The IGAEA is a partnership between educators and industry professions who are dedicated to sharing the theories, principles, processes and techniques behind graphic communications and imaging technology.

The theme of this year’s IGAEA conference was “Sustainability: Our Discipline, Our Programs, Our Future.” The weekend’s discussions revolved around understanding the trends shaping the discipline. And according to IGAEA, also on “building and maintaining viable, lasting graphic communications 5479 programs.” On Monday, July 26, Mario addressed the concept of triple bottom line of business sustainability and how graphic arts students can help champion a campus greening effort.

So who is Mario Assadi? Mario holds a degree in Engineering and became involved in the prepress industry during the very early stages of desktop publishing.  In 1988, he founded Tulip Graphics, one of the first digital service bureaus in California. Nearly a decade later, he moved into digital printing and then conventional offset printing. In 2004 Mario launched Greenerprinter, the first online print provider to offer recycled paper and green printing exclusively.

Thanks in part to Mario’s deep commitment to sustainable printing practices,  IGAEA conference attendees went home better equipped to teach sustainable technologies today, and to become a driving force in the green campus movement.

For years now, we have been offering hang tags via Greenerprinter.com. Greenerprinter hang tags are versatile, durable and made from recycled paper using sustainable business practices.

Some design options for your new hang tags include:

• Flat size: 2 x 4 (choose scoring to fold to 2 x 2)
• Full-color on both sides
• 3 x 3 round hang tags
• 100 percent recycled, 50 percent post-consumer waste 20 point kraft board hang tags
• 1/8-inch drill hole
• custom hang tags

No matter which design options you choose, your choices will help send the message, “Not only are my products sustainable, but our packaging and business practices are as well!”

And now, you can order hang tags with strings. We offer four different string types, and you can even specify the loop length. You no longer need to request a custom quote for hang tags that ship with strings. Your hang tags arrive drilled, looped and ready to be attached to your product.

Need help getting started? The Greenerprinter Hang Tag Resources Page is a great place to begin. Note that all hang tag orders are 15 percent off. Order yours while the discount lasts.

This week I had the pleasure of attending one of B Corp’s periodic social gathering in the stylish SOMA neighborhood of San Francisco, CA. Meet-ups and networking events are an ideal way to put a face on B Corp as an organization, but more importantly, to synergize with other certified B Corporation businesses.

Certified B Corporations run the gambit from web services to sporting goods retailers. Just a few of my personal favorites include Numi Organic Tea, New Leaf Paper, and of course Greenerprinter! Explore the entire list of certified B Corporations through B Corp’s online directory.

What are the benefits of joining the network of B Corporations? By becoming a B Corporation, a green company differentiates itself from other companies by truly walking the talk. As B Corp phrases it, it can exercise “its leadership, influencing the market beyond its own individual success.” The business also ensures that the values of the business survive through every phase of growth. And finally, a business can take advantage of discounts on business products and services, including Salesforce’s Enterprise Edition.

Through the course of the evening as I exchanged stories with my fellow B Corps, I learned that no matter what type of industry you served or how long ago you completed the certification process, we all shared hope and enthusiasm around the positive power of business.

Is your business – or the business you work for – a certified B Corporation? Why or why not? Add your comments below.

INFORM, a nonprofit organization, has put together a website exploring the connection between paper production and global warming as part of their The Secret Life Series. INFORM’s research and their well-produced Secret Life of Paper video helps us answer the question, “Why is recycling and buying recycled paper important?”

The paper life cycle can be broken down in to six distinct stages: forest, manufacturing, use, exports, recovery and end of life. A good amount of information exists on the environmental and social damages of each of these stages, but a few key points to keep in mind are:

• About 80 percent of the ancient forests have already been destroyed for fuel and raw materials.
• The paper production process releases sulfur oxides and chlorine compounds into the atmosphere. And the use of bleaching chemicals leads to water pollution.
• Clearing forests affects animals’ access to food and shelter and creates space for species not native to the forest floor.
• Roughly 80 percent of all paper can be recycled, yet only 15 percent of our paper waste stream is being recycled.
• When left decompose in landfills, paper gives off methane. As a greenhouse gas, methane is 23 times more harmful than carbon dioxide.
• Replacing five reams of virgin forest paper in each household with 100 percent recycled copy paper would save 33,485,200 trees, 2.9 billion pounds of greenhouse gases and 12.2 billion gallons of water.
• Producing recycled paper requires two to three times less energy, reduces air pollution by 75 percent and saves 60 percent of water pollution (compared to virgin paper).
• About five hectares of forest are saved per ton of recycled paper production.

When we talk about products in terms of their ecobalance, or life cycle assessment, we sometimes defer to terms like cradle-to-grave, cradle-to-cradle and gate-to-gate (just to name a few). These conversations are, unfortunately, often too few and far between. The Secret Life of Paper, Paper Life Cycle and Greenerprinter.com are great places to learn more about the ecobalance of paper.

