Are we green yet?

[Marco]

Green and green technologies-
I like to read about it too. Has anyone gone green?
I am sure some of us have felt that dusty green specially in the spring, darn allergies. I think about green a lot, like in money green. And most of the time I think about green I think of that toxic nuclear green.
Oh, I like green traffic lights. :Big Laugh
Honestly, all of my friends in the sign industry have NOT even tried any green technologies. I am hoping to learn something new, or positive here.

 

[Typestries]

We have instituted several green initiatives related to consumption and waste.
Consumption-replaced 3 servers with one mac mini and 3 external drives. Saving over 1000 watts of power 24/7. Stopped buying bottled water. 5 Gallon in a dispenser. I bought everyone nalgene bottles. Looked at material widths and standardized sizes to reduce wastes.

Waste-We now recycle all of our production wastes that are plastic through a commercial recycler. Still dont have backing paper or banner recycling. We keep those out of the landfill by giving away banner scraps as tarps in a large bin out front. ?backing paper rolls go to schools for table covers for art or are used for packing. Office waste paper and co-mingled is now single stream.

Production-UV curing printing in full effect. Latex is next. Still running solvent, too. Working on eliminating that via a large RTR UV machine but that's big $$.

 

[Skye]

Give me some time. I have requested for this forum. We have tips and products ideas to share. I am just on vacation and my time is limited. I will share and add things I have read from here and there.
Take care
Skye

 

[Letterbox Mike]

I think within 5 years if you're not able to sell a product that is "100% green" you're going to be left in the dust. We're not located in a very forward thinking market but we are getting asked about it more and more as time goes on. I hate it and I personally think "green" is a little ridiculous, but if it sell, it sells and the other kind of green is why we're all in business...

Up until recently the big problem has been how to provide a truly green product. Solvent is obviously not green in any way. Aqueous inks are eco-friendly but they're not outdoor durable. UV curable in my opinion isn't as green as some people make it out to be. But HP's new latex printers may be a game changer.

But even with "green" inks, the problem of media and substrates still persists. Right now, there are few choices for self-adhesive vinyl, banner, etc., and even fewer rigid substrates that are both outdoor durable and environmentally friendly. They're out there, just not abundant, and very expensive because they're made in such limited numbers compared to traditional media. So while going green may seem attractive to a customer, the price tag may be a hindrance.

On the flip side, since so very few companies are heavily adopting eco-friendly manufacturing capabilities, by moving into it, you can very easily become an early market leader in it, and by the time the rest of the competition catches up in a few years, you'll be well ahead of the game, with the good clients and the experience and reputation to gain even more.... Just think about the press release you could have for being the first in your area to adopt the technology... It's marketing gold.

It's in everyone's future, like it or not. I know it's in ours, we're looking heavily at adding the technology in the next few months. It's a marketing gimmick for sure, but a damn good one and it's one that won't be going away any time soon.

 

[Firefox]

Latex Green!

Okay, you guys are helping me make up my mind on what to replace the HP 5500 with, Sounds like latex is the way to go. Almost no VOC's so the employees can't complain any more than usual! Maybe it might help in the sales effort marketing it as greener than the other guys! In Kalifornia it can't hurt for sure!

 

[National Sign Co. - Print]

If you are just "going green" now. Are you sure it is for the right reasons or just trying to keep up with the marketing hype. If you think the answer is just to print on a Latex printer on some Bio flex vinyl sure new technology is great but....

You and your company should of been "Growing Green" all along....

 

[Letterbox Mike]

If you are just "going green" now. Are you sure it is for the right reasons or just trying to keep up with the marketing hype. If you think the answer is just to print on a Latex printer on some Bio flex vinyl sure new technology is great but....

You and your company should of been "Growing Green" all along....

Mike, if it's not to expand you business, what is it? Don't get me wrong, I'm not all about pollution and oil spills and who cares about the environment, let's pour waste ink in the aquifer, but I think it's important to consider it from a sustainability and marketing standpoint, otherwise it wouldn't be justifiable.

