Environmental and Health Issues and Recommendations
 Recycled Content:
Choose printing paper with a minimum of 30 percent postconsumer recycled content to keep waste out of landfills and conserve natural resources. Papers with higher levels of postconsumer content are available and recommended.  Prevents Waste:
The waste by-products in the printing process (plates, paper, ink, and solvents) are reduced with:
- proper job planning;
- the use of digital on-demand printing;
- reduced use of multiple ink colors.
 Air Quality:
Low Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs): Choose a printer that uses low-VOC inks and press chemicals.  Less Hazardous:
Choose a printer who uses less hazardous inks and press chemicals and choose paper that is processed chlorine-free.  End-of-Life Management:
Make printed materials that are easier to recycle. Use glueless bindings and uncoated paper, and avoid foil stamping, heavy ink coverage, and dark and fluorescent papers.
See the Introduction for complete descriptions of these environmental and health issues.
See also the Inks and Other Printing and Writing Papers sections.
BACKGROUND AND ENVIRONMENTAL AND HEALTH ISSUES
Designers and buyers of print materials are well aware of the importance and power of the printed piece. You know that your design and production choices directly influence cost and effectiveness. These choices also have an impact on the environment. From pre-press to disposal, the energy and materials involved in the printing process have implications for air and water quality, waste disposal, energy use, and worker safety.
Whether simple or complicated, all printing choices require having the right information and effectively communicating requests to your printer and paper supplier. Build relationships with your printers and use systematic approaches to improve the quality of the final product while achieving gains for the environment.
LAWS
See also the Laws and Guidelines heading of the Inks section.
California
Statute
State Agency Buy Recycled Campaign (SABRC)
- Recycled-Content Product Procurement Requirements
- Public Contract Code (PCC) section 12203 requires State agencies (including California State Universities) to ensure that at least 50 percent of the dollars spent on printing and writing papers be spent on papers with at least 30 percent postconsumer recycled content.
- The SABRC printing and writing paper (PW) category includes, but is not limited to, copy, xerographic, watermark, cotton fiber, offset, forms, computer printout paper, white wove envelopes, manila envelopes, book paper, note pads, writing tablets, newsprint, and other uncoated writing papers, posters, index cards, calendars, brochures, reports, magazines, and publications (see PCC section 12207).
- Recycled-Content Certification Requirements
- PCC section 12205 requires all State agencies to obtain from all suppliers written certification of the postconsumer recycled content of each product offered or sold to the State. Recycled-content certification forms are available in the SABRC training manual.
- Recycled-Content Product Procurement Report
- Recycled-Content Product Procurement Contract Language
- PCC section 12217(f) directs State agencies to remove contract provisions that impede the consideration of recycled products and to replace them with performance standards.
Other
State law (Education Code section 32373) encourages educational agencies to purchase recycled paper.
California Rules of Court
The following 2006 California Rules of Court require the use of recycled paper for court documents:
- Rule 2.101 requires court papers to be filed on recycled paper.
- Rule 10.503 requires all courts to use recycled paper for all purposes except for uses for which recycled paper is not practically available.
Federal
The Resource Conservation and Recovery Act requires procuring agencies to buy recycled-content products designated by the United States Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) in the Comprehensive Procurement Guidelines (CPG). A number of printing papers are USEPA-designated items. Procuring agencies include all federal agencies, and any state or local government agencies or government contractors that use appropriated federal funds to purchase the designated items. If your agency spends more than $10,000 per year on a product designated in the CPG, you are required to purchase it with the highest recycled-content level practicable. [1] This means that the recycled-content ranges recommended in the USEPA's Recovered Materials Advisory Notice (RMAN) for the item in question are met. [2],[3] The USEPA's recommended recovered materials content levels for printing papers are available on-line.
