Tag Archives: Earth Day

Earth Day will be observing its 42nd year of raising environmental awareness on Sunday, April 22, 2012. As spring beckons us outside to enjoy nature, it is an excellent time to stop and reflect on what we can do for the environment. It is even better when we can make changes that lessen our impact on a daily basis. We are glad to say that great strides are being made by the printing industry to that end. When people think of the environmental impact of printing they tend to think in terms of paper. This makes sense because paper is the most publicly visible component. Paper mills are indeed working hard to make positive changes through the management of sustainable forests using responsible logging practices and limiting the use of herbicides and pesticides. The Forest Stewardship Council was established to implement a stringent chain of custody procedures to ensure the cleanest, most energy efficient processing and manufacturing possible. And of course recycling remains an important part of their efforts. What is less publicized is the “greening” of the actual process of printing. Traditional offset printers are switching from petroleum-based inks to vegetable-based inks such as soybean, linseed and flax. All of … Continue reading →