When per capita paper use has actually increased since the advent of home computers (1980s) and today we are facing peak everything, it’s critical that we do everything we can now to reduce paper use, increase use of recycled paper and close the loop in the paper life cycle. And here at Greenerprinter, we are committed to doing just that.

Thank you for considering the entire lifecyle of paper and for making a difference through your everyday choices!

Today we are excited to announce the new Greenerprinter online project planner. Let the project planner show you which turnaround time and shipping method will meet your deadline!

How does it work? Once you upload your design or choose one of the many attractive samples from our Design Center, view your PDF proof and click the Order button, you’ll notice the new project planner calendar under the Item Details & Pricing column to the right (circled in red here).

To get started, click on the small calendar image or green text to access the Greenerprinter Project Planner.

After the calendar appears on-screen (pictured below), select whether you would like to pickup your order at the Greenerprinter office or have it shipped to a destination.

Finally, click your deadline date on the calendar to view the turnaround time and delivery method that will meet your deadline. Turnaround choices can range from economy (seven business days) to rush (three business days).

Let’s take a look at an example. To have your order delivered on or by Friday, July 30, the project planner will alert you that you must:

1. Choose our Economy 7 Business Days Turnaround,
2. Ship via UPS Ground,
3. And approve your proof by 5:00 PM Pacific Time on Monday, July 12

Allowing time to review proofs and for ground shipping (if applicable) are important yet often overlooked aspect of print orders. The next time you use Greenerprinter.com and take advantage of the project planner, you’ll know that you won’t miss a deadline or add extra stress to your day.

The staff here in Berkeley, CA are continually working to improve your experience using Greenerprinter.com. See how this new feature can make your work more sustainable; try it now!

To quote the deeply inspirational Mahatma Gandhi, “It’s not too late at all. You just don’t yet know what you are capable of.”

In that vein, here are 10 every-day ways you can lessen your consumption of crude and lead a more sustainable life:

1. Skip the meat. Compared with plant crops, meat requires eight time the fossil fuels to produce. Following our current path, world meat consumption is expected to double by 2050. Imagine the impact this will have on oil demand if we don’t act today.
2. Drive less than 65 (or 60). In most cars, gas mileage drops off above 60 mph. Lower gas mileage translates to higher overall gas consumption. Try using cruise control when possible, which also helps to use your car’s overdrive gears, saving even more fuel.
3. Pack away plastic bags for good. Roughly 430,000 gallons of oil are used to produce 100 million plastic bags. And each year, 500 billion to 1 trillion of these bags are dispensed globally! Most bags are used only once and only a tiny fraction of them are recycled. Each bag counts.
4. Leave aggressive driving to someone else. Your car’s gas mileage can drop 33 percent on highways and 5 percent on city streets through swerving, sudden acceleration and braking. Revving your engine while stopped will cause your oil use to climb even more.
5. Live like a localvore. Since packaging and shipping food long distances requires lots of fossil fuel, buy locally grown food. What’s more, patronizing local businesses (like Greenerprinter!) keeps $0.43 of every $1.00 spent in the community, compared to only $0.13 out of $1.00 when you shop at a national chains!
6. Take the train. Most people fly or even drive across country at least once a year, yet few realize that trains have higher fuel efficiency per passenger than hybrid cars. Instead of the air or roads, choose rail for business shipping or personal travel when possible.
   
7. Don’t get hot under the collar. Wash your clothes on the cold or warm setting. Washing every load on the hot/warm cycle in a top loading machine (using an electric water heater) for just one year is equivalent to burning over 180 extra gallons of gas when you drive. Avoid the hot water cycle – your close will be just as clean and bright.
8. Wave goodbye to water bottles. Did you know that 17.6 million barrels of oil are used to produce the 28.6 billion PET water bottles manufactured in the U.S.? Or that roughly 86 percent of empty plastic water bottles (about two million tons of PET) lands in landfills instead of new plastic products?  Learn more through Food & Water Watch’s Take Back the Tap campaign.
   
9. Avoid idling. According to the Hinkle Charitable Foundation, the average driver wastes half a cup of gas per day for a small car or one cup for an eight-cylinder engine through five minutes of unnecessary idling. This works out to 10 gallons of gas for a small car or 20 gallons for a larger vehicle per year. If you need to idle longer than 10 seconds, cut the engine and cut your oil consumption.
10. Clean the old-fashioned way. Many commercial cleaning products (and many other every-day items, for that matter) are derived from petroleum. You don’t need oil to take grease out of your way. Use cleaning products made from natural materials such as vinegar, soap powder or baking soda. A quick web search will uncover many home-made cleanser recipes.

