| Print and the Environment Conference |
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The themes from the speakers at the Printing and the Environment conference were reassuringly consistent.
Common themes were energy saving, which was certainly reflected within the main exhibition with measures taken by leading manufacturers, the need for collaborative working, and the mantra of ‘reduce, reuse, recycle’. Speakers were from:
The slides used at the conference are available from WPCF website. After the Chairman’s welcome, the first speaker was Eike Fruehbrodt from Heidelberg, who supported the event, discussing machine manufacturers’ contribution to the environmental performance of printers. He explained the mass balance carried out by his company to determine resources used and wastes and emissions generated by a press during its use: this has informed developments in their ‘Star’ range of peripherals. The presentation took us through an overview of what goes into a typical sheetfed machine in production – a Speedmaster XL 105-6+L running 36 million sheets per year, 8000 sheets per job, 18 jobs per day was taken to illustrate this – and what goes out. He showed us totals for paper, energy, ink, alcohol, washing solvent, water and spray powder used, and waste paper, ink residues, VOC emissions, waste water and spray powder emissions. He then considered each in greater detail, describing where the areas of highest waste or consumption are, and what Heidelberg are doing to help reduce this. Energy consumption, for example, is highest in the dryer – 35% of the total – closely followed by the main drive at 26%, then the air supply at 19%, with temperature control using 8%, the compressor 1% and ‘others’ using the remaining 11%. Knowing this gives focus on where to look to save energy: for example, recycling heat in the drying system and reducing the gap between the dryer and the sheet. The same principle applies to other areas: knowing where the waste is created, knowing how it is created, and so having the knowledge necessary to take steps to reduce it.
Michael Makin of PIA/GATF spoke next, introducing the legislation that US printers have to contend with – complexity appears to be fairly universal, the UK is not alone in this – and his organisation’s recent initiative, the ‘Sustainable Green Printing Partnership’, or SGP, which they were beta trialling. This partnership has a vision – a vision to “Establish the print and graphic communications industry as a leader/model within the business community for the adoption and promotion of sustainable business practices designed to reduce the global impact of the industry sector.” This is a worthy, and worthwhile ambition, as the industry is uniquely placed: the high proportion of materials from renewable sources, recyclable or both offers true potential for a sustainable industry. They aim to promote this cause by means of:
(Whereas in the UK printers are under pressure to achieve ISO 14001, the US printing industry does not have the same ‘green indicator’ as the total take up of ISO 14001 is comparatively low in the USA. The ISO survey of 2006 showed that, despite its size, the USA has only 5,585 certificates, compared with 6,070 for the rather smaller UK, 18,842 in China and 22,593 in Japan. As a requirement of ISO 14001 is to consider indirect impacts on the environment, one of which will be an organisation’s supply chain, the Standard creates a natural trickle down effect that UK printers are currently feeling.) The SGP has two categories: SGP printer, or candidate pending verification. To be the former, the identified criteria must have been met. The latter must meet minimum criteria, including regulatory compliance, and has a one year time limit. The scheme is recognised by the EPA – the US Environmental Protection Agency – and major publishers, and works in co-operation with a number of partners.
It was very much in the arena of developing industry standards that similarities showed among the speakers. Yu Yongzhan, President of the Printing Technology Association of China acknowledged the severe challenge lying ahead for the Chinese printing industry to achieve the aim of his association – ‘harmonious printing’, meeting not only energy saving and other environmental goals, but also socio-economic goals. Like elsewhere, much of Chinese print is by small firms struggling to make a profit against fierce competition. Lack of knowledge about the need for green printing and of technological advances to allow this is an issue, as is emissions control – organic solvents and wastewater in particular. A not unfamiliar picture. China has developed an extensive structure of environmental legislation and emissions standards, and the industry is working with the Chinese government to launch what he described as a ‘green revolution’. This includes consolidation within the industry, phasing out small and highly polluting enterprises and introducing large plants designed for cleaner production, with modern technologies. They are seeking to learn from other countries as well as to facilitate advances in technology to support pollution free and energy saving production methods. Internal recycling is another focus, and some of the large scale printers established with foreign funding have provided a lead here. (China is generally very strong in recycling, and until recently much of the UK’s waste for recycling was processed there.) ISO 14001 is important to Chinese printers. The industry, as many others in China, is facing the challenge of balancing economic growth and environmental protection. The big issue they are facing is the difficulty of breaking the link between economic growth and environmental degradation (an issue we in the West have addressed to a large extent by exporting our pollution to countries such as China and India).
