fbpx
The Environmental Impact of Print

The Environmental Impact of Print

by | Feb 13, 2020 | Education

A national climate emergency has been declared by the UK Parliament and we all must take responsibility to take action help this situation. At Corsham Print the environmental impact of print is top of our agenda.

Printing as an industry has, for a long time, had a stigma surrounding it when looking at its environmental impacts. However, not many people know but the print and paper industry has been working for decades to protect the environment. 

  • Vegetable oil based inks
  • Low energy production
  • Certification of paper
  • Carbon capture

Despite these initiatives there are still many myths about print and paper that cause major issues within the industry. Misconceptions are further reinforced by financial organisations, utility companies, and many other service providers. This is because they are increasingly encouraging their customers to switch to paperless bills and statements.

We have put the following information together with the help of ‘Two Sides’. An initiative to promote the sustainability of the graphic communications and dispel common environmental misconceptions. Providing users with verifiable information on the environmental impact of print and why print and paper is an attractive, practical and sustainable communications medium.

Myth: European forests are shrinking

Fact: On average, European forests have been growing by over 1,500 football pitches every day.

Paper is a uniquely-renewable and sustainable product. The main raw material, trees, are grown and harvested in a carefully controlled and sustainable way – so successfully that European forests, where most of the raw material comes from, have grown by an area the size of Switzerland in just 10 years. This means that between 2005 and 2015, European forests grew by 44,000 square kilometres, which averages 1,500 football pitches per day.

Myth: Planted forests are bad for the environment.

Fact: Well managed planted forests reduce the amount of pressure on natural forests and can provide many other environmental benefits.

Forests are essential for the transition to the green economy. Well managed planted forests are a vital element in the global forestry mix. Natural forest accounts for 93% of world’s forest area with planted forest occupying 7%, or 290 million hectares. In Europe, planet forests are not replacing natural forests. They provide many benefits, such as: providing new recreational facilities, preventing soil degradation and erosion, and providing new habitat shelter for wildlife.

Myth: Paper is bad for the environment.

Fact: Paper is one of the few truly sustainable products.

Paper is based on wood, a natural and renewable material. As young trees grow they absorb CO2 from the atmosphere. Furthermore, as a wood product, paper continues storing carbon throughout its lifetime. The paper industry has several respected certification schemes ensuring the paper you use has come from a sustainable forest source. The two most recognisable certifications are the Forest Stewardship Council® (FSC) and the Programme for the Endorsement of Forest Certification (PEFC).

Myth: Paper production is a major cause of global greenhouse gas emissions.

Fact: Most of the energy used is renewable and carbon intensity is surprisingly low.

The European pulp and paper industry produces original bio-based products using wood, a renewable material. It is also the biggest single industrial user and producer of renewable energy in the EU: 60% of the industry’s total fuels consumption is biomass-based. And the industry has the potential to do even more in the future. It has the experience, technology and supply chain to play a big part in the bio-economy and to do so in a resource efficient manner.

Myth: Electronic communication is more environmentally friendly than paper-based communication.

Fact: Electronic communication also has environmental impacts.

“Go Paperless”, “Go Green” and “Save Trees” are common messages seen these days as many organisations encourage their customers to switch to electronic transactions and communications. But are these appeals based on fact?

Paper is a uniquely renewable and sustainable product. The main raw material, wood, is grown and harvested in a carefully controlled and sustainable way. Furthermore the environmental impacts of our ever-increasing digital world cannot be ignored. The ICT industry accounts for around 2.5-3% of global greenhouse gas emissions and this is predicted to rise to 14% by 2040.

Corsham Print Environmental Initiatives

We run a state-of-the-art LED drying offset press. Drying ink with LED lights rather than the old conventional UV systems has reduced power consumption by between 88-91%.

We are a member of an FSC® Certified Group FSC-C004309 and we only print on FSC-certified paper.

Our retail stationery outlet has introduced a wide range of environmentally friendly products including Woodland Trust papers.

We are part of Premier Paper and The Woodland Trust’s Carbon Capture Program.

Click below to download an interesting read produced by ‘Two Sides’

Print & Paper - Myths & Facts

Some useful links on the environmental impact of print:

What are the different Printing Processes?

What are the different Printing Processes?

by | Feb 7, 2020 | Design Tips, Education

  1. Offset Lithograph

  2. Digital Printing

  3. Large Format Printing

It’s a cloudy Sunday morning. After all the dilemmas of preparing artwork, choosing both a paper size and weight you finally have a chance to relax. This has been a long and arduous journey. But finally, you see the light at the end of the tunnel. To your knowledge everything has been decided, your magnum opus is in the capable hands of the printer.

