Eco War

During my first year in Graphic Design the thing that was most surprising was the amount of paper I was using and eventually wasting. While I needed all of the photocopies and paper to do the projects, at the end almost everything was useless. Trying to be eco friendly seemed impossible, recycling helped but if anything was put in the bin other than paper it was all put into the trash. In addition to that, some papers couldn’t be recycled since they had paint or similar unrecyclable products on them. This year I have tried to print as little as possible, but similar to last year it’s hard to do the project without using paper. All of this combined with my eco friendly mission inspired me to look for ways to lessen my negative impact.

Paper: Try to find paper with Post Consumer Recycled content. Cascades produces Enviro 100 which boasts 100% post-consumer fiber, is EcoLogo certified, processed chlorine free and manufactured using biogas energy. Another option is Boise’s Aspen 50, it contains 50% post-consumer content and is a great multipurpose paper for those who want the same characteristics and brightness as a non-recycled paper.

Inks: While soy ink may take longer to dry, there are brighter colours available and the recycling process is much easier. Vegetable-based inks have better ink holdout and as long as you allow for the added dot gain, your results will be just as vibrant, if not more so.

At Work: Suggest to clients that they only print what they need rather than creating a stock of flyers and other printed products that will likely go unused. Reduce the amount of printed products by offering PDF versions via email or the client’s website.

While these solutions can’t help much right now, I will be suggesting these options to future clients. By the time I make it to the work world these options will be more commonplace and hopefully more accessible and affordable.

Ps. My only project sent to print was printed on Enviro 100, love it!