News
How Vicks Can Help You Stay Environmentally Friendly
Mar. 25th, 2008
Anyone can print a book but how your book is printed is often overlooked. In an effort to exceed our customers’ expectations, Vicks has implemented a number of ways to help our customers be environmentally and sociably responsible.
Vicks follows many of the practices enforced by PNEAC, the Printer’s National Environmental Service Center, which is an organization that helps the printing industry work cleaner, more efficiently and stay on the forefront of the environmental curve. Below are a few ways, that you may not know, Vicks ensures your products are printed in accordance with good pollution prevention practices.
• All press waste and bindery trim waste is recycled through an extensive waste-recovery baler system that separates the waste into multiple grades for recycling.
• Usage of vegetable based inks on cold-set web and some sheetfed presses.
• The installation of the Web Approval system for soft proofing eliminates paper and toner usage.
• Installation of a complete electronic pre-press department that eliminates the usage of film-based chemistry.
• We recycle all of our aluminum plates by utilizing a direct to plate technology (CTP) using thermal technology to eliminate the amount of silver associated with photographic films that also needs disposal.
• A closed-loop color control, web break detectors and other control systems reduce paper waste associated with make-ready and run waste on a web press.
• Blend and reuse waste ink to be recycled into a house black used for directories printing, instead of disposing of them in a waste receptacle where they can be considered a hazardous waste.
• Use low or zero-VOC propylene glycol fountain solutions, low vapor pressure solvents and blanket washes that that contain no hazardous air pollutants.
• An ink pump system from totes on the heat-set webs eliminates wasted ink instead of using pails as the source.
• As part of the Continuous Improvement program, a production performance management system is used to monitor all make-ready and run waste and signature utilization in the bindery. By measuring and benchmarking, we determine methods to reduce waste and increase material utilization.
By staying on top of environmental concerns and implementing methods to reduce waste, Vicks can help you print your products more efficiently while maintaining the integrity and quality of service that you and your customers deserve.
For solutions on making your products more environmentally friendly, please contact your Sales Manager or visit our website at http://www.vicks.biz.
Is Recycled Paper a Competitive Alternative?
More and more publishers are switching to recycled stock for their products. Not only could this be a strategic branding technique, but using recycled stock also has many global benefits. To help you better understand this evolving sector in the paper industry, we’ve included a quick list of benefits and myths of using recycled paper below.
Paper made from 100% recycled content reduces:
• Wood use by 100%
• Wastewater by 50%
• Solid waste by 49%
• Total energy consumption by 44%
• Net greenhouse gas emissions by 38%
The process for making paper out of recycled material is generally more clean and requires less energy than making paper from virgin fibers. Additionally, many publishers are using recycled stock to more effectively target their products to their young adult audiences. For example, the latest hardcover edition and U.S. Deluxe Edition of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows was produced on a 100% recycled stock. Additionally, higher education institutions such as Princeton are also requiring all of their academic departments to use 100% recycled paper.
Common myths about recycled paper
• Recycled paper is too expensive.
Take the long view. With the rise and fall of paper prices, sometimes all paper is expensive and sometimes it is low. The experienced paper buyer realizes that paper markets fluctuate and one should recognize that recycled paper’s benefits are far greater than simply dollars.
• Quality is uneven and sometimes spotted.
Many of these issues were confined to the developmental phase of creating recycled paper in the 1980’s but the technology being used by recycled manufactures today have significantly increased. Many studies have proven that recycled paper today meets the highest technical standards, sometimes even exceeding familiar virgin papers.
• Belief that recycled paper has too much curl.
Curl is a complex issue and mostly related to fiber orientation, moisture content and the drying strategy. Many paper manufacturers have refined their processes to significantly limit paper curl and it is important that customers are basing their opinions on high quality recycled grades now available and not on experiences gathered years ago.
There are many resources available today to determine if using recycled stock is right for you and your company. One thing is for sure, using environmentally and socially responsible paper is an opportunity for publishers to make a significant impact on a global level.
For further research on recycled paper organizations and initiatives, please visit:
Green Press Initiative
Cascade Fine Papers
Forest Stewardship Council