Post-war Japan went through a transition very similar to that which China is experiencing now. A period of rapid economic growth and consequent rises in pollution, followed by the realisation that growth had to be decoupled and measures taken to protect the environment. Yoshiharu Yui of the Japan Federation of Printing Industries showed how, from the 1970s onwards, improvements in air and water quality were achieved whilst still growing the economy. A shortage of authorised disposal facilities is a concern that echoes the UK, where we have only a few years left in most landfill sites and no-one wanting a new one, or an incinerator, anywhere near where they live. Sadly, each individual’s reluctance is not, in the UK, matched by an equal enthusiasm to address the problem by increasing recycling and generally reducing the volumes of waste they generate. Japan again has extensive environmental protection legislation, and also industry initiatives to realise the potential of printing as a sustainable industry, the Federation’s target being ‘the printing industry is the environment industry’. The presentation showed a graphic of the environmental load from the printing process, the legislation that controls it and the further steps being taken by Federation’s ‘Green Printing’ initiative. This is a mature system, established in 2002 with green standards for materials, processes and activities. A combination of operating to the green process standard, using green standard materials and implementing green standard activities for environmental improvement lead to a green standard certified factory producing certified products. By 2007, there were 112 printers and 17 million products certified. If you go to the English pages of the JFPI, the first page greets you with the rather wonderful phrase “We love Earth we love printing” – a sentiment that resonates strongly with me. Mr. Yui reiterated previous speakers’ calls for proactive exchanges of information and collaboration to achieve a common goal of reducing the global environmental load of our industry.
Beatrice Klose of Intergraf gave the overview of legislation in Europe and its background – European legislation at top level, which all EU members have to comply with, national legislation and industry initiatives. She summarised the history and aims of European environmental legislation, and how the EU is seeking substantial improvements to industries that are not always ready to respond because of their investment cycles. Next, she gave more detail of legislation specific to the printing industry. The first issue described was VOC emissions, identified as the main pollutant of the industry, and governed by three separate pieces of legislation. REACH is a new EU chemicals policy: Registration, Evaluation and Authorization of CHemicals. Its aim is to ensure that all risks associated with their use, in whatever form or combination, are known and understood, with controls put in place where necessary. It is mainly the domain of chemicals producers, but will affect printers as downstream users. New controls may be introduced on how products are used, prices of some products are likely to increase as a result of costs of compliance, and some may even be discontinued. Others areas mentioned included the fight against deforestation, an opportunity to raise the image of the printing and paper industries, and legislation designed to improve performance. This latter is also covered by voluntary measures, such as the EU Eco-label scheme. Intergraf prefers self regulation for specific issues, and Ms. Klose highlighted the exclusion list used by the Ink Manufacturers Association banning certain ingredients, the intense involvement generally of the print communications sector in carbon management, and the success of recycling and Chain of Custody for paper. Finally, she touched on corporate social responsibility and how printers can become involved in this, raising awareness of social issues, equal opportunities and health and safety as well as environmental issues.
The Confederation of European Paper Industries (CEPI), represented by Marco Mensink, explained their contribution to greening the European print industry. He quoted the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change 4th Assessment Report, stating that “a sustainable forest management strategy aimed at maintaining or increasing forest carbon stocks, while producing an annual sustained yield of timber, fibre or energy from the forest, will generate the largest sustained mitigation benefit” and outlined the role of CEPI members in recycling and the sustainable use of paper in the fight against illegal logging, in improving resource efficiency and playing leading roles in use of renewable energy and CHP (Combined Heat & Power). The audience were also alerted to the issue of water footprinting (fairly new to our industry, but already a concern to the food and drink industry). Mr. Mensink reported on progress in developing a carbon footprint framework, in line with the new PAS 2050: Specification for the measurement of the embodied greenhouse gas emissions in products and services published last year. This is to enable printers to use figures specific to the actual paper they are printing on when calculating the carbon footprint of, for example, a particular brochure for a customer. Currently much of the information is generic. CEPI are calculating footprints, with all manufacturers using a common methodology, although some may need to use generic data. With 27 different electricity generators, the measurements are complex. In all, the seminar presented a consistent picture of the industry across the continents becoming actively involved in managing its impacts, taking advantage of the opportunities for environmental improvement offered by new technologies, having to find its way through quite complex webs of legislation that, although varying in different locations, was directed at achieving similar results. Progress also varied, and highlighted the benefits of the mutual collaboration requested by speakers. |