While it is true that it is a lot easier to recycle paper if it has been printed with offset or gravure or dry toner, it cannot be recycled if it has been printed with current inkjet. Waterbased does not necessarily mean environmentally friendly because many waterbased inks cannot be recycled. This is true for inkjet inks regardless if they are dyes or toners. They are unrecyclable for new graphic paper – even in small amounts, inkjet printed papers can spoil a load of recycled paper dedicated to be recycled for newsprint or office papers.

The current inkjet inks dissolve in the process of water, and dye like a red sock in the white wash. Most inkjet manufacturers try to ignore this problem. The green process produces printed product that does not harm the environment. A company should think “green” production-wise and product-wise. One possible solution is to pass legislation to mark products that do not fit in the established paper recycling system like they do in Germany.

Ingede is a relatively unknown organization that is a key player in the greening of the print industry. They take recovered paper and recycle it to produce cardboard, packaging paper, office papers, newsprint, and hygiene paper. In the future, more recovered paper can and should be recycled.

Going Green, being carbon friendly, carbon neutral business cards, eco friendly business cards, what does all this mean.

Well the myth is you need recycled business cards to be green - not really, most paper these days are produced from paper mills who promote sustainable forests. You can easily find out from your printer if your business cards are printed using paper from an fsc certified forest or paper mill by asking if the paper carriers the fsc logo - visit fsc.org for more details.

Also find out how your printer is offsetting their carbon and environmental issues,

for example which of the two illustration below is the greener

1. A litho printer using solvent inks on a printing press that does not have recyclable plates and blankets but prints your business cards on recycled paper is not really to carbon friendly.

2. A digital printer using no plates and blankets, running a digital press which uses EA toner and reduce energy consumption printing your business cards on paper from a FSC rated paper mill.

The answer in my opinion would have to be the digital printer.

The Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) and the Programme for the Endorsement of Forest Certification (PEFC) have awarded Xerox the “chain of custody” certification.  This comes as part of Xerox’s commitment to provide its customers with greener paper options.

FSC- and PEFC-certified products can be tracked from harvest through distribution and certification means that their products are manufactured from certified sources of raw materials.

The chain-of-custody certifications will help print providers meet the increasing demand for environmentally-certified papers.

At everydayprint we stock a full range of Xerox paper including recycled and FSC and PEFC certified products.

The print industry is a very heavy user of raw materials and increasingly customers are requesting print on recycled papers. business cards on recycled card are probably the commonest starting point for companies to begin their changeover to recycled stocks.

A wide range of recycled stocks are now available for digital print. For those who want the paper to look good it is possible to have a 75% recycled board which gives almost as good a quality as new made board, while for those who are keen for their customers to know their greenness, 100% recycled board is available unbleached and with added dirt to make certain that people will know it is recycled as soon as they see it.

In an effort to be environmentally friendly, Ricoh reuse and recycle their digital printers instead of scrapping them as used to be the practice. In addition to becoming one of the top companies in the commercial print sector, they are also a leader in supporting the environment. Ricoh opened the Green Centre in 2004 to manage the return of all machines, parts, and supplies for recycling, including multifunctional office printers to mid-volume digital presses.

Ricoh has been environmentally conscious since the mid-1970s and in 1992 formed Green Principles, which included being carbon neutral, employing zero-waste techniques, providing advanced recycling programs, designing environmentally friendly products, and reducing CO2 emissions.

Ricoh products are also designed to save energy with the printers and presses among the lowest for energy consumption and CO2 emissions. They claim to have virtually eliminated ozone output from their products. Ricoh saves energy on its products through fast duplexing, quick start-up, organic toners, and ultra-low sleep mode. They also recycle old parts. If a part is needed, it is taken from an old machine instead of buying a new one thereby keeping costs down. They even recycle the cardboard used in the packaging of new machines.