Executive Order 13101 and the Federal Acquisition Regulation also call for an increase in the federal government's use of recycled-content and environmentally preferable products. [4]
GUIDELINES
Environmentally-sound alternatives abound. Digital production options, recycled (filtered) ink, and chlorine-free and tree-free papers are all viable and readily available choices. Do not assume that they cost more - some will actually save you time and money. Just as increasing demand for recycled-content paper has resulted in lower prices, greater selection, and wider availability, interest in other environmentally-sound alternatives will expand their availability. Ask printers to keep you informed about the latest technologies and methods. Following are guidelines for use in determining printing specifications:
Digital Printing
High-speed digital printing is an excellent alternative to the traditional lithographic* printing process. The digital printing process produces a high-quality copy on the very first page, thus eliminating paper waste. Lithographic presses have a higher amount of waste paper and chemical usage as the printed press page is brought up to a usable quality. Lithographic printing is more affordable when printing large quantities of materials, such as voter guides, driving handbooks, and tax booklets.
* Lithography is a printing process based on the chemical law that fatty, oily inks do not mix with water. It is usually referred to as "offset." [5]
Digital printing is also beneficial in giving on-demand publishing opportunities. On-demand printing eliminates the need to store and inventory larger quantities of printed forms, brochures, directories and publications. Additional quantities can be produced "on-demand" when needed. On-demand printing works particularly well when printing documents that need frequent updating or are also available on your office's Web site.
Digital printing also may provide for regional distributed printing, thereby saving shipping costs and reducing the demand for packaging materials.
Multicolor Printing
It is preferable that only one ink color be used on the printed document unless more colors are needed to convey meaning. Multicolor printing by the traditional lithographic process generates a higher amount of wasted press plates, ink, cleaning solutions, and paper. A full color photo in a printed page will require the use of four press plates, four different ink colors, clean-up on four printing units, and the additional paper waste to set the ink color registration and balance.
Use of full-color digital printing technology will nearly eliminate all waste that is generated in the traditional lithographic printing process.
Two-sided Printing
Printing on both sides of each sheet can reduce paper consumption and cost by half.
Printing Papers
Use paper that is not dyed, except for light or pastel colors, because fluorescent and dark colors make paper harder to recycle. Choose paper that is unbleached or bleached (whitened) without chlorine or chlorine compounds. Totally chlorine-free bleaching, which uses alternative bleaching agents, such as oxygen and peroxide, eliminates dioxins and other chlorinated pollutants from the wastewater stream. [6] According to the United States Environmental Protection Agency, dioxin "is a toxic industrial pollutant that is … persistent in the environment. It accumulates in the fat tissue of animals and humans and has been linked to adverse human health effects, including cancer and toxicity to reproductive, immunologic, and endocrine systems." [7] Specifications should include the requirement that the paper be "processed chlorine-free" (PCF).
If you are printing a large quantity and have a very specific environmentally preferable paper in mind, you should work with your printing planner to secure that stock well in advance of submitting your project for production.
For more information on environmentally preferable papers, see the Other Printing and Writing Papers and Copier Paper sections.
Printing Inks and Chemicals
Printing inks and other chemicals used on the press include volatile organic compounds (VOCs) that can be harmful to air quality. Many soy-based inks are now manufactured that have a low VOC content. There are also press chemicals used in the cleaning of the press blankets and rollers that have a low VOC content. Choose a printer that uses low VOC water-based or agri-based inks and press chemicals. Some waste inks may be considered as hazardous waste in California and therefore subject to management requirements specified in Title 22 of the California Code of Regulations. The California Department of Toxic Substances Control has a fact sheet titled Hazardous Waste Generator Requirements.
See also the Inks section.
Job Planning
Work with your printing planner to design layouts that prevent waste by considering press sheet sizes, gripper margins, bleeds, grain direction and the amount of ink coverage needed. Evaluate the need for redundant packaging such as plastic wrapped packages placed inside a box. Is the plastic wrap necessary?
End-of-Life Considerations
Produce publications that are easier to recycle by using glueless bindings, such as reusable binding materials or stapling; using uncoated paper, and avoiding foil stamping, heavy ink coverage, and dark and fluorescent papers.
