The Giant Peach Guide to Green Printing

We strive to be a paperless business – there isn’t much we do on the old tree mulch. We use Right Signatures so we’re not printing and signing; keynote for collaborating and presenting; we file everything digitally, make our white papers downloadable and we use Slack instead of passing notes…

When we do print, we produce beautifully tactile guides to showcase our best work and help you do good business better. Our smoothie recipes, photography, culture and now wellness booklets (all available at a Giant Peach event near you) are an example of when print can be conscious, planet-friendly and green.

So what makes a good print green? We teamed up with our partners-in-print, Park Lane Press, to share the secrets:

Water

Park Lane Press were one of the first companies in the UK to use the innovative, Japanese invented ‘waterless’ approach. Waterless printing uses special plates, ink, environmental and temperature control to adhere ink to paper, as opposed to conventional litho process that traditionally uses water to seal the deal. Waterless printing means less energy is used, the machinery produces fewer greenhouse gases by using minimal solvents and the make-ready times on the presses is quicker and more efficient so there’s less waste. It’s all good. 

Paper

Deforestation is a huge pressure on biodiversity, economy and community, which is why the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) exist:

“To meet the social, ecological, and economic rights and needs of the present generation without compromising those of future generations.”

The prestigious Chain of Custody status verifies that the Park Lane Press production chain is fully certified, which means they comply with the highest social and environmental standards on the market. The company enjoys EMAS, ISO 14001 and ISO 9001 accreditation and is one of only a handful of printers so highly recognised.

Buildings

At Peach HQ we’re striving to be as green as we can, so it’s important to us our partners are giving it a good old shot too. No worries with Park Lane Press then, who take a great deal of pride in the running of their buildings:

  • LED – Low energy, movement sensitive lighting systems that save on energy and bills, winning all round
  • The use of a powerperfector to reduce energy consumption
  • A water harvesting system reusing leftover water from equipment to supply bathrooms (wow!)
  • Over 97% of their waste is recycled

Innovating

We love innovation and big future thinking for the benefit of everyone; Park Lane Press are continuously improving processes and looking for ways to do things better. Pioneering waterless printing in the UK was one way they found new ways to make a difference. They’ve just installed a new HP Indigo, liquid ink digital press, which is of course CO2 neutral. This enables them to react even faster for short run / variable data production, to an equivalent standard to the waterless presses, especially on offset papers and boards. In addition they are installing a new foiling, debossing, embossing and die-cutting system, to make them virtually self-contained with all decoration processes. We’re so proud to have these guys as a supplier.

Distribution

Once we have our finished product we’re careful to be as economical as possible with the materials. We take our beloved booklets to our events and share them with people sharing our values and curious to to know more about us. Of course, if you’d like the series of our gorgeous, greenly-printed guides, please drop us a line.

How do you print green at home and in the office? Share your ideas and solutions with us at @giantpeach #greenpeach