Demand for Sustainable Print Technologies Creates New Opportunities

With the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change issuing a “Red Alert” for climate change on Aug. 9, brand owners and consumers are increasingly searching out and choosing solutions that minimize carbon emissions and waste.

This is examined in detail in the new Smithers report – The Future of Green Printing to 2026. It is a trend that will increasingly reward print service providers, inks and consumables suppliers and OEMs, that invest in more sustainable solutions over the next five years, and beyond.

This will evolve into specific opportunities at each stage of the print value chain. Among the highlight topics Smithers’ expert research identifies are:
• Cutting wastage in make-ready and set-up will favor wider use of digital (inkjet and electrophotography) print systems. A forecast reduction in the average run length for many print jobs will magnify this impact.
• The rapid adoption of bio-based solvent and water-based inks, with the current generation of vegetable oil inks already promising over 50% recycled content, and reduced emissions of volatile organic compounds (VOCs).
• Increased sales of sustainable substrates, including recycled fiber and virgin paper grades accredited to sustainably forestry schemes.
• A consistent trend in packaging is to substitute away from existing plastic packaging to fiber-based alternatives.
• There is interest in developing new fiber sources for printing papers, such as bamboo or agricultural by products.
• Investment in print processes that minimize secondary raw material use, such as reduced water consumption for wash off.
• Greater support for technology platforms that enable the collection and reuse of print materials, both in industrial closed loop and consumer recycling streams.

Simultaneously, the desire to implement more planet-friendly working practices will support a reordering of print businesses:
• The trend to reshoring production and printing improves supply chain security, and can also deliver savings on carbon emissions and wastage in transit.
• Larger organizations can switch to centralized printing models, with a single server assigning job requests most efficiently across its network of presses and end-users.

With 2021 set to be a pivotal year for the world’s efforts to contain climate change, these and other important trends for the industry are examined critically in – The Future of Green Printing to 2026. It profiles the evolution of circular economy principles, key legislative initiatives, the impact on analogue and digital print processes, and all major print product segments (books, magazines, newspapers, advertising, catalogs, commercial, security applications, transactional print, printed décor and textiles, packaging, and labels).