just good for the planet, ideally it is good for business. How well these ideas are implemented gives a measure of their commitment. Some are more ambitious than others.

Climate change realities from Epson

Mon, 24/01/2022 - 09:35

medium_2015_Laurel B.jpgThe Verdigris blog by Laurel Brunner

Epson, the Japanese developer and manufacturer of wide format digital printers and other electronic kit, has recently published the results of a global survey, The Climate Reality Barometer survey. It highlights some worrying findings. https://global.epson.com/newsroom/2021/news_20210910.html

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