Caring about the environment…

TC Peters has made an effort to go “green.” We strive to reduce our carbon footprint by implementing initiatives that reduce waste, reuse materials and recycle. Our guidelines for environmental impact include solutions such as reuse of packing material when possible, use of soy based inks for offset printing, proper and responsible waste disposal, and use of recycled paper. Here are a few specifics on procedures we have put in place to go green:

Pre-Press:

We used to “shoot” film and develop the film in trays. A lot of chemicals were used to give the press room the metal plates which we print from. Not only the chemicals for the film but the chemicals to remove the coating from the plates.

We now use a computer-to-plate machine and are chemical free. There are no chemicals used in pre-press. Also, the film had to be mounted on something to put the image in the correct location. A lot of tape and plastic and masking material is no longer used. As a result of these eliminations, we can now produce a set of plates in about ¼ of the time that was previously required.

Digital Departments:

Since we added Digital equipment to our printing facility, toner systems use no chemicals and therefore are chemical free and green. There is no fountain solution or washup needed prior to or after “printing” a job digitally. You can literally go from 1 color to another just by sending a file from a computer to the digital machine. There is no makeready (press sheets needed to get position and getting the ink up to color).

Pressroom:

Many changes have taken place in Pressrooms since the 1980’s. One of these things is the reduction of VOC’s.

Ink - Many of the inks used in printing are solvent based. With solvent based inks the evaporation of the solvents (many of which are volatile organic compounds or VOCs for short) acts to dry the ink to the substrate. The amount of solvent emitted from the drying ink varies from around 5% for a non-heatset lithographic process.

Cleaning - At the end of print runs, presses must have excess inks removed from them to ensure the inks don't dry on the rollers and ink wells. Often the chemicals used for cleaning are high in solvents.

Fountain solution - Fountain solution is used in lithographic printing to ensure that oil does not stick to the non-image area of the blanket. Traditionally isopropyl alcohol (IPA) is used to control the physical properties of the fountain solution (which is primarily water). The use of IPA has made the fountain solution the primary source of VOC emissions in lithographic facilities. However, Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) regulations (such as those calling for the reduction of volatile organic compounds) are limiting, if not eliminating, the use of alcohol in dampening solutions.

Our practical solutions help us to produce products that are friendly to the environment and our customers. T.C. Peters Printing is truly a green printing company.