Electronic Publishing Option
When developing a printing project, consider the feasibility of publishing the document on the Internet. This option may reduce or eliminate the need for printing altogether.
PERFORMANCE
The key to effective, environmentally-sensitive printing jobs is addressing issues in the design stage. Challenge assumptions about how a publication is "supposed" to look. Keep an open mind to the many possibilities that can effectively get your message to the intended audience and allow for creative, innovative approaches throughout the design and production process. You may find that limiting paper, ink, or production choices because of environmental concerns gives rise to a new range of ideas that will succeed every bit as well and even more efficiently. The best protection against surprises is thorough discussion of options with your printer early on in the design stage. Refer to Inks and Other Printing and Writing Papers for discussions of the performance of environmentally preferable inks and papers.
AVAILABILITY
Air quality regulations, worker safety concerns, and production efficiencies are encouraging more and more printers to change press operations. Many are turning to low-VOC, digital, and water-based chemistry technologies.
The availability of environmentally preferable papers and inks is growing. Refer to Inks and Other Printing and Writing Papers for further discussion on these elements of printing. For sources of environmentally preferable papers, see Other Printing and Writing Papers and Copier Paper.
COST
Because each print job is unique, there are many factors that affect cost, regardless of the environmental aspects and options available. The key is establishing those environmentally preferable criteria that are important to you and relying on competition among print services to deliver the best price for the job.
SPECIFICATIONS
When contracting for design or printing services, state your preference for the following content and workplace practices:
- Vegetable-based and recycled (filtered) inks; avoid inks containing heavy metals;
- Papers made with postconsumer fiber (30 percent minimum) and other environmentally preferable paper fibers;
- Processed chlorine-free papers;
- Alcohol-free printing processes;
- Solvents free of toluene and methylene chloride;
- Paper recycling and reuse programs; and
- Workplace safety and accident reduction programs.
Think "reduce, reuse, recycle, and buy recycled" before you design. Refer to Inks and Other Printing and Writing Papers for additional information on ink and paper considerations.
Give yourself credit: print the percentage of postconsumer content you have used on your printed piece. Also note if the paper is chlorine-free and printed with soy or other agri-based inks, and any other environmental considerations given to the print job.
Not only can you specify environmental attributes for your own print jobs, but you can also require subcontractors to submit work that meets environmental guidelines. Here is a sample specification:
"The contractor shall ensure that printed materials produced under this contract are printed on paper with a minimum of 30 percent postconsumer fiber content. The contractor is encouraged to use paper that contains a higher percentage of postconsumer material than the 30 percent minimum and is processed chlorine-free. These specifications shall be clearly labeled on the printed materials. In addition, the contractor shall print double-sided documents and avoid the use of inks containing heavy metals."
PRINT SOURCES
The Office of State Publishing and Prison Industry Authority observe all State laws guiding the acquisition of recycled products and the recycling of post-production waste. Most commercial printers offer a variety of environmentally preferable printing options. Following are options available for the acquisition of printing services.
Office of State Publishing (OSP)
The OSP serves as the centralized printer providing a full range of printing services to all State agencies. Further information is available in Section 2800 of the State Administrative Manual (SAM), on the OSP Web site, or by calling an OSP Customer Service Representative at (916) 445-9484 (CALNET 485-9484).
Prison Industry Authority (PIA)
The PIA also provides a wide range of printing and reproduction services to all state agencies on a smaller scale. Further information is available in Section 2860 of the SAM, on the PIA Web site, or by calling a PIA Customer Service Representative at (916) 358-2727 (CALNET 434-2727).
Commercial Print Vendors
The OSP maintains a listing of over 900 commercial printing vendors located throughout California. These vendors are categorized by the type of printing services they offer such as envelopes, quick copy, publication, and die cutting, etc. OSP Printing Procurement is available to acquire printing services from commercial printers on behalf of State agencies. Further information is available on the OSP Web site, or by calling an OSP Customer Service Representative at (916) 445-9484 (CALNET 485-9484).
