CHOOSING A PRINTER

TIPS FOR CHOOSING A LITHO PRINTER

You can massively reduce your carbon emissions as well as your energy, water, waste and solvent use by choosing a printer from Lovely as a Tree.

When choosing a printer, look for:

EMAS, ISO14001, FSC, Greenmark or Green Dragon certification* (see glossary)
Waterless or low-alcohol
A local printer

You could also ask:

Do they measure their carbon footprint?**
Do they use renewable energy?
Do they have a press that can run enough inks for your job in one press pass? This avoids multiple passes involving more ‘make-ready’ waste, more clearing up, more energy and more chemicals
Do they use 100% vegetable-oil based inks?

* Please note that environmental performance will vary even amongst printers with the same environmental accreditations due to the fact that some have been working at reducing their environmental impact for longer and will have made more progress.

** Be aware that carbon neutral status is not always a good indication of environmental performance. There is currently no regulation in this area and so carbon neutral status can simply be bought through offsetting schemes. Please ask your printer and paper suppliers what they have done to reduce their carbon footprint.

See our Printfinder for a comprehensive list of environmentally accredited printers.

WATERLESS LITHO

What is it?

Waterless printing is basically sheet-fed litho printing using different printing plates and a method of transferring the image to the paper without using water.

Removing water from the process means that you also eliminate the problem of achieving the correct balance of ink and water on press. It also eliminates the need for IPA (see glossary).

Benefits of Waterless Printing:

Improved colour consistency throughout the press run
Greater colour saturation
Lower dot gain, therefore higher screen rulings can be used and more detail can be printed
Better results on uncoated paper than with conventional litho printing
Faster make-ready time meaning less paper and ink is wasted
Improved registration
No VOCs (see glossary)
Conserves water
More environmentally friendly

Most benefit gained when printing:

Flat colours
Long print runs
On uncoated stocks
Corporate identity work (as colour consistency can be maintained across different stocks)
Fine and very detailed print

Downsides:

It can be more expensive than conventional litho printing
Some say that the same effects can be achieved by stochastic printing
Others say that clients will not notice the difference and that conventional printing is good enough

There are only a handful of waterless printers in the UK, probably due to the cost of setting up and to the lack of anyone able to teach the waterless process in this country. See our Printfinder to locate your nearest waterless printer.

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CERTIFICATION SCHEMES

EMAS is the highest standard that can be attained, followed by ISO14001.

ISO14001 is the next best, although standards vary under this scheme due to the emphasis on continual improvement.

FSC is about tracking the fibre ONLY and is NOT about environmental standards within the factory.

Greenmark is a scheme for smaller companies who lack the resources to undertake ISO14001.

Green Dragon is a 5 step scheme for smaller companies based in Wales. Level 5 is said to be a higher standard than ISO14001.