The Environmental Impact of Print Media

For the longest time, print media has been the marketing strategy of choice of many businesses. However, as technology improves and the business industry progresses, a lot of changes and worries on the use of print and paper have popped up. Foremost among them is the question on environmental impact.

While public opinion surveys show the rise and fall of people’s concern for the environment, a sustained increase on the concern for the negative impact of paper and printing on the environment is surprisingly prevalent. Print has somehow invoked several presumptions on users particularly in the use of paper in advertising. This has placed great pressure on business owners to ensure that their printed materials follow the environmental and sustainability rules and regulations to somehow reduce their impact on the environment.

According to Print Power, print media creation basically goes through three stages. In all these stages the issue of sustainability is immense. A company that desires to produce print media has to ensure that everything is done as efficiently and environment-friendly as possible.

The first stage, which involves production, is perhaps the most controversial stage since a lot of people assume that making paper destroys forests. However, websites such as Paper Because believe that paper does not destroy forests. They have generated reports that reveal the real environmental impact of paper. An article from Greenbiz.com entitled “Going Paperless: Not as Green and Tree Friendly as you may Think” revealed that digital media contributes more to global warming than print media due to its use of coal-fired power as coal mining contributes a lot to deforestation and biodiversity loss. Paper production these days makes use of biomass energy instead of fossil fuels which makes the entire production process much efficient and environment-friendly.

The second stage involves printing. More and more printers these days are using soy-based and vegetable-based inks, recycled paper, and recycling cleaning solvents to reduce their carbon footprint. They are committed to reducing their carbon emissions, and that’s why they make sure to use eco-friendly printers and print materials.

The final stage involves consumption. With more and more consumers concerned on paper waste these days, using recycled paper will help reduce the environmental impact of the printing industry.

The introduction of paper and printing has indeed changed the world for the better, but not without consequences. Even so, while these advancements have somehow negatively affected the environment the adoption of sustainable print strategies can help restore our environment. In time, we’ll have a thriving print industry that doesn’t negatively affect the environment.