What the data tells us Environmental outlook

There is an often-quoted Chinese cliché that every journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step. It would seem, from the results of the 2022 Image Reports Widthwise survey, that Britain’s print service providers (PSPs) have only taken a few steps on the long and winding road to carbon neutrality.

While the survey does suggest that sustainability is high on the industry agenda, there is not a great deal of evidence of the kind of imaginative, innovative thinking that will be required to reach Net Zero by 2050, a target recognised as critical if we are to avoid the catastrophic impacts of climate change.

The wide-format sector’s three key priorities haven’t changed much over the past five years: more than three out of four PSPs (78.61%) are focused on reducing energy consumption and almost as many (77.61%) are looking to reduce and recycle in-house waste. The other most common goals are measuring and reducing carbon footprints (54.71%) and using recyclable materials (54.22%). Encouragingly - both for the industry and the planet - many printers also seem to have moved on from carbon offsetting and are prioritising the monitoring and reduction of emissions.

These are all sound fabulous green goals but, if this has to be the decade we tackle climate change as US president Joe Biden and other world leaders have argued, shouldn’t PSPs be doing more?

It is clear that things are changing. A growing band of companies, such as MacroArt, are taking responsibility for taking back and recycling their printed waste from customers - but are they changing fast enough?

Perhaps one problem is that many industry executives think that the battle has already been lost - only 27.14% believe that environmental catastrophe can be avoided, while 33.67% say it cannot. Four of ten respondents aren’t sure, an uncertainty shared by many business leaders, politicians and scientists.

In the past, the wide-format sector has complained about the mismatch between what customers say about sustainability and what they actually do. That credibility gap, if you will, persists - 62.19% of PSPs say that few customers enquire about their environmental accreditations, and 5.47% say their clients never ask. Less than one in ten respondents report that most buyers mention the issue.

This must be galling for the vast majority of print companies which, previous Widthwise surveys indicate, have acquired some kind of environmental credentials

There are many possible explanations for customers’ inconsistent attitude: lack of time (especially when Covid was at its peak), lack of interest, lack of budget (many fear that greener options will cost more), lack of experience (many veteran print buyers have been put out to pasture as companies cut costs) and lack of expertise. Even if a customer wants to do the right thing - and increasing number do - it is not always clear which print solution will be kindest to the environment.

Indeed, estimating, managing and reducing carbon emissions becomes more complicated the more ambitious you become, but there are some aids to help educate, inform and influence the customer. Media suppliers such as Taya, Innotech and Antalis offer different kinds of ‘eco’ calculators, and printers can share their own policies and practices with clients - especially if, for instance, they use take back and recycle schemes.

Encouragingly, in the 2022 survey, more than nine out of ten (91.04%) printers say being seen to be environmentally friendly is more important than it was two years ago. That is a significant jump since 2021 when 70.77% said the same.

There is plenty of anecdotal evidence from past Widthwise round table discussions

Q28. Do you think the world can avoid catastrophic climate change?

Q29. What are your three top environmental priorities over the next two years?

Don’t know No Yes 39.20% 33.67% 27.14%

Reduce energy consumption Reduce/recycle in-house waste Measure/reduce carbon footprint Use more recycled/recyclable materials ‘Upsell’ end print solutions that are recyclable Improve in-house energy generation Provide a takeback/recycle scheme

8.46% 2.98% 23.38% 54.71% 54.22% 78.61% 77.61%

Q30. How important is it for your company to be seen as environmentally friendly?

Q31. Do clients ask for your environmental credentials/policies?

Q32. Over the last year has your use of recycled/recyclable print materials…

More important than 2 years ago No shift – important No shift – not important Less important than 2 years ago

6.47% 1.99% 0.50% 91.04%

Few Around 50/50 Most None 7.46% 5.47% 24.88% 62.19%

Increased No change Decreased 0% 37.81% 62.19%

that printers recognise the importance of this issue for their employers, particularly younger staff. The days when management could convince the workforce that they were eco-conscious by trumpeting reductions in the use of water, paper and electricity are long gone. One print chief admitted to feeling guilty about the amount of hard-torecycle material in his warehouse, worrying about the legacy it would leave behind for his children and grandchildren.

The will is there even if, in the past two years, businesses have had to focus on such critical matters as finance, cashflow and new patterns of work. In that respect, it is heartening to note that 62.19% of respondents say they have increased their use of recyclable and reusable materials over the past year. Given the disruption caused by pandemic lockdowns over that period, that is a creditable achievement. It is also encouraging that 23.38% of respondents are trying to upsell more reusable and recyclable solutions to clients.

Given the prevailing uncertainty about the UK’s economic prospects, many printers may be tempted to shy away from more innovative sustainable policies. The 2022 Widthwise survey shows, for example, that only a minority - 8.46% - are seriously looking at generating clean energy in-house and an even smaller number - 2.98% - are focusing on taking printed waste back from customers and recycling it.

This is not to underestimate either of these challenges. There is, at least, a wealth of expert advice printers can access to use cleaner energy. It is also an initiative that individual businesses can implement independently and look forward, over time, to reducing emissions and costs (no small consideration, given the sudden jump in - and unpredictable outlook for - energy prices).

The reclaiming and recycling of waste from customers is a much more complex challenge, requiring broader cooperation and collaboration. As Michael Green, managing director of MacroArt, remarked in a recent edition of Image Reports, if the industry is to recover all its waste from customers it will require “every single player, in every single sector, within our industry to work together”.