 

[mark in tx]

I fixed the leaky toilet last week.
I sure feel green.

 

[petesign]

I uh, use ES3 inks.. and ... dump waste ink into kitty litter filled buckets instead of the drain.

Let's face it - our industry wastes a TON of material, and if it lasts 5 years without fading on a sign, imagine how long vinyl lasts in a landfill.

I guess I could give the vinyl backing waste to kids to use like wax paper on slides.

(I do like the tarp bin idea, that's clever)

I hate the new lightbulbs, coke tastes better in a glass bottle and has to be made out of sugar, ethanol is the biggest crock ever, and my power bill.. outrageous!

 

[jdigital]

I do agree that this industry is trying to become more eco-friendly. We try our best at practicing "green" efforts. We are typically a UV flatbed company, but do have solvent machines. we are looking into a UV RTR and we recycle as much as we can. We also try to use as much "eco-friendly" material as we can. Even though UV isn't completely green, it still does not release VOC's in the air. On the point of the HP latex machine?? what if you r allergic to latex? Will the ink cause an allergic reaction? even post print???

 

[signswi]

The Epson GS6000 inks are low-VOC, no nickel inks if you need to run solvent (and who doesn't). Pretty cost effective too, great machine.

Honestly when I leave this industry the environmental cost will be a primary reason (not to mention the environmental cost to my own body). That said, we've seen almost no one asking for green options at our shop, but our county is very "red" and not too concerned with anything other than bottom line. It was quite a bit different when I worked in Milwaukee at an offset shop ~6 years ago, even then a large portion of customers were green concerned. At least now that industry has FSC and other programs while the large format industry hasn't done much other than address heavy metal/VOC concerns somewhat.

 

[speedmedia]

I would like to see some of the suppliers of materials to the industry develop some more "green" products but do so without raping us...

Everytime I look at something "green" it seems to be double the cost. For what? So I can continue to sell at less and less and make even less profit?

Thanks,
Kurt

 

[drive]

We recycle as much as possible, we got an HP L25500 latex printer (slow, but nice) and i'm trying to convince the power that be to convert our useless JV5 to eco-solvent as another step in the eco-friendly and no-lam directions. All waste from the solvent / UV printers is picked up by a disposal company that ensures its prper disposal.
We're quite conciencious about our environment and our waste.

 

[jiarby]

I still bury oil in my backyard after doing oil changes, after all, it came out of the ground originally didn't it?? Even so, that is an improvement over pouring it down the storm drain like we used to do back when I was a kid.

Does "ecosol" ink count as being "green"?

In three years at my retal storefront I had exactly ONE customer ask about "Green" signs. I told her that the banner material was made from the finest nylon scrim & pvc we can get that is receptive to our "eco-solvent" inks.

What she really wanted was something cheap since it was a one-time use, and didn't want something that would last 5 years. I sent her to Michaels for a box of water based magic markers and a roll of butcher paper... a DIY, economical, biodegradable, recycleable banner.

 

[drive]

ecosol is a step in the right direction. Probably not 'green', but 'greener'

 

[bob]

We recycle as much as possible, we got an HP L25500 latex printer (slow, but nice) and i'm trying to convince the power that be to convert our useless JV5 to eco-solvent as another step in the eco-friendly and no-lam directions. All waste from the solvent / UV printers is picked up by a disposal company that ensures its prper disposal.
We're quite conciencious about our environment and our waste.

I find specimens such as yourself to be endlessly amusing. Your efforts amount to absolutely nothing. You have no effect on anything. The external reality will march on, totally unaffected by and unaware of your efforts.

As counterpoint to your overweening concern over things out of your control, I pour my waste ink out on the ground and recycle absolutely nothing. My efforts have exactly the same effect as yours, none whatsoever.

But I have a hell of a lot more fun maintaining what I certainly hope appears to be a Sasquatch of a footprint. It allows me to irritate and aggravate the unctuous and, at the same time, have no effect on the course of history.