An alert. You have another email. Panic sets in, however on opening it you see that it’s just a summary of your print job. Relief washes over you. The worst is over.

But what is this, the printer has asked you how would you like you job printed, ‘digital, litho, large format, inkjet?’ You’re confused, surely it’s just printed on a printer? What are all these mysterious choices to be made, and should they be feared or have reverence paid to them?

We hope these descriptions will help you understand what the hell they are on about:

Offset Lithography

Also known as offset printing or litho, offset lithography is a very popular method of mass-production printing. It involves printing plates, usually made from aluminium, which each hold an image of what needs to be printed. The image is put on the printing plates using a photomechanical or photochemical process during a stage of production known as prepress. One plate is made for each colour ink to be printed.

The plates are attached to cylinders on the printing press. Working on the principle that water and ink don’t mix the plate is rotated over damping rollers (water) and ink rollers (ink). The non image areas on the plate attracted the water and image areas of the plate attract ink. That inked image is subsequently transferred first from the plate to a rubber blanket and then to the printing surface, hence the term offset.

A print job that prints only in black ink requires only one plate. A print job that prints in red and black ink requires two plates. The more plates that are needed to print a job, the higher the price.

When coloured printing is required the coloured images are split in Cyan, Magenta, Yellow, and Black (CMYK). A set of four plates is need running on four separate cylinders in the printing press.

In some cases, there may be more than four plates. If a logo must appear in a certain Pantone colour, for example, or if a metallic ink is used in addition to full-colour images.

Offset printing has a high set up cost, prepress time, plates and making ready the press. But once the press is running it has a very low unit cost, making it the most cost effective solution for quanities of 500 or more.

Digital Print

Digital printing is a method that covers a variety of different techniques including inkjet printing and laser. In digital printing, images are sent directly to the printer using digital files. A RIP (Raster Image Processor) converts the digital image into a language the digital printer can understand. This eliminates the need for a printing plate and can save time and money (unless you’re printing in larger quantities).

Most production digital printers use laser technology, similar to a photocopier. The image that needs to be printed is formed by selectively applying a charge to a metal cylinder called a drum. The electrical charge is used to attract toner particles. These particles are transferred to the media that is being printed on. To make sure the toner is fixed properly, the substrate passes through a fuser that melts the toner into the medium.

Digital printing allows for quick turnaround and allows businesses to print on demand. It’s also great for small run jobs, requests can be made for as little as one print. If you choose digital printing for the right job, it can make for a very cost-effective soloution that still produces high quality prints.

Large Format Printing

As the name might suggest, large format printing exists to produce maximum print roll width. Perfect for traditional advertising mediums and businesses who are looking to make a huge impact on their customers, this printing method gives you with a much bigger area to work on, as opposed to the other methods such as digital printing.
Rather than printing onto individual sheets, large format printing uses rolls of prints that are fed incrementally to produce one large sheet. Large format printing is the best option for large print media such as building wraps, billboards, banners, and murals.

Most large format printer uses inkjet technology, small droplets of ink that are propelled from the nozzles of one or more print heads. Inkjet devices can print on a wide range of substrates such as paper, plastic, canvas or even doors and floor tiles.

There are numerous other technologies and new ones being introduced all the time for printing on a multitude of substrates.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Printing

 

GDPR FRIENDLY MARKETING TOOLKIT

GDPR FRIENDLY MARKETING TOOLKIT

by | Jul 19, 2019 | Growth Advice, Marketing Tips

GDPR FRIENDLY MARKETING, WHAT’S CHANGED?

It’s over a year since the GDPR came into force and despite the irritating barrage of consent notices that came along for the ride, we can probably agree data protection across Europe has improved.

It’s also fair to say the new rules have had an impact on the marketing activity of most businesses. Many email lists would have shrunk a little, like Super Mario when he’s off the mushrooms, not that it’s all about size, of course.

But we can’t rely on email alone anyway, you have to use a combination of channels to give your business or idea the best chance of being seen or heard or better still, talked about.

However, gripped by post-GDPR fear, some businesses have been paralysed into inertia. “Crikey, if we can’t spam all those email addresses we’ve collected, what are we going to do? What are we allowed to do?”

Well, if you’re wondering exactly that, here are five essential marketing channels for your business wrapped up in an infographic for your viewing pleasure, and with explanations below. Enjoy GDPR friendly marketing in 5 minutes.

#1 SEO (Search Engine Optimisation)

Why do you have a website?

