What does green printing mean? Is it only confined to FSC certification, the use of recycled paper and soy ink or does it have any other dimension? I agree that FSC certification is important and recycled papersand soy ink have contributed significantly to combat growing environmental hazards. However, there has been a fresh debate on the effectiveness of these measures.
Soy ink is being used extensively by green printing companies. For years, offset printers have used soy ink to good effect but does it prove equally beneficial for flexographic printers- actually not. The truth is green companies have become lazy and do not want to dig deeper into finding more green solutions. They are just happy voicing the monotonous terms recycled, renew, green, reusable and what not. A much appreciable step will be the analysis of green issues that would help them take the cause of sustainability to a much higher level.
Most greenprinting companies talk about using recycled paper, which is easy and affordable. However, the real matter of concern is these papers are not tree-pulp free. Recent studies suggest that one ton of recycled paper consumes about 4 trees, creates up to two tons of solid waste, and gives way to thousand tons of contaminated waste water. Hence recycled paper cannot be the answer to saving trees. Instead, treeless paper made from rotten plants like banana, coconut trees, papaya, or bagasse can help combat deforestation to a great extent. Besides, there are some experiments going around where paper has been produced from calcium carbonate or natural chalk. Known as Stone Paper (rock paper), these papers can revolutionize paper production as natural chalk is renewable with high sustainability.
So, what measures can we adopt to combat these upcoming green issues? The answer lies in our willingness to invest more time and thought on improving the existing measures. We can start by educating those around us- friends, family, office colleagues, and neighbors- about the impending environmental threats on our beautiful planet. You can hold few sessions on how carbon emissions and depletion of non-renewable energy sources is fast landing our planet into the dungeon of hell. Learn, educate, and question but do not just be satisfied with the mantras of reusable, renew, or recycle. Its time to move out!
