Save earth by adopting green printing strategies

Throughout world, people are taking various steps to go eco-friendly. There are various non-profit organizations conducting programs to tell people as to what steps they can take in day to day life to go green. People all over the world are finding new ways to go green. If every individual takes initiative to plant one tree in their lifetime they can save earth. Most of the countries have taken certain legal legislations to save the earth.

Green printing is one of the ways to save earth. By adopting this method, we can reduce pollution. Many big corporations have turned towards green printing as it is cheaper and eco-friendly. By using this type of printing, chemical dyes can be avoided as it is harmful to the environment. Recycled paper can also be used for eco-friendly printing. Discarded paper can be recycled and used for printing purpose. Though these papers are of poor quality, they can be used for situations that do not necessarily need the use of first-class paper. Recycled paper will not only save lot of trees but save your money.

In eco-friendly printing, artificial and harmful chemicals are not used as it can pollute the soil. Another way of printing less is by printing only important documents. As far as possible, use email to send documents or files.

Nowadays, nearly 90 percent of daily newspapers use low polluting inks like soy or vegetable based inks for color printing. Most of the large organizations are avoiding inks which contain heavy metals like lead, cadmium and mercury which produce bright colors.    
                       
Green printing practices

•    Always buy environmental friendly paper and inks.  Choose a chlorine free paper. Use soya based or vegetable ink because they contain lower VOCs when compared with petroleum based inks.
•    Never use non-standard sizes for printing purpose. Standard press sheet sizes are 23*35, 25*38, 26*40 and 28*40. Always use both sides of each sheet.
•    Try to use less ink as it requires less paper.
•    Always buy a printer that uses a waterless printing system
•    Publish your documents online.
•    Always look for a printer that uses renewable energy sources.
•    Always buy paper that is 100 percent post-consumer waste (PCW), processed chlorine free (PCF), uncoated, forest stewardship council (FSC) certified, made from energy sources like wind or solar power.
•    By using soy-ink, paper can be recycled easily as regular ink can be removed from the paper easily during de-inking process.
•    Soy ink can spread 15% further, reducing ink usage and printer cleanup costs.
•    Buy pulp-based paper or synthetic papers.
•    While purchasing recycled paper, look in for symbols that have PCF (Processed chlorine-free), Chlorine Free product Association (CFPA), TCF (Elemental chlorine-free) emblems and forest stewardship council (FSC).