To sell more boiler cover packages? To book more appointments for your team? So more people hear about your microbrewery? It’s fair to say everyone’s different. But most people want more of something and that something usually boils down to more website traffic.

More website traffic comes from organic search than any other source. So whenever someone is using a search engine to find information that’s relevant to your product, service, or website, you need to be there, or you’re missing out on potential business. that’s where SEO comes in. What’s SEO?

More website traffic comes from organic search than any other source.

4 in 5 people use search engines to find local information.

94% of B2B buyers research online for purchase decisions.

#2 Events

Here’s an odd suggestion. How about getting out into the real world?
We know, sounds crazy, but as the old saying goes, people do business with people and there’s usually lots of people at events. One 2018 study asked B2B marketing folk about lead generation tactics, and events came out on top.

Which events do your customers attend? A trade fair? A convention? Classic car show, music festival, vintage fete? Could you drum up new business at one of these? Could you create your own workshop, event or open day? Or how about an all-ticket event where people hang out by the fire, eat pizza, hear from experts (and listen to your brand story about handmade jeans in a small Welsh town). How’s that for GDPR friendly marketing?

Check out or range of Displays

Events help generate the most B2B leads.

79% of marketers generate sales using event marketing.

84% of event attendees say that they have a more positive opinion about the company, brand, product or service being promoted after the event.

#2 Events

Here’s an odd suggestion. How about getting out into the real world?
We know, sounds crazy, but as the old saying goes, people do business with people and there’s usually lots of people at events. One 2018 study asked B2B marketing folk about lead generation tactics, and events came out on top.

Which events do your customers attend? A trade fair? A convention? Classic car show, music festival, vintage fete? Could you drum up new business at one of these? Could you create your own workshop, event or open day? Or how about an all-ticket event where people hang out by the fire, eat pizza, hear from experts (and listen to your brand story about handmade jeans in a small Welsh town). How’s that for GDPR friendly marketing?

Check out or range of Displays

Events help generate the most B2B leads.

79% of marketers generate sales using event marketing.

84% of event attendees say that they have a more positive opinion about the company, brand, product or service being promoted after the event.

#3 Direct mail

We’ve already talked about how important it is to have a mix of channels and print cannot be ignored. Even Google send you stuff in the post. Want more examples? Airbnb, Facebook, Amazon, all use print marketing as part of their approach.

The opportunity direct mail offers has actually increased since GDPR, that’s because you don’t need explicit consent to send a mailer, letter, brochure or catalogue. Provided you make it clear how they stop getting future mailings, and the content is relevant, sending direct mail is allowed under the ‘legitimate interests’ of your business.

The incredible thing about direct mail is, it’s turned full circle. We all get less post than we used to. Yet, research shows that it gets a better response than ever.

Corsham Prints Mailing Solutions

87% of people said they were influenced to make an online purchase as a result of receiving direct mail.

4 out of 5 people say they’ve connected with a business after getting direct mail.

44% agreed that they were more likely to remember something they had read in print rather than on screen (only 12% disagreed).

#4 Social media

When engagement rates on Facebook are reported to have fallen to 0.09%,  you might be forgiven for thinking social media is a waste of time for business marketers. However, Linkedin has proven to be an effective place to hang out, help and connect. Especially if you’re in a B2B sector.

The fact remains that many consumers do scope out the company’s social media presence before making a purchase. And for some potential customers, it may well prove to be the very first exposure to the brand. For that reason alone, it’s important to create content that is on-brand, adds value and is posted regularly to demonstrate that you’re active in the marketplace and a credible option to explore.

94% of B2B marketers use Linkedin to distribute content.

54% of social browsers use social media to research products.

49% of consumers depend on social influencers for recommendations.

#5 Oh, and of course you can actually still email people

But here’s the thing, there are some rules.

Email addresses you’ve scraped from cards at a show, purchased randomly, or even collected in exchange for a coupon code won’t cut it anymore (strictly speaking, they never really did).

Instead, people need to have explicitly opted in to receive the type of emails you’re going to be sending. Or, they could be an existing customer who previously bought or enquired about a similar product or service from you. That’s referred to as a soft opt-in, under PECR.

81% of SMBs still rely on email as their primary customer acquisition channel.

49% of people said they’d like to receive promotional emails from their favourite brands.

The average open rate for a welcome email is 82%.

Marketing is all about targeting the right message, to the right people at the right time. Both digital and offline methods have a role to play in marketing your business. The resources assigned to each depends on your budget and where your customers are. Corsham Print can help you leverage all available channels to do well in today’s omnichannel arena.

We hope you can benefit from this GDPR friendly marketing.

Copyright Corsham Print and Nettl at Corsham