German printing press manufacturer manroland, as part of its endeavor to boost its service offering, has introduced the manroland Ecometer, a software tool printing companies can employ to determine steps they can take to improve their ecological standing.
Print shops, using existing data from their production floor including technology profiles, production volume and paper consumption, can use the Ecometer to determine areas where they can be saving energy and resources.
Last July KBA, another of the major German printing press manufacturers, launched its Footprint Manager tool for printers. It’s an online service that printers, for a fee, can use to calculate emissions from a particular print job.
These are just two examples of print press manufacturers putting their best “green” foot forward.
Heidelberg, the largest printing press manufacturer in the world, annually releases its own sustainability report (a practice it’s been doing for years), outlining the company’s internal environmental efforts. Heidelberg also offers a service for printers to calculate their CO2 footprint and has its HEI ECO web page.
And in 2008 Heidelberg launched an international ECO Printing Award contest. The first ECO award for most sustainable print shop was presented to Vancouver’s Hemlock Printers. Heidelberg is currently accepting entries for its second ECO Printing Award (deadline, January 31, 2011).
Japan’s Komori makes a practice of publishing its own environmental sustainability reports, promoting its internal actions and demonstrating the eco-benefits of its technology.
Other press makers, like Ryobi of Japan and Presstek of the U.S. endorse the enviro benefits of waterless printing among other features of their technology that make them green. You’d be hard pressed to find a printing press manufacturer that doesn’t make the environment part of their business practice.
