Welcome!

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.

Tiny Steps Turn into Strides

Mon, 05/11/2012 - 06:33

medium_Laurel.jpgThe weekly Verdigris blog by Laurel Brunner

For many consumers battling with economic hardship, the environment has fallen down their list of priorities. But businesses seem not to be losing faith in such numbers. Those printing companies who are managing to keep their heads above water, have got the message the reducing environmental impact is also about reducing costs and improving efficiencies. Amongst the supplier community the concept of supplying carbon neutral kit is gradually taking hold and customers are starting to pay attention to their energy usage. Electrical meters integrated onto printing devices and related machinery are the next step forward in supporting these customers.

The European Union’s Ecolabel

Wed, 31/10/2012 - 06:35

medium_Laurel.jpgThe weekly Verdigris blog by Laurel Brunner

After many years of prognostication the European Union has published its specification for an Ecolabel for products and services, excluding food and pharmaceuticals. This is a voluntary label designed to promote improved environmental performance. The idea is that consumers will choose products and services whose environmental impact on a life cycle basis is reduced. It isn’t clear what the baseline reference is for said reduction though, so this label will probably get used rather as calory labels do: less is better.

Seven Cardinal Innovations for a Sustainable Planet

Mon, 22/10/2012 - 07:06

medium_Laurel_2012.jpegThe weekly Verdigris blog by Laurel Brunner

The graphic arts industry often gets slammed for the waste and excess emissions it generates. Yet the printing industry is already implementing the Seven Cardinal Innovations as outlined by the Potsdam Institute for Climate Research. This organisation is heavy on research and academics, but has a proactive engagement with industry and governments. From what we can tell, there isn’t much interaction with print, which is a pity because print and paper are proactive players for reduced environmental impacts. Of the seven innovations print and paper is already implementing two of them.

Deinking Drama

Mon, 15/10/2012 - 15:42

medium_Laurel_2012.jpegThe weekly Verdigris blog by Laurel Brunner

It seems we rather hit a nerve with last week’s blog which isn’t so very surprising. That’s the trouble with blogging: not much room to develop an argument or adequately cover all sides of a problem. The blog’s purpose had been to highlight the dangers of denigrating digital printing on the basis that it isn’t deinkable. The fact that some print is suitable for most recycling processes and some very isn’t, is too nuanced for most media consumers. Consumers tend to look for guiltfree convenience and as a rule don’t appreciate the differences of imaging technologies and inks.

Deinking Myths & Magic

Mon, 08/10/2012 - 06:11

medium_Laurel_2012.jpegThe weekly Verdigris blog by Laurel Brunner

Let’s be clear: consumers don’t care about how materials get recycled, as long as they can be recycled. The important point for all of us in the printing industry is that anything corrosive to the credibility of printed paper recycling undermines the industry’s longterm survival. Challenging the recyclability of digital prints damages the credibility of print’s sustainability, in every sense of the word.

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