To round off this list, take one more step by sending a petition letter to your senator. Ask her or him to pass energy legislation that will prevent future oil spills. Big oil companies have a strong voice in the government. But through our collective voice and daily actions, we can all do right by the planet.

This large format printer can print up to 60″ wide using eco-friendly latex inks from Hewlett-Packard. What are latex inks? They are pigmented, water-based inks designed for commercial printing applications which use an innovative aqueous-dispersed polymer (”latex”) technology.

Latex inks provide print durability and display permanence comparable to eco-solvent inks and low-solvent inks. Plus, their water-based formulation reduces the impact of printing on the environment! Learn more about latex inks by watching a brief video produced by HP.

With our new large format latex printer, we can produce high-quality, durable print media with outdoor display permanence and durability comparable to eco-solvent inks (up to 3 years for un-laminated and up to 5 years for laminated). Your products will be scratch, smudge and water resistance (on water-resistant media).

By and large, the most popular use for the latex printer is greening event signage or trade show graphics. As a business that is committed to reducing your environmental footprint at trade shows and all year round, you’ll be excited to learn that Greenerprinter’s latex printing can be used for windows graphics, posters, digital fine art, vehicle wraps, outdoor event banners, exhibition graphics, wall murals and more.

Take a look at a few examples of these stunning graphics in action by scrolling through the HP Designjet L25500 Application gallery.

What’s more, in addition to reducing the environmental impact of printing through state-of-the-art machinery including the HP latex printer, Greenerprinter also participates in HP’s Large-format Media take-back program. This ensures that eligible HP printing materials are recycled in a way that conserves resources and reduces the environmental impact of printing.

What do you think about the innovative new latex printer? Leave your feedback in the comment box below.

Greenerprinter offers a wide variety of printed products to help make any wedding a green event. Our eco-friendly wedding printing includes announcements, save the date cards, invitations, RSVP cards and thank you cards. You can even create a hardcover photo books – all right from our site!

Do you need a fresh design that expresses the theme of your event? Visit our design center and place your order using one of our templates, ready for your photo or artwork. Choose from a variety of environmental papers, including matte, glossy and 100 percent recycled kraft. Order pricing starts at just $50 for 50 4×6 cards.

The uniqueness of your wedding doesn’t need to stop there. Turn your printed piece into an interactive experience by including a QR Code! QR Code (short for Quick Response Code) is a bar code that can be read by smart phones and other devices with cameras. It’s the revolutionary new way to automatically take someone to your wedding website, add event contact information to an address book or help your guests plot your event using Google Maps.

Whether you are one of the happy couples who recently got engaged, are newlyweds in the market for the perfect eco-friendly thank you cards, or are thinking about creating a hard-bound wedding photo album that reflects your lifestyle, Greenerprinter is delighted to be a trusted partner in your special process.

For more tips on making your wedding eco-friendly, take a quick look at the Greenerprinter Blog, 13 Ways to Green Your Wedding. And warmest wishes on your big day and all your days to come!

• Digital vs. Offset Printing: How To Choose? by Chanie Pritchard
• Digital vs. Offset Printing: Advantages of Each and How to Choose from Pinsonnault Creative
• Offset Printing: Advantages from Wikipedia
• Digital Printing vs. Offset Printing Cost from Digital Printing Tips

Which printing method is right for you? Add your thoughts by leaving a comment below!

It all started when CEO Mario Assadi was looking for additional ways to reduce our footprint. One of the things that he realized was that having our Reincarnation paper shipped by truck was releasing a significant amount of carbon, and that shifting our paper delivery to freight would minimize this. Two years ago, he asked New Leaf if this was possible. At the time, we were told that it wasn’t possible. However, as New Leaf began a search to find new trucks or other shipping methods, the possibility of freight came up again. And this time, the switch to rail was feasible!

According to New Leaf, switching our delivery to freight will save 330 lbs. of carbon per shipment. Additionally, rail transportation helps relieve congestion on the nation’s highways, and the federal Environmental Protection Agency has noted that transportation by rail currently is the more environmentally friendly mode of transportation.

For example, the EPA estimates that a typical truck emits nearly three times as much nitrogen oxide and particulate matter than a locomotive on a ton-mile basis. If just 10 percent of the freight that currently moves by truck was diverted to rail, fuel savings would approach one billion gallons per year!

Greenhouse gas emissions are directly related to fuel consumption. Because railroads are, on average, three or more times more fuel efficient than trucks, railroads have a smaller carbon footprint. Every ton-mile of freight that moves by rail instead of truck reduces greenhouse gas emissions by two-thirds or more.

Unfortunately, this only applies to the matte Reincarnation stock paper for now. The Sakura Silk and Primavera papers are bought overseas on a container ship, and we are phasing out use of these papers  so we can use U.S. made papers instead.