Environmental Impact of Digital Printing Compared to Offset Printing?
Environmentally, how does digital printing compare to conventional printing? A comparative environmental life cycle assessment (LCA) was conducted on the impacts of printing marketing collateral on an Indigo 7000 Digital Press and a competitive offset press. The study was conducted by a third-party company, Sylvatica, in accordance with ISO standards for studies at making comparative assertions, and was reviewed by an independent panel of experts. The study focused on printing 8-page letter-size full color brochures.
Key findings of the report included:
- The test runs were conducted at the economic breakeven point of the HP Indigo 7000 Digital Press (the number of pages below which digital
printing is more economical than conventional offset). - The economic break-even point for this job and press was 993 brochures, comprising 3,972 double-sided letter-sized pages. The HP
Indigo 7000 Digital Press had a potentially 30 percent lower carbon footprint than the offset press. These results are yet more favorable for
the digital press at shorter run lengths. - The environmental break-even point (where the presses tested have equal potential environmental impact) is 2.4 – 4.1 times greater than
the economic break-even point, in favour of the digital press. The environmental break-even point in terms of carbon footprint is circa 3,000
8-page brochures (12,000 letter-sized double-sided pages).
At Influence Print we run our HP Indigo Digital Presses 24 hours a day, 5 days a week. When we combine the “green” aspects of digital printing with the FSC certified and recycled papers we use here we can truly offer environmentally friendly “green printing” to our customers.