Even after a tipping point on waste reclamation has been reached, it may take years to get everyone on board. In the meantime, PSPs can make their business greener simply by agreeing recycling levels in their contracts with customers. That kind of approach can also generate momentum on the bigger issue as clients begin to develop effective closed-loop waste systems of their own.

The British wide-format industry is certainly heading in the right direction when it comes to the fight against climate change. Yet with an increasing number of its customers publicly making Net Zero pledges - even if the details as to how these promises will be implemented are sometimes a bit sketchy - print companies perceived to be dragging their feet on global warming are likely to feel the heat from clients - and their own staff.

Think Print. Think Agfa.

A perfect fit: Agfa’s Anapurna family

Thinking of investing in wide-format? Make sure you choose a solution that allows you to produce bestin-class quality at the lowest ink costs on every copy, for every job, every time.

Agfa is known as a solution provider – combining all offerings: software, press and ink. With their research and development teams, together with their customers, Agfa always aims to adapt their products to the needs of the markets. The presses of the Anapurna family offer a perfect range of possibilities, allowing you to choose the model that best fits your needs.

Anapurna hybrid

The wide-format hybrid Anapurna LED series is a perfect fit for sign shops, digital printers, photo labs and mid-size graphic screen printers that want to combine board and roll-to-roll print jobs.

The engines print at a width from 1.65 up to 3.2 m and combine high quality with high productivity for outdoor and indoor, rigid and flexible wide-format jobs. The white ink function creates possibilities for printing on transparent material for backlit applications or for printing white as a spot colour. Go for the optional automatic board feeder to increase your productivity even more.

The hybrid Anapurna LEDs are fitted with air-cooled UV LED lights that save you energy, costs and time. Due to their minimal energy output, these LED lights are ideal for thin heat-sensitive materials. They also lead to faster operations as they can be switched on and off instantaneously.

Media loading is smooth and accurate thanks to automated features such as the media registration bar and head height adjustment. The automatically controlled vacuum system, consisting of four zones, delivers an equal vacuum during the printing process, whether printing rolls or rigid materials. This ensures flawless media transport, giving accurate print results at all times.

During production the ink levels are monitored by the automatic ink refill system. The ink (re)filling system can be accessed easily, enabling a spotless refill of your ink containers. The white ink is managed by a fully separate system (circulation, under-pressure regulation and cleaning circuit). The tank containing it is equipped with a stirring mechanism to keep the ink properly mixed at all times.

Anapurna flatbed

The Anapurna FB2540i LED is a highspeed UV-curable inkjet system on a moving gantry flatbed. It is an ideal engine for both step-and-repeat work and for printing multiple jobs on differently sized media. Borderless printing avoids an extra finishing step, saving time and money. Thanks to the multilayer printing feature the Anapurna FB2540i LED prints several colour and white ink layers in one run.

This engine delivers high-quality prints on practically any rigid and sheet material. White ink and six colours with 13 pl print heads allow it to deliver prints that will give you and your customers a competitive advantage. The high-density colour printing function makes prints even brighter and more intense.

We are on our fourth Anapurna, which shows our confidence in Agfa and the printers

Denis Rau, large-format manager Die Keure, Belgium

The engine’s vacuum bed design ensures extremely accurate and reliable dot placement. The bed contains almost 11.000 vacuum holes and is divided in 2 separately controllable table zones with each 4 vacuum compartments, so that you can print differently sized media without having to tape off the whole vacuum bed. This design also allows you to use separate parts of the bed for different jobs in the same print run and still maintain a perfect vacuum. The vacuum can be reversed to aid lifting of large substrates after printing.

Automated retractable media register pins (7 horizontal / 4 vertical) perfectly position the substrate to facilitate accurate double-sided printing.

Anapurna Roll to Roll

Your day-to-day roll-to-roll sign & display jobs? Hand them over to your very solid Anapurna RTR3200i LED. This dedicated rollto-roll UV LED-curable printer, which comes in a six colour and a four colour plus white version, handles a broad scope of flexible media for indoor and outdoor applications.

The four colour plus white version stands out by its ability to print white in different modes, improving the opacity of the printed material as well as increasing colour contrast and readability.

The Anapurna RTR3200i LED can also handle dual-roll printing. This option enables you to double your productivity when printing on smaller media—whether it is paper, vinyl or polyester.

The multi-layer printing feature enables different printing modes: • Pre-white: printing white underneath colour • Post-white: printing white on top of colour • Sandwich white: colour-white-colour • High-density colour: printing one colour on top of another colour for backlit applications Print heads can be divided in several parts, and each part can be assigned to a different or identical image, to be used for single-run high density. This means that the Anapurna RTR3200i LED allows printing up to three layers at once, in perfect registration, in one pass. Images come alive. Backlit prints are enhanced when using high-density white on one or more layers.

The dual-roll option makes it possible to install two 60 inch rolls next to each other to run two jobs at the same time. This enables you to use the printer efficiently on smaller media.

The mesh option allows for printing on mesh without liner, which represents an important cost benefit and broadens the printer’s application scope.

A specially designed trolley to handle heavy rolls up to 150 kg will save you a lot of trouble. Installing these heavy rolls can now be done smoothly.

Want to know more? Agfa UK’s Inkjet Experience Centre in Rugby, Warwickshire is fully open. To book your demo visit www.agfa.co.uk/inkjet, email icc.gb@agfa. com or call 020 8231 4027.

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