i3 LA06 - Collecting Information

Graphic Design/Print Industry Environmental Best Practice Guidelines:

• Reduce the amount of materials required for production

 
If you are involved in package design, the secret to making more responsible packaging may necessarily lie in changing to a more earthfriendly material. It could be to rethinking the package design entirely. Consider if you can get by with the bare minimum – a package that uses 

far less material altogether.

• Use paper and materials made with recycled, post-consumer waste

 
Research what materials to use in packaging, displays, exhibitory and
architecture. Sites like www.ecolect.org are a great starting point.
 

• Print with low VOC (Volatile Organic Compounds) inks
Ask your printer what percent of VOC are emitted when the ink dries, and
how that compares to other inks. As a guide: less than 10% VOCs for
sheetfed printing and les than 30% for heatset printing.
 

• Use Inks made with renewable resources

 
Vegetable based inks such as soy-based inks are made with a certain amount of vegetable oil rather than petroleum oil. These inks are better for the environment because they are partially made with renewable resources such as soy, linseed, and corn.
 

• Find out what production methods require the least amount of transport

 
Even if you design the most eco-sensitive piece and print it on paper stock with a small environment footprint, you still need to think about shipped. If that paper stock had to be shipped across the country or if the finished piece is heading out on the highway to reach its final destination, all your planet-friendly efforts could go up in a puff of diesel smoke.
 

• Find out which vendors use renewable energy

 
Look for printers who do waterless printing. The waterless process eliminates the fountain solution used in offset lithography, and instead of conventional metal printing plates, they use a silicone rubber plate and special ink. It’s a faster, cleaner process that reduces the amount of paper required for make-ready and in-turn uses less energy.
 

• See if the product can fulfil more than one purpose

 
Send out direct mail in reusable envelopes. Show how creative you are by creating packaging that has a second life as a frame, a display, a pencil box or some other type of package.
 

• See if the end-product is biodegradable or recyclable

 
Reuse can be ingenious. For example, menus or notebooks can be made from old books when binding have been removed, most inner pages have been removed and replaced with recycled-content sketch pad paper, and new bindings are made with wire binding. Taking items with former lives and reinventing them can be unique and charming, and environmentally responsible.
 

• See if the end-product can be replaced by a digital, rather than printed, format

 
More business these days are done with .pdf’s rather than paper, but for those times when only a printed document will do, change over to ecofont. It’s a free, multi-platform font based on Verdana that is full of holes, this will save around 20% of the toner you are currently wasting

 

• Follow “Just-in-time production” to reduce number of units produced and warehoused

 
Reducing the number of printed pieces has obvious cost and waste reduction savings associated with it, as long as you do not end up having to run a re-print.
 

• Find out which vendors sell products certified by third party Non- Government Organisations
 

Attend a Paper Forum where paper uses and paper suppliers share ideas, vendor resources, and strategies. 

Use the “Design Can Change” Checklist:

 

Icograda IDA Summary:

 
⇒ Being sustainable does not have to take on additional expenses
⇒ By becoming more sustainable, the practice will eventually become 2nd nature
⇒ Being sustainable is good for the industry, the world and for your conscience
⇒ By increasing the awareness of sustainable practices, it will in turn increase the awareness for future generations
⇒ Acknowledge we, as individuals are a part of the interdependent world
⇒ Understand how natural resources are consumed and understand your responsibility to recycle and sustain them
⇒ Lead my example
⇒ When planning design elements, keep in mind the bottom-line outcomes (social, environmental, financial and cultural)
⇒ Commit to and continue to value the environment
⇒ Consider the full cycle of goods, products and services
⇒ Use suppliers who embrace sustainable practices and principles
⇒ Promote your dedication of sustainability to clients, collaborators and the community
⇒ Provide information obtaining as to how one might become more sustainable
⇒ Demonstrate leadership by applying these principles
 

References:

 
101 Things Designers Can Do To Save The Earth. Retrieved from http://onehundredthings.wordpress.com/category/uncategorized/
 

Sustainable Graphic Design (2014). Retrieved from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sustainable_graphic_design