Sustainable Goals, 2022 – 2023 in focus
Our chemical additives are limited to those necessary for plate development and the operation of our printing presses. The past year’s goal was to reduce the emission of chemical substances in our work environment.
Davy van Kesteren, Foreman in the printing press and a member of our sustainability core team share responsibility for our printing presses in the print shop. Davy guides us through the consumption and objectives of the print shop. “In the print shop, there are printing presses that can handle the same print format, allowing orders to be exchanged among them. We synchronize the material planning, reducing the need for ink changes. This leads to more efficient press operations and savings on ink and materials.”
“Savings on ink and materials are significant progress,” Davy says, “but the most substantial change is that we are now printing without alcohol.” Alcohol, when evaporated, is still the most harmful substance to health when inhaled. In 2022, we entered into discussions with suppliers to find a better, alcohol-free solution together. After various tests, we succeeded in finding a new type of substance where alcohol is no longer necessary. This means that from the beginning of this year, we no longer add alcohol to the dampening solution on one printing press. “With this milestone, we expect to achieve a lower percentage of IPA (Isopropyl alcohol) in the upcoming fiscal year. Tests on the other printing press continue. Our goal for the fiscal year 2023 is to have eliminated alcohol use in the print shop!”
Our efforts are making the print shop increasingly compliant with the requirements of the ISO 14001 environmental standard.
All our sustainable goals are described in our sustainability annual report 2022 – 2023, Click here for the complete report.
