Sustainability in Wide Format Digital Printing

By Laurel Brunner

Wide format digital printing is a relatively new sector within the printing industry. It has emerged thanks to advances in inkjet printing systems and materials science. Over the last few years users have embraced the technology and the market for new print applications has exploded. For printing virtually everything from building wraps to labels and clothing, technology developers keep rising to the challenge. Factors influencing the environmental sustainability of these types of print are less clear cut. They are as diverse as the systems, inks and substrates available. Even how wide format prints are used has an environmental impact dimension.

What do we mean by Wide Format digital printing?

In response to rapidly evolving market expectations, manufacturers have come up with ever more taIlored devices for producing the work. Devices are available to print onto single sheets or onto a roll; they can work with many different substrates and inks and include various finishing methods. The technology options are many, so defining what counts as a wide format digital press, and its sustainability, depends on who you ask.

Wide format digital printing technology is used to print signs, displays, banners, billboards, building wraps and vehicle wraps, labels and packaging, as well as textiles, ceramics and flooring. The most popular printing width varies with the application and geography, so there is no universal consensus on what wide format digital printing really is. That said, digital printing devices that print across a width of 0,45m to 3,2m can be considered wide format digital printers. What everyone can agree on is that all of the machines positioned in this class use digital imaging, inks and substrate technologies that are evolving at lightning speed.

As soon as a need is spotted you can be sure that a new digital press configuration will be introduced to meet its needs. From textiles and home furnishings through to building wraps, wide format digital technology can handle the production. And if the technology can’t handle it today, it will do soon. This makes for a very healthy second-hand and upgrade market, but also produces a lot of machines that can rapidly become redundant. If they cannot find homes as pre-loved digital presses, their disposal can be problematic. This is an aspect of the sector’s sustainability that is rarely considered.

Wide Format and Sustainability

When it comes to sustainability, compared to commercial printing the wide format digital printing sector has shown rather less interest in mitigating negative environmental aspects and impacts. Sign and display prints are often printed on substrates other than paper. Consumers mistakenly focus on waste paper as indicative of print’s environmental hostility. And yet they tend not to notice that wide format prints printed on PVC are worse, not least because of the waste volumes and end-of-life disposal and processing: how do you recycle a building wrap in a sustainable way? In a sector where specialist applications are the norm, convenience, functionality, cost effectiveness and functionality are central to buying decisions. Sustainability tends to take a back seat.

That said large format digital printing companies are under growing pressure from customers to tick a green box here and there. In all sectors of print, print buyers are sensitive to their environmentally accountability not because they desperately care about the environment, but because their stakeholders do. Nova Abbott head of marketing for Kavalan (Taya), a substrate producer, sees this first hand: “Our experience tells us that it’s the top of the supply chain that is driving the need for the wide printing format to do more with being sustainable. Brands are having to do more for the environment (for their customers, ie, the consumers and their views on the environmental protection) and the environmental target brands set for themselves to achieve. The media and reports to raise the concerns for the planet also helps.”

Ken Hanulec, vice president of worldwide marketing for EFI, a printing systems developer, confirms that “The concept of ‘green printing’ is not new to the wide-format industry but being a ‘green printer’ is now a necessity to support their customer base. … Not only do our customers increasingly care about sustainability, but the brands wide-format print providers serve, also continue to advocate for sustainability and carbon neutrality.”

Ken Hanulec, vice president of worldwide marketing for EFI

Why Bother?

There are plenty of reasons for wide format digital printers to start upping their sustainability game, beyond the demands customers make for sustainable products and practises. A sustainable business model controls costs and waste so tightening up sales, production and customer service processes will cut both. Streamlining processes obviously makes a difference and then there’s the competitive dimension. Any business that can tout its environmental credentials is well-placed to attract new business coming from eco-conscious buyers.

Improving a business’s environmental sustainability isn’t hard to do, but it does take commitment. It takes time and resources to go through the business and explore inefficiencies and evaluate possible actions to remediate them.

Technology The Key

Broad awareness of the need to improve print’s sustainability profile has lead to considerable advances in materials, water based inks and recycling. Substrates based on paper rather than PVC, must be durable enough for exterior applications and are becoming available. Steve Wilson of Inca Digital believes that the market is already driving some serious change: “Print Service Providers are moving towards materials with lower carbon footprint in response to retail chains, who in return are influenced by brand-owners. This process began more than a decade ago as UK high street stores such as Marks and Spencer began choosing solid polypropylene sheets instead of rigid vinyl (PVC) due to their greater recyclability. Many other retail names such as TESCO have since followed this trend, and fluted polypropylene (PP) is also now common in retail environments. We are now seeing a new trend towards paper-based materials with even lower carbon footprint”. 

Next Steps

For business owners in the wide format digital printing sector sustainability efforts should focus on three things: media and inks and their carbon footprints; workflow management and process automation; and sustainable business practises such as energy management, equipment efficiency, staff safety, engagement, retention and health, and above all waste management. It’s all about control, because across the application range where wide format digital printing has a role, it’s only a matter of time before sustainability reaches the top of the agenda.

This article was originally published on futureprint.tech