Green printing is going mainstream!

We were happy to read that green printing is now not only the quest of a small number of printers, but it's also on the agenda of the the world’s largest graphic arts trade association - Printing Industries of America.

Yes, Printing Industries of America is providing now its members with a new tool for who wants to go green: The Green Guide for Graphic Communications.

According to their website the guide will help printers to turn your green profile into a market position, make appropriate and credible green claims, issue periodic reports on your green progress, better understand third-party certification and eco-labels,communicate effectively with customers, prospects, and other stakeholders, and so on.

It sounds like a valuable “how-to” guide for printers, that shows them how going green can not only benefit the environment, but also their business, and I hope many of them will make a good use of it.

This guide is provided free of charge to members of Printing Industries of America. You can read more about the guide at http://www.printing.org/greenguide?id=PGAMA

Yours,
Raz @ Eco-Libris

Eco-Libris: Promoting green printing

How to green up your book's printing? check out this eco-kit

Many times it's easier to know what not to do than what to do. If you're a publisher or an author that is trying to go green, you probably know what I'm talking about.

We know that doing the right thing can be a little complexed when it comes to printing, and we try to provide on our website and blog as many helpful resources as possible. Today we're happy to present you with an eco-kit.

This eco-kit (available in a PDF format) is found on the website of one of our most favorite green organizations - Markets Initiative. It's a "compendium of tips, terms, resources and papers for environmentally friendly publishing" and was prepared by the Association of Book Publishers of British Colombia.

Why it was initiated in the first place? You can find the reason on the introduction as follows:

"Premiums on environmentally friendly paper have been reduced as a result of the increased used of ancient forest free papers and the quality of the papers are virtually indistinguishable from traditional book papers. However, sorting through the various terms used to describe papers and their recycled content can still be daunting. Making informed choices about other environmental considerations such as chlorine treatment or inking can be overwhelming. And finding out exactly what papers are available and working effectively with print professionals is essential. Hence the need for this EcoKit."

This guide is from 2006 and may not include all the information you need, but it's definitely a good resource with regards to printing terms (what's Elemental Chlorine Free?), work with printers and how to make sure your readers will know about your green choices. It also includes a detailed list of eco-friendly papers and links to more important resources.

You can find this eco-kit on this link: http://www.marketsinitiative.org/uploads/book-ecokit_for_web_en.pdf

And by the way, there's an eco-kit for printing magazines a well - http://www.marketsinitiative.org/uploads/ecokit-magazine.pdf

For more resources, please check our resources page - http://www.ecolibris.net/greenresources.asp

Yours,
Raz @ Eco-Libris

Plant a tree for every book you read!