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Almost every day another consulting group starts touting to help printing companies become more environmentally accountable. Offerings range from some sort of sustainability scheme or service, to overpriced environmental consulting. There’s a bandwagon cranking up and lots of people are in line waiting to board.
I recently had the privilege of being one of the judges on the Miraclon Global Flexo Innovation Awards (GFIA). The GFIAs were set up in 2018 as part of the tenth anniversary celebrations for the Kodak Flexcel NX system. They celebrate companies using Flexcel to drive worldwide transformation in the flexo industry.
Partnering is at the heart of sustainability, whether it’s joint projects with customers or in production or in project development. For the most part project development means taking on a technology such as a printing press and helping its developers to refine their invention so that it is fit for purpose. Money only changes hands when everyone is happy.
At a press conference two years ago Kodak underscored its commitment to digital print media production, restructuring and sustainability. The mantra was repeated recently during the announcement of the Ascend dry ink press, one of this year’s few truly exciting new digital press announcements.
Last year we wrote in a Verdigris blog that HP Indigo inks are compostable. HP Indigo has since advised us that this is not the case. Although the prints are compostable, the inks are not and this is an important distinction. The inks will eventually biodegrade but biodegradation is not a controlled process, so how long it takes is unclear. This is an important part of the difference between compostability and biodegradeability.
