Peter French asks: Can we please have some perspective on the sustainability issue?

In his latest article for Large Format Review, Signtec's Peter French explains why the maths doesn’t always add up for him when it comes to recycling...

“So, I turned up at the domestic waste site the other day with an old window frame with the glass windows still in place.  Looking at the signs on the recycling, I had a choice of either glass or wood -Â' not both - so I asked the supervisor where I should put it. His reply astounded me:  "Put it in either, it all goes for landfill."

I know I have banged on out this before, but I still don't get the reason why there seems so much hysteria towards sustainable print.  If our obsession continues, we risk putting our whole industry into the recycling bin. Let me explain...

At present we have machine manufacturers chomping at the bit to tell us how green their printers are and how we will save the planet by buying one.  At the same time, manufacturers are telling trade customers what they should or shouldn’t buy in the way of print and substrates.  (I would imagine the conversation goes roughly along the lines of: "You don't want to buy that type of print because it kills dolphins...  luckily, we have a solution that won't...")

This is potentially so dangerous for our industry.  Manufacturers are trying to sway the buyers into using this type of solvent or that type of UV or latex on the basis that it has some kind of eco-tag.  For smaller businesses with an old - and highly reliable - solvent printer, this is the wake-up call.  Soon your mainstream customer could be demanding that you can demonstrate your e-credentials.

Now obviously every other sector of the UK is doing its bit to protect the environment and help all our businesses remain sustainable.  That’s surely a given?  Err, actually no.

Let’s look at what we have done so far. We now ship over 470 million tonnes of domestic and industrial waste to China. This means we don't have to do anything with it and we can knock that off the UK emissions tally (although I do question who -– if anyone –- counts the emissions of the huge ships trolling backwards and forwards to China brimming with waste?)

Electrical goods are another good example of how the UK has reduced its emissions. Yes, you've guessed it, we export it all over the world where it’s put in huge piles and ripped apart with bare hands for the raw materials. Another example of how we have reduced our emissions.

Here is a good example of how eco-friendly printer manufacturers are. I can buy today from the likes of PC World a desktop printer for £32.00. This comes with a set of cartridges worth £19.00, meaning that the printer has a value to me of £13.00. If this goes wrong in 6 months - as in my experience they often do - what do you think happens to it?  Yep, I'll dump it and buy a new one.  Is this sustainable manufacturing?  I think not.  Surely it would be better to sell a more robust kit for more money and reduce the waste problem?

50 years ago, manufacturing was the mainstay of British industry, yet now we get other countries to manufacture the raw materials and then we import them cleanÂ'.  Again, who is counting the ecological cost of this incessant importing of goods?

There are many other every day changes that have impacted our environment.  For example:

• Supermarkets stay open 24 hours a day wasting huge amounts of electricity to light the stores and car parks and for what reason?  Perhaps, to sell the odd packet of cornflakes to one or two insomniacs?  Yet still, there are calls to increase opening hours on Sundays.
• Dartford River Crossing creates the biggest man-made traffic jam in Europe twice a day and needlessly wastes huge amount of fossil fuels as cars and lorries wait to pay at the booths.
• There are calls for a third runway at Heathrow so we can have more planes in and out as global air traffic continues to increase. We are trying to attract businessmen from developing countries to the UK â€" possibly (presumably?) to buy more waste material and to sell us more raw goods - thus reducing our emissions further.

£16 billion is the current cost to the UK taxpayer in benefits. If we are to reduce this, we need to create more jobs, not restrict and inhibit existing businesses by overburdening bureaucracy and frightening away customers with eco-scares about our processes and materials.

I want to see this campaign led by the people on the ground: sign makers, large format printers and general printers. I really don't want this to become led by the manufacturers - many of whose main aim in life is to sell you a new machine.

Can we have some perspective on this whole issue? We all have a responsibility for the future environment and print has a part to play. But it’s not just about buying new eco-kit â€" it’s a much bigger picture. If I buy a new low footprint machine, how do I know that it was built according to sustainable standards? How long will it take for me to balance the eco-cost of shipping it all the way from the other side of the world where many machines are made?

Sustainability is not just about the end product.  It’s the whole process from the manufacturers and large corporate customers to the small printer struggling to stay on the right side of the eco-argument with diminishing revenues.

I can understand manufacturers being concerned, but the last thing I want to see is manufacturers telling customers what they should buy, in terms of print, for the good of the planet.  This would be disastrous for the industry, especially small businesses that won't be able to find the investment to re-engineer.

At the forthcoming EcoPrint Show in September, I will be looking to the manufacturers not just to see whether their equipment produces sustainable product, but whether the manufacturer is doing everything it can to reduce its own footprint in manufacture and transportation.  If manufacturers don't take their part seriously, then I might start to get a little annoyed...”Â"

About Peter French: Peter has been working in the sign industry for 9 years having spent a lifetime in IT. Specialising in kick-starting businesses, Peter worked in many diverse business sectors.  For most of the time at Signtec he has been at the forefront of large format printing with both solvent and UV technologies.