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ENVIRONMENTAL POLICY

Still Point Press strives to conduct business in an ecologically sound manner, using recycled and chemical-free materials whenever possible, and reducing waste by recycling, re-using paper matter and limiting the use of plastics and other harmful materials. Additionally, we try to be energy efficient and maintain a healthy work environment.

Our environmental policy involves both the designer (us), the printer (us, or an outside printer) and the client (you).

What we do:

Reduce waste generated that is sent to landfill
Reduce energy required in our operations
Reduce the depletion of resources (raw) materials
Reduce the release of air pollutants into the environment
Reduced usage of cleaning chemicals by best practice procedures
100% of cleaning cloth is from preloved cotton fabric
100% recycling of clean paper waste
Use of soy-based ink

What you can do:

As you read these recommendations, consider that printing choices and options are constantly changing and improving. New technologies are supplying the industry with better choices that may ensure quality while minimizing environmental impact. These recommendations offer a broad range of alternative choices that, when considered, can help you and your printer to maximize a job's quality while minimizing environmental impact.

DESIGN FOR THE ENVIRONMENT: THINKING THROUGH YOUR CHOICES AT THE OUTSET
Before beginning a print job, whether a catalog, magazine, annual report or flyer, ask the following:

How are the products you choose for your print job produced?
Are there opportunities to use recycled products rather than raw materials?
Can you use renewable resources (materials that occur naturally and have essentially infinite supplies) rather than non-renewable or declining resources that have finite supplies?
How easy will it be to recycle your product when its intended use is over?

E-PRESS TECHNOLOGY: CONSIDER USING PRE-PRESS TECHNOLOGIES WHICH ELIMINATE OR REDUCE WASTES.
Ask your printer if there are pre-press options that suit your printing needs which are made with the least amount of hazardous materials, where the wastes can be recycled, and where any hazardous by-products can be pre-treated and hazardous wastes minimized.

Different pre-press technologies have different waste issues associated with them. Choices which reduce the need for hazardous waste disposal, films, hazardous chemicals, and processes which can capture and recover silver are better for the environment.

FOREST MANAGEMENT PRACTICE
Buy paper that is produced by a company with a stated commitment to environmental stewardship, and to minimizing ecological impacts and ensuring long term sustainable production.

Scientifically managed forests foster a healthier environment, enhancing water, soil and air quality, protecting biodiversity, and providing raw materials to produce paper on a long term basis.

Many paper companies now have annual performance reports or environmental reports that discuss their management practices. Your printer or paper supplier can obtain these reports.

The paper quality and competitive price will not be sacrificed by using paper that is from a properly managed forest area.

Order paper from a local paper mill to minimize the environmental impacts of long distance shipping.

Avoid ordering "mill-order only" paper for the same reason.

RECYCLED PAPERS
Post-consumer recycled papers contain fibers from papers that have been reclaimed from the waste stream after their intended use is over. Paper manufactured from office paper that has been recovered from the waste stream as part of a recycling program is an example of paper with post-consumer content.
Pre-consumer recycled papers are papers made from fibers that are recovered and recaptured before reaching the customer. Mill broke papers from pulp and paper mills, and trim wastes are examples. Traditionally these pre-consumer scraps have been recycled because there is a financial advantage to not wasting excess paper.

By purchasing paper with recycled content, you are diverting waste from landfills, incinerators or other waste disposal options. By specifying post-consumer content papers, you are helping to expand the recycling market to ensure that recycling programs stay viable and effective. As an added benefit, using papers from recycled stock means using fewer trees to make the paper.

UNCOATED PAPER
Use paper with a high percentage of post-consumer recycled paper for fine text, writing, and cover grades.
Commodity grades are better suited for a lower percent of post-consumer content. Follow the EPA guidelines (currently recommending 20% post-consumer content).

Depending on the application, consider that the higher the recycled content, the lower the brightness, strength, and the more visible the contaminants may be. The level of recycled content that is most appropriate for your application should be determined in consultation with your print or paper vendor.

Depending on market conditions and the type of paper, recycled paper prices may be competitive with virgin stock. Ask your printer or paper supplier and keep in mind that recycled paper prices fluctuate over time.

COATED PAPER
When using coated paper, specify at least 10% post-consumer recycled paper. Coated paper with 10% post-consumer recycled content will show no difference in quality. Ask your printer to work with its supplier on finding price comparable recycled content coated papers.

CHLORINE
Buy paper with pulp that is brightened without the use of chlorine. The traditional way of bleaching pulp has come under scrutiny over the last decade as research has linked industrial effluents such as dioxins with risks to the environment and to humans. Dioxins are toxic chlorinated compounds generated when chlorine is used in the bleaching process.

Totally chlorine free paper (TCF) is manufactured without the use of elemental chlorine, or chlorine compounds. Instead, alternative methods including oxygen and hydrogen peroxide are used to bleach the pulp. Using TCF methods eliminates the health risks associated with chlorine and chlorine compounds and also reduces water consumption in the bleaching process.

