Environment conservation is a priority for all of us. We have now realized the urgency of keeping the environment free from harmful emissions and chemical interactions. Anything that disturbs the ecological balance and pollutes the environment is hazardous and should be avoided or at least minimized to a great extent. The production and usage of various commodities should comply with eco friendly standards. This has given rise to the term “environment friendly” that essentially refers to the processes, products and services that cause minimum harm to the environment.

Printing is one such process that produces harmful wastes leading to environmental pollution. The use of petroleum inks, varnishes, laminates and adhesives leads to the production of volatile organic compounds (VOCs). The release of VOCs in the atmosphere has adverse environmental effects. This not only pollutes the air but also leads to respiratory ailments.

To save the environment, publishing houses should print green i.e. the printing process/ technology should be eco-friendly. Printers should comply with environment friendly rules and regulations to check the VOC release. The printing industry uses the natural resources in a major way. To control this heavy use of natural resources and save the environment, a new kind of printing process have made way into the printing industry. They are called green printers. Such printing houses use environment friendly processes and rely on recycled paper rather than non-recycled ones. Use of recycled paper does a lot of good to the environment by saving trees that would otherwise be cut to produce paper. Apart from this, recycled papers leads to energy saving and reduced release of air pollutants. Green printing houses source the paper from well managed forests that comply with strict environmental standards. The printing process is planned carefully to achieve optimum output by minimal usage of energy. The papers are sourced only from FSC (Forest stewardship companies) certified companies.

Green printing is a responsible and specialized job and thus it is offered by only a handful of printing presses. Green printers comply with all the environment friendly standards offering optimum production at minimal environmental damage.




By: Alfred Anderson