kaiyue zhang
Monash University
Gitanjali Bedi
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The company is committed to reducing the environmental impact of printed products. They use environmentally friendly inks in the printing process. The inks are mainly made of natural substances and have less impact on the environment. Those natural substances are extracted from vegetables and plants, and they can degrade faster and more safely in the natural environment compared with traditional inks.
Traditional inks are mainly made with pigments and solvents. Pigments are used to color the paper’s surface, and solvents are used as a base ingredient. Those two components are usually made from lead, cadmium, and other nasty chemicals that are harmful to the environment. Therefore, finding substitutes for pigments and solvents is key to reducing print pollution. Craig found that vegetables and plant oils can show the same properties in making inks. He did experiments to replace the harmful chemicals in inks with vegetable and other natural materials. The new inks contain less harmful chemical constituents and effectively minimize the negative impact of printed products on the environment.
Craig used to go to farms with his family when he was young. His children could grab fresh fruit and vegetables to eat without having to wash them. He enjoyed seeing his children grow in a natural and healthy environment. However, in the early 1980s, Craig had become a printer in Campbell’s Printing, and he found that his job could bring pollution to the environment. In the printing process, he noticed that solvent inks are harmful to the human body, and long-term exposure to traditional inks can give people headaches.
His uncomfortable experience aroused his interest in learning about inks. He said that even using recyclable paper in printing still leaves pollution because of the harmful chemicals in inks. These inks can pollute landfills and water. He did not want the next generations to grow up in an unhealthy environment. Therefore, he started seeking a method to produce new inks without pollution. He immediately thought that using vegetables and plants could be an option to produce new, green inks because of his experience in growing vegetables. After that, he continued to experiment to test his ideas and finally found his vegetable-based and plant-based inks, which have less harmful chemicals. This is not the end of the story; his team is still exploring more methods to reduce pollution throughout the whole printing process.
Transforming from a traditional printing company to an eco-friendly company brings more opportunities for Craig and his company. His efforts and new concepts in printing attract new customers, and his company is recommended by environmental protection groups and many other individuals. From a societal prospective, only a few people thought that printing could still affect the environment if we use recyclable paper. His story reminds people that small things we ignore can also affect the environment. Moreover, the innovation has a direct impact on the environment since the inks are made with less harmful chemicals. In recent years, environmental deterioration is not a problem we imagine, but it really happens. More people are beginning to care about environmental issues. Therefore, in the short term, the business will involve more participants, and this trend can help the business achieve both profitability and responsibility. In the interview, Craig mentioned that some university students created a short film for his company. This is a strong evidence that more groups are beginning to be interested in his story. In the long term, I believe that his story will inspire more traditional printing companies to transform into eco-friendly printing companies, and this can benefit the whole industry and society.
People increasingly prefer to choose products that have less impact on the environment. The vegetable-based inks attract more organizations and individuals due to their green-printing principle. Currently, the company has increased business relationships with environmental protection groups and other individuals. Moreover, positioning of the innovation makes it easier to promote on the Internet. For example, a university student created a short film about his company for free and uploaded the film to the web.
Lastly, people working in the company feel proud of their jobs. Unlike bonus-oriented motivations, the employees are motivated by building a sustainable world. This sense of mission makes them feel more passionate when they do their jobs.
The company helps achieve SDG 9, Industry, Innovation, and Infrastructure. Craig started his experiments in 1980, and he was the first person to start researching green printing. His innovation drives the development of green printing, which fits with the SDG 9 concepts of fostering innovation and sustainable industrialization. The company also fits SDG 12, Responsible Consumption and Production. This goal requires companies to adopt sustainable practices and encourage procurement practices that are sustainable. The sustainable practices in the company go beyond just using green inks; his team is seeking more methods to reduce environmental impact throughout the whole printing process, such as using non-toxic products to clean machines. He also put a lot of effort into letting people know about his green printing concepts, such as arranging interviews and contacting environmental protection groups. Those efforts prove the company is a good example of a sustainable company.
The benefits of the innovation for the environment are obvious and direct. People usually dispose of waste by incineration or landfill. In this process, traditional printed paper will still leave pollution even if the paper is recyclable due to the solvent inks on the paper. The innovation solves this problem by replacing harmful substances in the solvent inks with vegetables and plants, and the environmental impact of printed products has dropped to a very low level. This practice fits SDG 15, Life on Land, which requires protection of terrestrial ecosystems.
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People typically picture pollution as coming from things that can be obviously seen, such as fuel emissions or plastic bags. However, there are many sources of pollution that are hidden in our daily lives, and printing ink is one of them. In modern life, printing is widely used, from office works to massive print jobs, but traditional inks contain a variety of environmentally harmful chemicals. Craig, the founder of The Environmental Printing Company, started searching a way to reduce the impacts of printing in the early 1980s. Now, the company has become an industry leader in green printing, and their team is constantly seeking new methods to reduce the impact of printing.