ENVIRONMENT SUSTAINABILITY

A STUDY ON PRINTING INDUSTRY – INDIA

S. Maheswari

PhD Research Scholar

Dept. of Labour Studies

Madurai kamaraj university

Madurai.

Tamilnadu – India.

maheswarisakthivel@gmail.com

Introduction:

Environmental Sustainability is the next great challenge that India faces along its path to development. The report, that was released by Dr. Prodipto Ghosh, Secretary, Ministry of Environment and Forests, at a national-level workshop in New Delhi, says that owing to high population density, India’s rapidly growing economy will put unprecedented pressures on its environment and natural resources – land, water, air, soil, and forests. These pressures are projected to become the highest in the world by 2020.

Environmental Sustainability is likely to become the next great challenge along India’s development path. Environmental institutions are improving. Impressive environmental awakening and good practice initiatives by various companies are taking place. The priority is to scale up these good practices across the country and reverse/improve environmental outcomes.
The policy needs to be integrated into the set of parameters or guideposts any printer uses to make decisions on products it will manufacture, technology that will be used for production, and all supporting activities such as maintenance, transportation, energy, etc. sustainability has become a term that encompasses ecological and environmental goals to help mitigate a broad spectrum of scientific, social, and political issues.

Sustainability implies the ability to operate in a way that meets present needs while providing for the needs of the future and future generations. Sustainable manufacturing for the printing industry embodies three principal concepts:

* Product. This includes the design, input materials used to make it, and the ultimate fate of the finished goods.

* Process. This includes the actual manufacturing process involving prepress, press, and postpress.

* Envelope. This includes all of the support activities that occur at a printing operation such as the building, grounds, maintenance, transportation, employees, etc.

Sustainability is more than just printing a product on recycled paper with “vegetable oil-based” inks. This paper is discussed about the initiatives taken by the printing industry towards the Environment Sustainability.

Profile of the Indian Printing Industry :

The Indian Printing Industry is well established and presently growing at 12% per annum. According to NPES / PRIMIR report India is the world’s fastest growing market with a projected 73% rate of growth from 2006-2011. Not only is India growing extremely fast but it is doing so from a very large base. Today, India’s printing market is about $ 12.1 billion and is forecast to grow to US $ 20.9 billion by 2011. There are more than 8000 daily newspapers published in India, besides a large number of weekly and fortnightly periodicals published in all Indian languages. The Indian Printing Industry today comprises more than 250,000 big, small and medium printers with a total turnover of more than US $ 12 billion. Almost 75% printing presses are family owned and hence closely held. [pic] The materialization of the retail revolution across the country is acting as a fuel to the growth of the Printing Industry. Also, the enormous reading capacity leads to more consumption of paper. Growth in economy and paper consumption is closely linked. By the industry projection, the paper consumption is projected to reach 13.95 million tons by 2015-16. India is the world’s fastest growing market for paper.

The Printing Industry of India is providing employment opportunities to more than 3.0 million people directly and more than 1.5 million indirectly. The facilities available in India, as compared to the other parts of the world, are more economical due to lower labour costs and availability of basic infrastructure. India is therefore attracting entrepreneurs from all over the world to set up their units in this country. Foreign investment regulations have been relaxed. Up to 26% Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) is permitted in newspapers and periodicals dealing with news and current affairs. In non-news publications, 100% foreign investment is permitted. Due to the changes in the regulation, many foreign investors have taken strategic stakes in the domestic print media companies. Multinational Companies (MNCs) are investing in our printing industry and collaboration agreements are being entered. Special economic zones are being developed by Government of India and additional facilities are being provided in all these zones.
The Ministry of Micro, Small & Medium Enterprises and the Ministry of Industry have several schemes that help develop the infrastructure and promote the print sector, particularly the micro and small enterprises, alongside cluster developments.

DEVELOPING NATIONS PRINT MARKETS 2006-2011 (US $ )
[pic]

India today has more than 50 printing institutes across the country in the private as well as public sector which are imparting training to more than 4000 printing professionals including M-Tech/ Degree/Diploma holders and others into the mainstream industry every year. India's growth record during the recent years is commendable with the continuation and completion of some key reform initiatives India’s potential to become a significant player in the next 5-7 years is high. Progress made in computerization, automation and in the field of printing industry is becoming more interactive - changing every aspect of our daily life. The Indian economy, even in these days of global recession, is continuously growing at an even pace. The national income has doubled in just 15 years, as also India’s share of world exports. India is amongst the six top book producers in the world and the third largest English language publishing country.
Environment Sustainability in Indian Printing Industry:
PRINTING used to be synonymous with pollution.

