Digital printing is not only environmentally conscious, but in a “Printing Green” article by Dynamic Graphics, it was also shown to be more economically efficient for short-run projects, four color projects and most print work under 14 x 20 inches.  In addition to being economically efficient, digital printing technology such as the iGen3, uses 97 percent recycled energy and the ink used is non-toxic.

By using a digital printing technology such as the iGen3, there is a reduction in paper consumption.  According to Xerox, the amount of paper consumption is reduced by 50 percent.  By cutting down on the resources needed for the printing process, the iGen3 not only is helpful to the environment, but it also saves the customer money as there is much less product waste.

In addition to the iGen3′s high environmental standards, seventy percent of direct mail is recycled paper, whereas every year, 33 billion Kilowatts hours of energy are used because of email marketing alone.  Finally, unlike its digital counterpart, print has a one-time carbon footprint, in contrast, digital media generates an environmental footprint every time a lap top is turned on or an email is read via a smartphone.

Every medium is going to have it’s impact on the environment, we must take responsibility to reduce our energy consumption and be more conscious of what and how much of a product or service we’re using.  By doing so, we’ll see an overall reduction in the print and digital industries environmental footprint.

Timothy Freeman 

President

Print & Graphic Communications Association