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The world today is still firmly focused on mass production, mass consumption, and mass disposal. Unsurprisingly, this is causing major problems, not least of which is the depletion of natural resources.

For obvious reasons, there’s been an increased focus on environmentally-responsible sourcing, supply chain management and manufacturing within the print industry. This is something that customers are increasingly demanding too; actively seeking to reduce their carbon footprint with manufacturers that embrace long-term environmental responsibility.

With Mintel’s latest Global Outlook on Sustainability: A Consumer Study 2024-25 study, expected to report sustainability is the most critical issue concerning brands, it’s clear this is a key concern facing the wider print industry.

The challenges

Here’s just a quick overview of the main environmental challenges in production print:

  • Energy consumption: Production print processes consume large amounts of energy, especially with older, traditional equipment. From powering large presses to the drying and curing processes, the energy demand is substantial and often relies on non-renewable sources.
  • Waste generation: A substantial amount of waste is produced, including excess paper and setup sheets used for calibrating and adjusting presses. Misprints, overproduction, and leftover materials all play a big part too.
  • Recyclability: Coatings, lamination or complex substrates, like composites or metallic inks, mean that some printed materials are difficult to recycle. While these features may improve the durability or aesthetic value, they can make recycling much harder.  

 

Why sustainability is key for print providers

In short: addressing environmental issues is no longer optional for print providers. Here’s why it really matters:

  • Reputation and responsibility: Environmental challenges affect all of us today. As businesses and consumers become more conscious, it’s vital to be transparent with own commitments and actions towards sustainability. This demonstrates print providers understand their customers’ needs and are actively helping them reduce their impact.
  • Cost and time savings: Efficient use of printing devices, materials and reducing waste can lower production costs. As well as minimizing errors, using automated systems also helps reduce paper waste and optimize resource usage.
  • Compliance: Many regions are introducing stricter regulations regarding waste and emissions. By adopting sustainable practices early, printers can avoid potential compliance issues too.                                         

As a result, printing companies really should establish robust investment criteria, prioritizing technologies and processes that drive sustainability. This includes setting standards to evaluate both the environmental impact and return on investment of new equipment and materials.

Here to help

Sustainability is at the heart of Konica Minolta’s business. It’s been an important factor in the past 20 years of innovation and is a focus for the future too.

Here’s just a quick overview of how we can help print businesses solve environmental challenges and realize many benefits:

  • Our Simitri HD polymerized toners are significant innovations designed to reduce environmental impact. The toners require lower fusing temperatures, reducing energy use and carbon emissions. They are also certified by INGEDE for optimal recyclability. This foundation informs the design of products (like the AccurioPress C7100 that weighs 25% less than its predecessor) and promotes the use of recycled materials (our toner bottles are made with up to 60% recycled plastics), to reduce the amount of primary raw materials required.
  • All Konica Minolta production printing devices are made in factories with certified quality (ISO 9001), environmental management (ISO 14001) and an occupational health and safety management system (ISO 45001). Plus, we hold the Japan Federation of Printing Industries’ Green Printing certification – a voluntary environmental standard that assesses products objectively, based on agreed standards.
  • We’re also transforming waste into valuable resources through our Clean Planet Program – with over 87% of recycled materials being converted into secondary raw materials.  

In addition, our digital technologies have a smaller environmental impact than offset printing, as they reduce the resources required for printing, storing, and disposing of unnecessary materials. In other words, only printing what is necessary, where it is needed, is an important way to reduce waste.

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