Elemental Chlorine Free (ECF) paper uses processes which replace chlorine with chlorine dioxide in the first stage of chemical pulp bleaching. These processes are used as acceptable substitutes for chlorine bleached paper by some people because the amount of dioxin is reduced to non-detect levels. Water consumption also decreases with ECF processing.

Both TCF and ECF papers significantly reduce the persistent, bio-accumulative compounds from the mill waste water that are associated with traditional chlorine bleaching processes.

Talk to your paper vendor or printer about the price and applicability of TCF and ECF papers. Encourage them to find the latest information, as new technologies are providing better quality papers with less environmental damage. There are different grades of TCF and ECF paper which may be suitable and available for your specific printing application. Generally, ECF papers are readily available and priced competitively with chorine bleached papers as most mills in the U.S. are switching to this technology. You may find TCF paper prices are higher than other papers. Some major catalogues and magazines are printed on TCF papers today.

RECYCLED AND CHLORINE FREE PAPERS
When requesting recycled papers, ask for papers where the virgin component of the paper is manufactured without elemental chlorine or chlorine compounds (ECF or TCF) and the post-consumer waste fibers have been bleached without chlorine during the recycling and re-pulping process.
There are many terms used to describe a chlorine free process of paper making when including recycled paper fibers. Many mills and other organizations have different terms and ways of describing the process where both the virgin pulp and the recycled fibers are processed without chlorine. Common terms include processed chlorine free (PCF), recycled chlorine free (RCF) and secondary chlorine free (SCF).

MECHANICAL PULPING PROCESSES
Inquire about papers that substitute mechanical pulp for bleached kraft pulp, when appropriate.
All coated printing and writing papers contain some softwood bleached kraft pulp as a strengthening agent. Papers with a maximum groundwood content are environmentally preferable yet meet the strength requirements. Mechanical pulping processes have fewer releases to the environment and use about half as much wood as paper that contains bleached kraft pulp. Mechanical pulping processes, however, require more energy use, and therefore, the resulting air pollutants depend on the kind of energy used to generate the electricity.

PAPER BRIGHTNESS
Use paper bright enough for, but not exceeding, the design needs. Increased brightness may require more bleach and other chemicals in the pulping process.

TRIM SIZE
Work with your printer to determine what pre-cut paper sizes are available before deciding on your exact trim size.

Most papers come in pre-cut sizes or rolls. By adjusting your trim sizes slightly, you may be able to place more layouts on a sheet than originally planned. Trim adjustments could reduce the amount of paper wasted. In addition to offering environmental benefits, optimizing trim size could reduce your paper and printing costs.

PAPER BASIS WEIGHT
Consider lowering your paper basis weight (from 80 lb. to 70 lb., for example). Fewer fibers are needed per sheet of paper, saving resources.

When lowering your paper weight slightly, the finished product often looks and performs the same as the higher weight. Ask your printer for comparison samples.

The cost of your paper will be lower by using a lower paper weight. The mailing costs of a finished piece may also decrease due to the weight reduction.

OTHER LAYOUT CONSIDERATIONS
If appropriate, consider printing on both sides of the paper, and reducing the width of the margins and font size. These options will save both resources and money.

INK COMPOSITION
REDUCE VOLATILE ORGANIC COMPOUNDS BY MAKING APPROPRIATE INK CHOICES
There are three general areas of concern which relate to the composition and environmental impact of printing inks : volatile organic compounds (VOCs), non-renewable resources, and heavy metals.
Volatile organic compounds are carbon containing compounds that contribute to air and water pollution when they escape into the air by evaporation. These are mostly derived from petroleum products and are used as solvents.

REQUEST INKS WHICH EMIT LOW AMOUNTS OF VOCS (VOLATILE ORGANIC COMPOUNDS)
Ask your printer what percent of VOCs are emitted when the ink dries, and how that compares to other inks. The amount of VOCs emitted will depend on the type of printing (for example, sheetfed or web off-set), but the following can serve as a recommended guide: less than 10% VOCs for sheetfed printing and less than 30% for heatset printing.

REQUEST INKS MADE WITH RENEWABLE RESOURCES, SUCH AS OILS FROM VEGETABLES, SOY, LINSEED, AND OTHER AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTS
Vegetable based inks such as soy based inks are made with a certain amount of vegetable oil rather than petroleum oil. These inks are better for the environment because they are partially made with renewable resources such as soy, linseed, and corn, and use less non-renewable resources, such as petroleum oil. In order for the inks to work well and dry efficiently, vegetable based inks still contain some amount of petroleum oil. If no petroleum oil were used, the energy use in the print shop would increase because more heat would be needed to dry the inks, thus counteracting the environmental benefit of using vegetables instead of petroleum. In that regard, the American Soybean Association established that in order to use the soy logo, the ink solvent must contain a minimum amount of soybean oil depending on the type of printing, meaning that a large percent of a "soy ink" solvent can be made from petroleum. That is why it is important to specify inks which emit low amount of VOCs.

