﻿ Waste management - an opportunity

Waste management in many countries is a multi million dollar industry.  And prudence in managing and reducing waste in an industry like printing - with its inks, chemicals, paper, metal and print related materials - is even more significant and strategic.

A waste management strategy can be divided into two parts - reducing the waste your business generates and disposing or reusing waste materials.  Both the above segments directly impact the bottom line. 

Everyday waste management can include  changes in operations like for example using processless plates to  reduce water consumption as well as ‘wasted man-hours’ for cleaning jobs, or using energy efficient, ‘smart’ lighting options to reduce energy bills, investing in solar power or  better designing to reduce paper wastage.  

Refurbishing aging equipment and machinery, recycling excess print jobs,  reusing grey water are options that can save every printer precious cash, not to forget being kind to the environment.  The challenge here is to have a sustained, long term waste management strategy.

This issue of PrintWeek MEA we have featured the technological challenges facing the print industry, and how while print jobs are getting simpler and more automated, it is essential for printers to stay abreast of advances in technology and changing direction.  Also, featuring an exclusive report on the Canon Expo 2015.


Shilpa Jasani is the editor of PrintWeek

MEA magazine