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Cut through "green" lip service to find truly environmental practices.
By Tom Black
Tom Black is the marketing operations manager for 3M Graphics Market Center.
Global climate change is big news, and it will only get bigger if, as the experts predict, the Earth continues to heat up. Stricter legislation that affects environmental issues, including emissions of greenhouse gases and volatile organic compounds (VOCs), packaging, recyclability and hazardous waste, is likely in the next few years.
Environmental benefits will increasingly be powerful differentiators in the market, and companies and products that provide customers with environmental advantages will succeed at the competitors’ expense. So what does it all mean for graphics manufacturers and applicators?
The graphics industry must improve the environmental performance of its products, and how they’re produced, by reducing environmental impacts wherever possible. This includes:
• Reducing and recycling waste;
• Reducing emissions of VOCs and greenhouse gases;
• Expanding use of heavy-metal-free pigments in inks and colored films;
• Developing more reusable/recyclable packaging; and
• Conserving energy/using renewable energy in manufacturing, distribution and application.
However, meeting customer expectations for environmental performance must minimize changes in product performance. Although customers expect environmental enhancements, typically, they’re reluctant to pay more for them.
Defining sustainability
Many companies today claim their products are “green,” but since green simply means eco-friendly, these claims mean little. Sustainability might be a more affective criterion.
According to the U.S Environ-mental Protection Agency (EPA), sustainability is “meeting the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.” Sustainability also considers environmental, health and safety issues throughout the product’s entire life cycle – from design and manufacture, through use and disposal.
Sustainability takes the wide view and includes the complete process of making a product, not just the product itself. Increasingly, buyers want to know they’re purchasing from an environmentally responsible company that uses sustainable processes to make its products.
So, how can graphics manufacturers and applicators differentiate themselves as being sustainable or environmentally responsible? And what should they look for when selecting films, inks and other products?
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