ecoprint-system4™ : Reduce Waste

Aim: To reduce the waste from the printing process through the application of good working practice and appropriate use of technology.

The issues: Waste is identified in the Trucost/Williams Lea Environmental Report* on the print industry as the second most important environmental issue has two main effects on the competitiveness of print production. Firstly a system that has high wastage will be a less cost effective solution for a customer who is paying for the waste production to achieve their final product. Secondly, a process that generates high levels of waste will add costs through the increasing costs of waste disposal that have already started to be implemented through government legislation under the principle of 'the polluter pays'.

Why ecoprint-system4™?

ecoprint-system4™ uses a number of modern systems and technologies to reduce the wastage in the printing process. They include:

a] Hazardous waste free lithographic print production. ecoprint-system4™ has worked with Hazred (Link to pdf here) to ensure that their is no hazardous waste production in the lithographic print process. This eliminates the demand for image development chemistry in the plate development process and eliminates the cost of disposal of waste developer that is required by legislation.
b] Our lithographic print processes use both CIP3 and autoplate loading systems which means less wastage during the print production process
c] We use a fully digital management system for job tracking reducing the administration costs and time involved in producing jobs
d] We have a fully digital pdf workflow system that monitors artwork sent in by customers highlighting potential issues prior to jobs being processed resulting in less wastage due to incorrect artwork
e] We use shredded paper waste from our printing processes to make packaging for the despatch of goods.

Customer benefits from the ecoprint-system4™ wastage policy:

Competitive pricing

Fast turn around production

Consistent, high quality print production

High levels of wastage are a bottom line cost in the print production process which invariably mean higher pricing. In addition the cost of disposal of hazardous waste is predicted to rise threefold by 2010, therefore a business with poor waste management or with a reliance on chemistry with hazardous waste potential is going to incur financial costs which ultimately the customer will pay for.In addition the elimination of the development of plates means a more consistent image to print from giving improved quality of image as well as better consistency of image over a number of jobs. Finally by using waste from our own processes to create packaging for our despatch area reduces our need to purchase packaging materials and our costs in disposing of waste.

Systems used by ecoprint-system4™

Screen 4100 CTP chemistry free plate production (link) using fuji pro-t plates (link)
Pre Press Interface CIP3 ink profiling (link to Heidelberg)
Screen Trueflow PDF workflow software
Ecosys4pac packing from recycled waste