SUCCESS STORY
The Department of Justice produces a Legal Source Book for use by law enforcement agencies. This 1,000+ page publication is revised six times a year. There are anywhere from 100 to 150 books printed of each revision. To do this printing by the traditional lithographic method would be very costly and would generate a significant amount of waste. A job this size would require over 62 aluminum press plates to produce. (The number of plates required would be multiplied by the number of ink colors if this were a multicolor job).
This job is ideal for on-demand publishing by high-speed digital printers because of its short run quantity and being a single color publication. After the publication has been revised, the electronic file is sent to the digital printer. The digital printer prints the exact quantity of books without wasting any paper in the process and the process does not require the use of aluminum press plates.
RESOURCES AND WEBSITES
California Department of General Services, Office of State Publishing (OSP)
Sacramento, CA
(916) 322-1032
The OSP's mission is to provide innovative printing and communication solutions through their specialized knowledge, statewide perspective, and coordinated public and private partnership. They will enhance the economic well being and quality of life for all of their customers, employees and other business partners. Their services are available to state, federal, county and city agencies.
California Prison Industry Authority (PIA)
(916) 358-2727
The PIA is an inmate work program that provides productive job opportunities for inmates in California correctional institutions. The PIA provides work assignments for prison inmates and operates numerous service, manufacturing, and agricultural industries at prisons. These industries produce a wide variety of goods and services, including printing services. PIA products and services are available to government entities, including federal, State, and local governmental agencies.
Alternative Low-VOC, Low Toxicity Clean-up Solvents for the Lithographic Printing Industry Institute for Research and Technical Assistance (IRTA)
Under Contract #02-T2475 with the California Department of Toxic Substances Control
The Institute for Research and Technical Assistance (IRTA) worked with ten lithographic printing facilities in the Los Angeles Metropolitan Area to identify, test and demonstrate alternative low-volatile organic compound (VOC), low toxicity on-press cleaners. Businesses included in the study printed on newsprint (newspapers), coated and uncoated paper, and metal and plastic media. The types of presses were cold-set web, sheet fed, and heat set web and types of ink included soy and solvent borne. The alternatives that were tested and found to be most effective include water-based cleaners, soy-based cleaners and acetone, blends of the three categories of cleaners and blends of the cleaners with small amounts of VOC solvents. Acetone is not classified as a VOC and is low in toxicity.
California Air Resources Board (ARB)
The mission of the ARB is to promote and protect public health, welfare and ecological resources through the effective and efficient reduction of air pollutants while recognizing and considering the effects on the economy of the state. A listing of California's Air Quality Management Districts is available on-line.
California Integrated Waste Management Board (CIWMB)
Sacramento, CA
(916) 341-6000
The CIWMB's mission is to reduce waste, promote the management of all materials to their highest and best use, and protect public health and safety and the environment, in partnership with all Californians. Visit the CIWMB's Paper Information and Resources Web page.
California Occupational Safety and Health Administration (Cal/OSHA)
Program
The Cal/OSHA Program is responsible for enforcing California laws and regulations pertaining to workplace safety and health and for providing assistance to employers and workers about workplace safety and health issues. Contact information is available on-line.
California Department of Toxic Substances Control (DTSC)
The DTSC's mission is to restore, protect and enhance the environment, to ensure public health, environmental quality and economic vitality, by regulating hazardous waste, conducting and overseeing cleanups, and developing and promoting pollution prevention. More than 1,000 scientists, engineers and specialized support staff work in nine locations statewide.
State Water Resources Control Board
California Regional Water Quality Control Boards
There are nine Regional Water Quality Control Boards (Regional Boards). The mission of the Regional Boards is to develop and enforce water quality objectives and implementation plans that will best protect the beneficial uses of the State's waters, recognizing local differences in climate, topography, geology and hydrology.
Chlorine Free Products Association (CFPA)
Algonquin, IL
(847) 658-6104
The CFPA is a not-for-profit State of Illinois corporation. The primary purpose of the association is to promote Total Chlorine Free policies, programs, and technologies throughout the world. The CFPA awards qualified manufacturers the certifications "Processed Chlorine Free" and "Totally Chlorine Free." Visit the CFPA's Web site for information on its certification and educational services, lists of the paper products it has certified, and relevant news articles.
