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The weekly Verdigris blog by Laurel Brunner

As drupa winds its way to a grateful close we have been struck by the sheer enormity of the task facing the printing industry, when it comes to reduced environmental impact. If it’s true (and we reckon it is) that climate change can only be mitigated by a reduction of worldwide greenhouse gas (GHGs) emissions, our industry must do more. If for no other reason than because print is central to our communications models and print is an important dimension for every other business. Our industry cuts across all industrial, commercial and social sectors, which means print is well placed to lead progress in reduced environmental impacts. But it isn’t that simple.

This idea of leadership was one of the topics we discussed in the Eco Leadership Forum HP hosted at drupa last week. It is a tricky topic because even though the industry understands the importance of contributing to impact reduction, there is no single entity leading the charge. EcoPrint, taking place in Berlin on the 26th and 27th September might take on that role. This is the only industry event dedicated to exploring the environmental impact of print, so once the event concludes we might find that we have a point of leadership focus.

The weekly Verdigris blog by Laurel Brunner

These days standards govern every part of a successful printer’s life. Many printers choose to gain accreditation because they understand it’s a good way to keep demanding customers happy. Or because they want to measure their business against a set of external metrics. More and more printers are gaining accreditation to standards such as ISO 9001 for a business’s quality management and ISO 14001 for environmental management.

ISO 9001 is a generic standard relevant for all types of business. It specifies the requirements of a company’s quality management systems. ISO 14001 is part of a series of environmental management standards that specify requirements for managing the environmental aspects of the business. Like ISO 9001 it is a generic standard that any company can use, regardless of business sector.