The Benefits Of Brochure Printing That Is Eco Friendly

By Shirley Jones


In recent times, there have been sustained campaigns aimed at sensitizing the public on the importance of environmental conservation. This is what has given rise to the sudden change in product preferences among a significant proportion of consumers; the consumers want to play their small role by promoting businesses which protect natural resources. This has been seen in almost all industries including printing. Brochure printing that is eco friendly appears to be getting an edge over the conventional methods.

Proper utilization of raw materials and resources should be a priority in any printing firm. Such may include ink, water, paper and electricity. Only include the vital information in the brochure so as to use as little space as possible. You may need to experiment a few times before figuring out what information is most vital to your target audience. Having a design in which the paper is folded several times may help eliminate the need for too many pages.

Conventional printing involves the use of petroleum based inks. These inks degrade the environment by releasing volatile organic compounds (VOCs) into the atmosphere during the drying process. Vegetable inks have been accepted as a substitute for the petroleum based inks. Just like the commercial types, they have monochrome and color printing options. More importantly, they are environment friendly as they do not contain any VOCs.

Another area where one can conserve the environment and cut down on their operating costs at the same time is in the type of paper used in printing. Using paper obtained from pre-consumer and post-consumer waste reduces the demand for virgin paper (which would mean cutting down more trees). Post-consumer waste paper is paper that has been obtained from discarded products. Pre-consumer paper, on the other hand, is left over paper from the manufacturing process.

Apart from reducing on the rate of deforestation, paper recycling contributes to environmental conservation in several other ways. For example, the amount of water that is needed to process recycled paper is a lot less than that needed for virgin paper. Consequently, there is less effluent from the process. The main downside of using this type of paper has been the need to use chlorine as a bleaching agent but this has been changing as newer bleaching techniques are devised.

Other raw materials can be recycled in the same way as the paper. Water, which is one of the most important, is perhaps the easiest to be taken through these processes. Close to 60% of water used in one cycle can be reused. Ink can also be recycled similarly.

Energy efficiency is an important consideration for anyone concerned about the environment. Cut down on your use of fossil fuels and consider substituting them with renewable energy options such as solar and wind. If you are to buy new equipment, focus on getting higher output (more prints for a unit of energy used). Regular servicing will ensure your printers remain energy efficient.

Deciding to go green may increase your operation costs in the short term but the long term returns are worthwhile. For some people making the shift from the conventional methods may be too expensive. The option in this case is to outsource the entire process or part of it. Just make sure your chosen service provider has the necessary environmental certification.




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