The impact of printing on the environment is often overlooked by even the more environmentally aware businesses and organisations. The printing industry is generally acknowledged to be the most environmentally damaging. It's not just a matter of using recycled paper; there are many other factors involved.Printers inhale organic solvents all day long. It is becoming acknowledged in the print industry that the effects of occupational exposure to organic solvents include damage to liver, kidneys and lungs, degreasing of the skin and dermatitis, effects on the nervous system and more severe effects from large acute exposure.
For example, there are dozens of chemicals used, containing such things as dissolved silver, phosphoric acid and isopropyl alcohol. One of the biggest changes in the industry in recent years is the development of waterless offset printing, as used by Seacourt, also based in Oxford. It removes the need to mix water and alcohol in the printing process, saving vast amounts of solvents, chemicals and water, and the quality of reproduction is much higher than with conventional offset printing. Waterless offset reduces VOCs (Volatile Organic Compound) emissions by 98%. Research by the Waterless Printing Association calculates that the average printer emits 20 tonnes of VOCs a year. VOCs are a major contributor to the formation of low level ozone, which can cause respiratory problems and aggravate asthma symptoms.
Waterless printing also - not surprisingly - uses far less water than conventional printing. It is estimated that a medium-sized printer with three presses could use up to 120,000 litres of water each year. During the past century, even as the world population has tripled, the volume of fresh water available has remained the same. Yet world water usage has increased over six fold. Being a sustainable printer doesn't mean compromising on quality. Nor does it mean your publication will cost the earth.
Sustainability encompasses an array of issues that are tightly bound to printing. It includes the many details involved in recycling of papers and substrates, inks and toner, and all types of equipment. Printing —the process from tree to press to mailbox to trash has historically been anything but a “green” one, and that given the shadow of climate change. Printing has evolved dramatically in response to sustainability challenges.

Many of printers of all sizes started turning green, while many others turned greener still.
Printing companies are becoming stewards of the environment, in the paper they buy, the ink they use and the less VOCs they emit.

New and improved vegetable-based inks and recycled paper grades are more available. Paper manufacturers and print providers are earning Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) and Sustainable Forestry Initiative (SFI) chain-of-custody certifications. Printers and suppliers are turning to alternative energy sources, such as wind-power-generated electricity. These are but a few of the changes going on in today’s printing industry. The mantras used by the printers are “Reduce. Reuse. Recycle.”Better known as the “Three Rs,” more printers are committed to ingraining this sustainability motto into the minds of their employees—and are incorporating it into the very heart of their operations. Sustainable products and services extend beyond the environment to include consideration of the impact on people and society, and add an element of economic viability. If a business is not economically viable, it’s not a business, plain and simple.

A good example is:

Greenpeace International recently heaped praise upon the Canadian and German publishers of the "Harry Potter" series for using postconsumer-waste (PCW) recycled paper to publish "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince"—the sixth book in the series, now said to be the fastest-selling book in history. And the praise got a lot of press coverage.

The company says its use of PCW recycled and FSC-certified content was in response to the wishes of "Harry Potter" author J.K.Rowling to have the books printed on environmentally friendly paper whenever possible. It says it also used a paper produced according to stringent requirements on ecologically sound forest use and low water consumption for the previous "Harry Potter" books.

Greenpeace is now urging others to follow suit, including American "Harry Potter" publisher Scholastic Inc. "Scholastic is one of the largest 'Harry Potter' publishers in the world. If it had printed the book on 100-percent recycled paper, its 10.8 million print run could have saved 217,475 trees," says Pamela Wellner, Greenpeace senior campaigner.

Conclusion:

The printing industry is clearly in the midst of a fundamental change in the manner in which business is conducted. As a result, a printer’s ability to stay competitive and profitable is directly tied to their ability to meet this new challenge. One of the important points around sustainability is paper usage. Printing fewer pages digitally obviously has less of an environmental impact than printing many more pages using offset printing. Fewer resources are used, and fewer pollutants enter the waste stream. Recycling enters the mix here, but as more pages are recycled the scope of the benefits are not immediately clear.The sustainability policy statement serves as the framework for setting objectives and targets that will drive those business activities which will result in increased profits while simultaneously protecting people and the planet.
References:

1. Environmental Sustainability in Publishing & Print - www.SustainPrint.com

2. WhatTheyThink.com Blogs Print CEO Print Planet

3. All India Master Printers Association -Sivakasi