 

[drive]

I find specimens such as yourself to be endlessly amusing. Your efforts amount to absolutely nothing. You have no effect on anything. The external reality will march on, totally unaffected by and unaware of your efforts.

As counterpoint to your overweening concern over things out of your control, I pour my waste ink out on the ground and recycle absolutely nothing. My efforts have exactly the same effect as yours, none whatsoever.

But I have a hell of a lot more fun maintaining what I certainly hope appears to be a Sasquatch of a footprint. It allows me to irritate and aggravate the unctuous and, at the same time, have no effect on the course of history.

You must be proud, amongst other things

 

[rfulford]

In my experience so far, being green is a process not a product despite all the marketing going on. Unfortunately, I still get calls from people wanting bioflex banner and latex ink. I and many others can make a strong case that neither of these products are truly green but it seems that most just want a quick fix and be able to say something is green.

To illustrate, Bioflex only degrades in a controlled environment with exposure to the proper amounts of heat, moisture and sunlight. Bury bioflex in a landfill and it will be there for many years and when the vinyl is gone the mesh will remain. Also, why is throwing something away green? I have been trying to sell a recyclable banner product for 2 years now and not one customer wanting to go green has taken my up on it. I have even offered to pick up the product at the end of its life and see to the recycling.

As far as latex goes, I like the technology and I want the 3 meter machine for a lot of reasons. No need to out gas and comsumable print heads are really attractive to me. Lets get real though until our energy is green, how can a printer that uses latex ink be green? The small unit requires two 220 outlets. The ink does not produce VOCs but I have heard 1 or two stories about how bad some vinyls smell when brought up to temperature for printing. What does that mean really? My banner material is made in china and contains who knows what.


Ever receive an email that says "Please consider the environment before printing this email"? Paper is the greenest media I know of. Its completely biodegradable and sustainable to boot. In my case, it is also American made. Again however, the hype sets in and requests for recycled stocks start coming in. I printed a small job for spec books on U-Line chip board yesterday for an architect that wanted a green product for the cover and back. The fact that paper is sustainable was irrelevant. The need here was to look greener than the competition.

Truly going green revolve around watching your power and water usage, saving wherever you can, recycling whatever you can and preventing waste wherever you can.

 

[drive]

Well said on the use of power rfulford!
'Green' is definately more style than substance in the marketplace. Although the company I work for does not advertise being 'green'. Several of our more environmentally active clients have been on tours here and have been impressed enough with what were doing to refer us alot of business of late.

 

[Westcoast Sign Guy]

I do laugh a lot at topics such as this.

Green means nothing more than, Pay more and get less back in return.

As it relates to my aspect of the industry it's more so laughable when LED manufacturers claim LEDs are "Green", or they don't contain "mercury". Well most LEDs are made in China, China has coal plants, that's mercury put into in the atmosphere.

Next you have the lamp recycle freaks, then the anti mercury crowd. Anyone remember that Volcano that exploded in Iceland, you know, the one that had a name that couldn't be pronounced? Where most of Europe couldn't travel by air? That one explosion just but more mercury vapor into the atmosphere than if every man, women, and child broke all their CFL lamps on the ground, this generation, the last and future generations to come.

This doesn't even count the normal volcanism that happen on a normal basis which puts merc vapor ito the atmosphere or oceans. That one explosion alone just put man back in the negative scale, so much for those efforts and legislation that translated to you and I paying more.

And little "Man" thinks he can do something about that?

"Green" and the environmentalists who run rabid just means ECO-Tyranny, you and I pay more, the government sticks it's hands and dictates the free market, the government creates "demand" in the free market and we get screwed. Can't wait for the vote for Cap and tax, that's a good one GE!

But hey, if it makes you "Feel" better to think your helping/saving the plante, by all means live in your delusion. I can't believe their is a dedicated forum for green, fantasy land folks.



Where is never never land?