Green Printer?

October 11, 2006 8:22 AM

I'm trying to find an environmentaly-friendly and/or socially responsible printer. The printer needs to have a reputation of turning out high-quality product and should be able to accept Adobe suite (InDesign/Illustrator/Photoshop) files via the internets.
posted by eustacescrubb to media & arts (10 comments total)

What are you looking for as far as environmentally conscious goes? For instance, R.R. Donnelley uses soy inks by default and most of it's stock papers have high amounts of recycled content. I wouldn't rate them as socially responsible, though.
posted by SpecialK at 8:38 AM on October 11, 2006

Where are you located and what is your criteria. I can help you out if I know what you are looking for. ie 4 color process foil stamping, letterpress, black and what etc.
posted by aisleofview at 8:42 AM on October 11, 2006

What is that you're planning on printing? What sort of volume? Where would the finished products be shipping to? There are so many variables here that have a bearing on what environmentally and socially responsible would mean.
posted by bcwinters at 8:42 AM on October 11, 2006

Well, the current job will be about 14,000 postcards.They'd need to be full color, and I would prefer uncoated ink, non-glossy paper.

But I'm also wanting to know where to look for future jobs as well.
posted by eustacescrubb at 8:51 AM on October 11, 2006

I worked for a small quick printer a decade ago. They weren't in any way environmentally savvy and weren't "hip" at all. But nevertheless we often recommended local paper, recycled paper, soy inks, etc, to plenty of customers.

I think with a small run like you're planning, it would be a great idea to cultivate a relationship with a local business. They should all offer FTP (or a similar service) for uploading files and you should be able to weed out the losers pretty quickly just by asking if they're using CS2.

Having something printed in an environmentally conscious way several thousand miles away from you and having it shipped would negate a lot of the benefit.
posted by bcwinters at 9:03 AM on October 11, 2006 [1 favorite]

you can check out this list of FSC certified papers, printers, and more. there will be someone near to you. i can tell you my experience with some of the california folks if that's relevant to where you are.

http://www.fscus.org/paper/
posted by apostrophe at 10:05 AM on October 11, 2006

My printers are terribly irresponsible, especially in social circumstances. They seem to have formed their own clique and sometimes won't talk to others. Then they run out of ink/toner at the most inconvenient times.

Hope you have better luck with yours.
posted by trinity8-director at 3:10 PM on October 11, 2006 [1 favorite]

Severnprint are widely regarded as one of the 'greenest' printers in the UK. Their site outlines some of the environmental pitfalls which come with the printing process.
posted by blag at 6:43 AM on October 12, 2006

This is a great resorce for qestions and considerations to bring up with printers you want to work with.
posted by oneirodynia at 11:14 AM on October 12, 2006

"resource", "questions". My u has issues.
posted by oneirodynia at 11:15 AM on October 12, 2006