The Tortoise Website

The Tortoise Website
Click on image to go to Author website. "THE RACE IS NOT TO THE SWIFT." Eccl. 9:11

Saturday, 17 January 2015

Sustainable Digital Printing At A Brief

By Kristen Baird


Over years, printing practices have changed from being those of fashion buzzword to being life facts. Most clients today expect and demand for sustainable digital printing choices that range from biodegradable to recyclable stocks. A recent survey showed that many consumers were interested in purchasing and using those products and services that were environmentally friendly in nature.

On a fair note, the print industry does have its own drawbacks. It has been estimated that more than forty five trillion pages do get printed every year. Of this pages, about thirty percent of them are never not consumed since they get outdated very fast making them irrelevant to read. So as to care for the environment, a solution to this may be to print more relevant materials by making them stunning and smart, emotional and exciting and to make them really matter.

Being sustainable may be viewed on the aspect of working in such a way that yields present success while catering for hitches that may arise in the future. A sustainable printing checks on the aspects of the processes of designs and printing as opposed to the recycled paper and soy ink options. This may involve projects designs, consumed energy, locations of resources and vendors and the daily business activity operations.

The following tips may be useful as you plan and design your print materials: ensure you pick recyclable, biodegradable and renewable materials. Though this is an obvious tip, it is important not to lose sight of role played by materials in your project. Inks that are vegetable based are usually free of heavy metals, low post-consumer waste are produced in safe and fair working conditions. These factors play in sustainability of a project.

The size and weight issue. Ensure that you reduce on the amounts of paper and extra materials that get used through designing pieces which are smaller. It is very much possible to save significant amount of inputs without necessarily comprising the integrity of the output. Lightweight products are also known to cut down on carbon emissions in addition to making shipping costs more efficient.

Re-packaging the packaging. Considering on options of packaging that may be made in other purposes or get reused in ways that are both interesting and functional is the ideal way to go. An example of this may be in the case where a baby stroller company may include directions that are printed in each box that give instructions to customers on ways to turn cardboard packaging into other products like chairs or bulb holders.

Making it modular. This is a process of making custom solutions with materials that are prefabricated or standardized. These modular designs boast of not only being easier to recycle but they also get easier in updating and repairing making them have longer shelf life. Manufacturing and shipping them is also more efficient thus reducing their consumption of energy throughout their life cycle.

Taking a look at the type. When printing, you should consider not only the ink but in addition the choice of your font. Some fonts are very easy to read and elegant in addition to them being ink efficient compared to other fonts.




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