The science leading to climate change for printers
Once upon a time, printing was considered an art, no more so than for four-colour printing. It required highly skilled artisans to interpret the originals, to scan, retouch, plan film and burn to a plate. A Cromalin might be required as part of the process to guide the press operator what to aim for on press, aided perhaps by a densitometer and control strip. The highest quality was achieved by the best operators at each stage of the process and might be recognised at award ceremonies. Today quality is a given, thanks to advances in colour assessment and colour control technology and elimination of the variables in the print process, contact exposure and processing of plates for example. Most important has been the greater understanding of colour: the introduction of spectrophotometric measurement and the ISO 12647 standard. Printing became scientific, measurable, repeatable rather than dependent on human judgement.
Print is now becoming sustainable through the same evolutionary process. While many printers have achieved ISO 14001 as a standard to demonstrate the implementation of an environmental management system, one person’s ISO14001 is not the same as someone else’s. Like colour printing based on skill and experience in years gone by, this has not mattered greatly. Until now. Sustainability is now a pull issue rather than something that printers push out to their customers. It is something that customers want, something that they are coming to insist upon and claims about sustainability need to stand up. The Competition and Markets Authority is investing the nebulous claims of reduced environmental impact made by clothing companies with packaging and supermarkets expected to be next in line. Claims must be verifiable.
Like colour printing, this means adoption of measurements for carbon impacts that are based on verifiable science, not on some vague claims. Just as they need a measurable ISO for colour rather than a vague promise about high quality. Customers that have embarked on their own sustainability journey are looking for real facts about the carbon footprint of a job, validated by independent third-party expertise, so that they can demonstrate this as part of their Scope 3 work. It can be done, it has to be done for print to thrive.
The science leading to climate change for printers
Once upon a time, printing was considered an art, no more so than for four-colour printing. It required highly skilled artisans to interpret the originals, to scan, retouch, plan film and burn to a plate. A Cromalin might be required as part of the process to guide the press operator what to aim for on press, aided perhaps by a densitometer and control strip. The highest quality was achieved by the best operators at each stage of the process and might be recognised at award ceremonies. Today quality is a given, thanks to advances in colour assessment and colour control technology and elimination of the variables in the print process, contact exposure and processing of plates for example. Most important has been the greater understanding of colour: the introduction of spectrophotometric measurement and the ISO 12647 standard. Printing became scientific, measurable, repeatable rather than dependent on human judgement.
Print is now becoming sustainable through the same evolutionary process. While many printers have achieved ISO 14001 as a standard to demonstrate the implementation of an environmental management system, one person’s ISO14001 is not the same as someone else’s. Like colour printing based on skill and experience in years gone by, this has not mattered greatly. Until now. Sustainability is now a pull issue rather than something that printers push out to their customers. It is something that customers want, something that they are coming to insist upon and claims about sustainability need to stand up. The Competition and Markets Authority is investing the nebulous claims of reduced environmental impact made by clothing companies with packaging and supermarkets expected to be next in line. Claims must be verifiable.
Like colour printing, this means adoption of measurements for carbon impacts that are based on verifiable science, not on some vague claims. Just as they need a measurable ISO for colour rather than a vague promise about high quality. Customers that have embarked on their own sustainability journey are looking for real facts about the carbon footprint of a job, validated by independent third-party expertise, so that they can demonstrate this as part of their Scope 3 work. It can be done, it has to be done for print to thrive.
Explore more...