TYPE OF PRINTING PROCESS CAN IMPACT ENERGY CARBON FOOTPRINT

By Tengku Noor Shamsiah Tengku Abdullah

SINGAPORE, May 7 (Bernama) -- Given paper’s significance, some customers are
choosing to switch to lighter weight papers to cut carbon dioxide
(CO2)emissions.

Along with requiring fewer trees, the lighter paper requires less energy
during the printing process.

According to Joe Czyszczewski, Chief Sustainability Officer, InfoPrint
Solutions Company, the type of printing process has a large impact on the energy
carbon footprint.

He said toner-based printing requires the entire page to be heated to fuse
the toner, even if the printing only takes up a small percentage.

"In comparison, inkjet printing sprays the ink on the page and may only
require enough energy to dry the amount of ink used.

"InfoPrint Solutions tests show that inkjet can use half the energy of
toner-based printing," he told Bernama.

Czyszczewski said one of InfoPrint’s missions is to raise the awareness that
switching from paper statements to online statements does not necessarily equate
to green.

"Customers and consumers need to start thinking about the manufacturing,
e-waste and energy consumption of data centers to store data, the CO2 impact of
email distribution and compare those figures to a renewable resource, paper.

"Paper made with 30 per cent recycled content has become an industry norm.
Although this may seem low, the cost of the paper can increase one percent for
every ten per cent more of recycled content," he added.

He said the buzzword, or rather buzz expression of the day, is "conflict
minerals".

"While many of the elements required for semiconductors will be depleted
within our lifetime, the corporate duty of care obliges organisations to check
the chain of custody and look at the certification of well-managed mines where
minerals are sourced.

There are many actions companies can take to change the culture of going
green. Some pain points include removing all personal bins at workstations and
even putting locks on some waste bins to ensure the right waste was going in the
right bins.

Through these measures, Czyszczewski said companies can save over 13,000
tons of waste from going to landfill.