world press freedom day

Nessan Cleary · Journalist & Editor · Week commencing 3rd May 2021

This week, the main theme from all regions is sustainability and carbon neutrality.

Print Business reports that Seacourt, a printer based in Oxford in the UK, has won its fourth consecutive Queens’s Award for Enterprise in the Sustainable Development. The company has been able to offset 110% of its greenhouse gas emissions, thanks to avoidance and offsetting initiatives, which Print Business says makes it the world’s first carbon negative printer.

Continuing this theme, Image Magazine of Australia writes that Mesh Direct, which specialises in grand format signage, has partnered with Carbon Neutral to offset its carbon emissions, meaning that all Mesh Direct signage, from banners to billboards, and from manufacturing to delivery, will be 100 percent carbon neutral, making Mesh Direct Australia’s first carbon neutral signage company.

Labels and Labelling has picked up a story from Avery Dennison, which is promising to be net-zero on carbon emissions by 2050, with a commitment that 100 percent of its core film and paper product categories globally will contain some recycled or renewable content.

Converter Magazine, based in Italy, says that Tipa, which produces compostable packaging, has partnered with shelf-life extension specialist PerfoTec to offer fully compostable packaging that extends the shelf-life of fresh produce, which should help to reduce food waste and plastic pollution as well as cutting carbon emissions.

The American magazine Ink World reports that the German printing ink manufacturers Epple Druckfarben and Zeller+Gmelin are collaborating over the development of UV ink technology, with the first fruit of this being a jointly developed UV LED ink for the sheetfed offset sector.

Meanwhile, Ink World also has a story on Siegwerk expanding its Process Management & Consulting teams in Southeast Asia and India, hiring new specialists across these regions to offer better support to its customers.

From the Middle East, ME printer reports that the Global Converting Paper Market accounted for $355.01 Billion in 2017 and is expected to reach $459.17 Billion by 2026, mainly driven by the growth of e-commerce packaging and rising adoption for industrial packaging, according to Trends Market Research.

ME Printer also writes that some 800 exhibitors from more than 46 countries will take part in the Abu Dhabi International Book Fair, to be held at the end of May. It’s the 30th edition of this event, and incorporates both physical and virtual elements, hopefully indicating that some semblance of normality after the pandemic is starting to return, at least to some parts of the world.

From Canada, PrintAction, reports that the Association for Print Technologies is offering a six week course - Master the Art of Selling - to help printing companies improve their sales performance.

The Gapp magazine, based in South Africa, has a feature detailing the importance of Management Information Systems to the signage sector, noting that an MIS can help printers understand their costs to increase their profits.Many publications have picked up on Ricoh’s announcement of its Pro Z75 B2 sheetfed inkjet press though most have struggled to make anything of the very limited information released so far.

The UK magazine Printweek says that commercial availability will be from Q2 2022, while Indian Printer and Publisher laments that the press may not reach India until 2023.

Elsewhere Indian Printer and Publisher reports that the Regional Institute of Printing Technology Kolkata has joined the Ghent Workgroup, quoting GWG Chair David Zwang: “Print is changing, and students are our future. They help envision the new technologies, products, and processes and then implement them.”

May 07, 2021

Author: Nessan Cleary