Stakeholder Dialogue: Spreading eco-printing

External participant Internal participant

Customers cannot request eco-printing since there is no clear criteria for what eco-printing is.

The reality is that since customers demand cost, speed and quality, eco-printing does not always meet their requirements, and it is difficult for printing companies to recommend eco-printing.

There is a need to establish a business model for broadening the use of ecoprinting in the market.

Because the printing industry is based on orders received, it is more effective to encourage customers to choose eco-printing rather than expecting too much from the vendors. Therefore, Eco-Insatsu-Kenkyu-kai promotes the concept of eco-printing to customers.

It is important to have environmentally friendly production processes as well as paper and ink. Ideally, eco-printing should be understood from four points of view: environmentally friendly materials, production processes with low environmental burden, the 3Rs (Reduce, Reuse, Recycle), and energy savings.

The major challenge in the printing process is taking action in regard to reducing emissions of volatile organic compounds (VOCs). This requires collaboration among various printing material manufacturers, including ink makers, in addition to efforts by printing companies.

It is important to clearly display recycling information on printed materials at the point they are about to be discarded. There would be no point for eco-printing if it did not lead to reusing resources.

It would be difficult to spread processless CTP plates simply based on explaining the products and their environmental performance. There is a need for improving workflows for easier use as well as for recommendations that include establishing a worksite environment in which it is easy and efficient to introduce them.

Fujifilm Group has extensive capabilities for developing, manufacturing and selling total systems, from prepress materials and chemicals to software for printing equipment. I expect the Group to demonstrate and deliver the value of eco-printing to the market from a broad perspective.

It is important to start in-house before trying to raise public awareness. We ourselves should promote eco-printing in the Group with clear standards for in-house printing and placing orders outside the Group.