- Vegetable based inks may also reduce the levels of VOCs and other pollutants emitted in the printing process.
- Technologies are quickly adapting to combat quality problems that were originally associated with using soy or other vegetable based inks.
- Vegetable based inks can be used with overprint coating processes.
- Currently, vegetable based ink prices are competitive with petroleum based inks.
- Inks should not contain any intentionally added heavy metals.
- Alternative pigment color choices are available which almost always can be closely matched to the color you want without using heavy metals.

Pigments give the ink its colors. Certain pigments are formulated with metals which can result in environmental and worker health hazards when metals are extracted, processed, or disposed. Try to avoid using inks with added antimony, arsenic, barium, cadmium, chromium, lead, mercury, as well as metallic colors. Using substitutes for these colors are better for the environment, and these ink colors may require additional steps in the press cleaning process which may be hazardous as well.

INK COVERAGE
Try to use less ink coverage. Heavy ink coverage uses more resources and creates more waste. Heavy ink coverage also may impact the recycling opportunities by increasing the amount of sludge.

OVERPRINT COATINGS AQUEOUS COATINGS, UV COATINGS, VARNISHES AND LAMINATION
Consider how your published piece will be used when deciding if you need an overprint coat or varnish. Printing on coated stock paper without overprint coatings may be sufficient for most jobs.
If you decide to use an overprint coat, communicate with your printer as to the best alternative.
Different chemicals are used to produce the various types of coatings, some of these are potentially harmful to human health and to the environment.

AQUEOUS COATINGS
A Water Based (Aqueous) Lacquer Coating is often the best overprint choice in term of environmental impact.

Paper with water based lacquer coatings can be recycled and re-pulped, depending on what local recycling centers will take, and emit no harmful byproducts in the process. The cleanup process in the plant is easy and does not require toxic cleaning detergents nor does it use high temperatures.

Water based lacquer coatings are available for jobs that require a shiny, thicker coating. The variety of aqueous coatings available satisfy many needs, including high scuff resistance, work and turn, high gloss and dull finishes. Aqueous coatings also eliminate the spray powder used in some varnishes which give the publications a rougher feeling. However, not all printed pieces can use this technique.

Water based coatings are often the most economical coating choice. Do not use catalytic cured water based (aqueous) coatings. Formaldehyde, a harmful by-product, is emitted in this process.

UV COATINGS
The process of UV coating emits no toxic byproducts, however, strict environmental, health and safety measures in the print shop must be maintained in order for the process to be safe for the workers.
The clean up process for UV coatings require chemicals that could be dangerous if not used properly. The UV coating process also requires higher energy use due to UV lamps and air conditioning requirements. There are also some safety implications, and workers must be protected from the UV light rays.

The ability to recycle printed materials with UV coatings varies from place to place. Current technology allows for UV coated printed materials to be recycled. However, too much UV coated material in a batch can cause problems and the paper will not be re-pulped.

VARNISHES
Overprint varnishes are more easily recyclable than the UV coated stock, however, VOCs are emitted in the coating process.

Some print shops are able to safely destroy the coating emissions through a catalytic converter. If you are using overprint varnishes, make sure the print shop has the capability to capture the emissions or destroy them.

LAMINATION
Lamination is not an environmentally sound recommended finish on a published piece. VOCs are emitted during lamination if it is solvent based. Large amounts of adhesives are used in some laminating which also creates an issue in the re-pulping process.

THE FINISHING TOUCHES BINDINGS & GLUES, MARKETING YOUR MATERIALS, AND COMMUNICATING WITH YOUR READERS

GLUES FOR BINDINGS AND LABELS
Specify glues which emit no VOCs in the process, and ones which are able to be recycled. Water based, non-chlorinated glues are a good example.

Glues which emit no or very low amounts of VOCs can be used for most print jobs. Glues with fewer solvents should also not pose problems in recycling.

ASK YOUR PRINTER ABOUT THE MOST ENVIRONMENTALLY FRIENDLY OPTION FOR LABELING DEPENDING ON YOUR REQUIREMENTS
Labeling options will vary depending on the paper stock and intended use. Ask about options which minimize adhesives and solvent based glues.

Water based ink jet labeling can be used for some print jobs, but not all, due to the fast drying time required for most labeling jobs.

THE FINAL ORDER: ANALYZE THE NUMBER OF COPIES NEEDED FOR THE JOB
Reducing the number of printed pieces has obvious cost and waste reduction savings associated with it, as long as you do not end up having to run a re-print.

MARKETING CONSIDERATIONS
Inquire about the recyclability of your advertising and marketing choices including scratch off, foils, plastic polystyrenes and polyesters.

Check with your printer about the more environmentally friendly options for special marketing techniques, taking into consideration the resources used to make them as well as the recyclability. For example, a "peek - a -boo" pouch may be used instead of a scratch off foil with similar affects.
Other environmentally friendly alternatives include: water based coatings instead of plastic and polystyrenes, water based inks instead of using foils, and pouch game tickets instead of scratch off foils.