Conservatree
San Francisco, CA
(415) 721-4230
Conservatree is a non-profit organization dedicated to converting paper markets to environmental papers. They maintain a comprehensive Web site that provides technical assistance with selecting environmentally preferable papers. It includes an extensive listing of environmentally preferable papers that is sorted by specific paper grade.
Green Seal
Washington, DC
(202) 872-6400
Green Seal is a nationally recognized non-profit organization that certifies a variety of environmental products that pass stringent testing standards. Download its "Choose Green Report" on printing and writing papers.
Institute for Local Self-Reliance (ILSR)
Minneapolis, MN
(612) 379-3815
The ILSR is a non-profit organization that promotes sustainable economic development and maintains an on-line clearinghouse of plant-based products, including vegetable-based inks. "Biochemicals for the Printing Industry," an ILSR report on vegetable-based inks and print shop solvents, includes information on cost and availability.
King County Environmental Purchasing Program
Seattle, WA
(206) 296-4210
A pioneer and contemporary model in environmental procurement, King County provides sample contract specifications for paper, printing requirements, and a variety of other products. In addition, its Web site offers procurement case studies along with resources for environmental purchasing and waste reduction. The Paper Calculator
The Paper Calculator is a Web-based tool that allows you to compare the environmental impacts of specific types of recycled and virgin papers. It is accessible from the Office of the Federal Environmental Executive's Web site.
Printers' National Environmental Assistance Center (PNEAC)
The PNEAC is a partnership between industry, government, and university technical assistance providers serving those who interact with one of the largest manufacturing industries in the United States, North America, and the world. The PNEAC's mission is to assist regulatory agencies and technical assistance providers by delivering current, reliable environmental compliance and pollution prevention information to printers, publishers, and packagers. Printing Industries of America/Graphic Arts Technical Foundation (PIA/GATF)
PIA/GATF Headquarters
Sewickley, PA
(412) 741-6860 or (800) 910-4283
The PIA/GATF is a large graphic arts trade association, representing an industry with 1.2 million employees.
United States Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA)
Washington, DC
(202) 272-0167
The Design for the Environment (DfE) program is one of the USEPA's premier partnership programs, working with individual industry sectors to compare and improve the performance and human health and environmental risks and costs of existing and alternative products, processes, and practices. DfE partnership projects promote integrating cleaner, cheaper, and smarter solutions into everyday business practices. Visit the DfE Printing Partnership Projects Web page.
[1] United States Environmental Protection Agency. 2004 Comprehensive Procurement Guidelines Buy-Recycled Series Paper Products Fact Sheet. Available at www.epa.gov/cpg/factshts.htm.
[2] From California Integrated Waste Management Board staff communication with Office of the Federal Environmental Executive staff on December 12, 2005.
[3] United States Environmental Protection Agency. 2004 Comprehensive Procurement Guidelines Buy-Recycled Series Paper Products Fact Sheet. Available at: www.epa.gov/cpg/factshts.htm.
[4] Ibid.
[5] Charles Finley, Ph.D. Printing Paper and Ink, Delmar Publishers, Albany, New York, 1997, p. 411.
[6] United States Environmental Protection Agency, Fact Sheet: The Pulp and Paper Industry, the Pulping Process, and Pollutant Releases to the Environment (1997), 2-3. Available at www.epa.gov/waterscience/pulppaper/jd/fs2.pdf.
[7] United States Environmental Protection Agency, ORD/NCER STAR Grants Dioxin Research Web page (2000). Available at es.epa.gov/ncer/publications/topical/dioxin.html.
Special Note: Portions of the Environmentally Preferable Purchasing Best Practices Manual were borrowed or adapted from the Environmentally Preferable Purchasing Guide published by the Solid Waste Management Coordinating Board of Minnesota.
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