Environmental Policy / Green online printing / Green printers – Updated 6th January 2010
In Summary The Printing House Ltd (Christmas-Card-Printing is the online brand) care passionately about the environment and actively seek to use the greenest raw materials, use the least amount of energy and deliver in the most fuel efficient manner. To help with this we keep as many processes under one roof as possible - thereby giving not only cost effective printing - but keeping fuel costs down and reducing reliance on suppliers whose green policy might not be as comprehensive as ours. After several months of sucessful trials, in January 2010 we introduced the world's first Totally Chemistry Free plate - this uses no chemistry at all and to date is only used by 20 green printers in the UK. Called the Aurora Pro and made by Presstek - it is a truly revolutionary printing plate.
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As a Green printer we offer a range of recycled papers including 9Lives, Greencoat and Revive amongst others – these come in a range of 50% recycled paper, 70% recycled, 80% recycled and 100% recycled
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Our main stock coated papers are all FSC Accredited – Mega Gloss, Silk and Matt are FSC Certified Papers – FSC Certified papers guarantee that the product has been tracked from its source to the point of being bought by the printer - and that they meet the forestry guidelines for sustainability.
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Most of the paper and board that we offer is ECF or TCF – Elementally Chlorine Free or Totally Chlorine Free – this is at least as important as where the paper pulp is sourced from.
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We aim to use the least amount of paper for every job. Our litho print has the number of spoil sheets monitored for every job. Digital print by its very nature uses virtually no spoil sheets.
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Use of chemicals – wherever possible we will change and update chemistry to ensure that what we use is neither harmful to the environment or individuals. Our most recent change was to Kodak’s new Plate Processor Chemistry. For the future we are also looking at processless plates.
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All our litho inks are vegetable oil based rather than mineral oil based. This means that there is less impact on non-renewable resources. Inks are sourced from environmentally sound suppliers, Heidelberg & Huber (Stehlin Hostag)
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Our litho Ink Sealer is water miscible, this means it is an inert protectective coat – this is far most eco friendly than a solvent based sealant (also known as a protective litho seal or coating)
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All paper waste is recycled.
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All material, chemical waste and printing plates are disposed of responsibly with appropriate licenses and certificates where appropriate.
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All toner cartridges are disposed of responsibly
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All staff are actively seeking to reduce energy usage with our energy watch scheme
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All water usage is measures and flow meters and reducers have been fitter where possible.
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Ask about our recyclable laminates – available in matt laminate or gloss laminate
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Our presses run reduced alcohol levels to ensure that we produce less harmful waste chemistry, all waste chemistry is disposed of in an environmentally sound and approved way.
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By reducing the use of IPA Alcohol and eliminating mineral based inks (we use vegetable based) we have safeguarded our staff. IPA Alcohol and non vegetable based inks contain much higher levels of VOC’s – Volatile Organic Compounds
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We actively try to convert customers to full colour printing (4 colour process), this is much cleaner than printing with spot colours as it reduces the amount of chemicals, solvents and press cleaning.
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We offer digital printing on our Xerox DC5000, one of the most environmentally friendly ways of producing printing.
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We have a process of continually trying to reduce waste of all kinds, paper, board, metal, chemistry etc
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Our policy of re-investment in new equipment means that we are always using energy efficient and up to date ‘green’ technology
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We comply completely with the 2005 Hazardous Waste Act. All waste in separated out and only licensed contractors are used.
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Because we use automated presses with CIP3 technology we reduce the amount of setup waste (paper, ink, chemistry)
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As a truly dedicated Green printer we can offer a full green consultancy/advisory to make sure your print is as green as possible