Essay on ecologization of book publishing production

In the contemporary world of new technologies and industries development, the issues on the protection of the environment become more and more urgent. The technological process of many industries is now far from being waste-free and environmentally friendly. This is no less true for the book publishing industry and industries involved in its supply chain: wood processing industry and paper making industry, chemical industry for the production of offset inks, printing as such, as well as over the road transportation as one of the most frequently used transportation modes in this industry. In particular, speaking of book publishing industry, we should consider such negative impacts on the environment as devastation of forests for the production of paper, toxic evaporations at the production of inks and at applying solvents for printing (toluene, gasoline, ozone, etc.), appearance of paper, ink and dextrinous dust, carbon dioxide emissions from supplying factories and automobile transport, as well as problems of recycling and utilization of wastes.

Above all, it should be marked that the production of paper from timber is becoming increasingly harmful to the planet. For instance, 98 tons of other resources are used to produce 1 ton of paper, and the volume of energy need for this equals to the production of 1 ton of steel (Kivimaa & Kautto, 2010). At the same time, deforestation conducted today by wood processing industry contributes to the climate change even more than the emissions of all the cars in the world (Stevenson, 2001). Meanwhile, there is a great number of other materials that can and should be used as an alternative to wood: leaves and stalks of banana, mango, coffee and hemp trees, sugar cane bagasse, palm fiber, etc.(Metz & Seadle, 2012). Similar technologies have already been developed by such companies as Ecopaper and New Leaf Paper, but, unfortunately, still haven’t received appropriate spreading among producers.

Similar stagnation has long been observed in the chemical industry for the production of offset inks and solvents. Until the mid-1970’s, many companies producing offset inks made pigments solely on the basis of inorganic substances (typically metal salts), as well as on the basis petrochemicals (Hutchinson, 2002). These components were often applied in quantities exceeding the permitted levels, making ink wastes and entire printing industry very dangerous. Today, manufacturers are in search for constant improvement, producing more and more inks, where mineral oils are substituted by vegetable oils (soybean or canola) and rough ketone solvents – by esters of low-molecular organic acids (e.g., such companies as EFI, Bordeaux Digital Printink, Mimaki, etc.) (Metz & Seadle, 2012). However, some new pigments are still benzole derivatives and sometimes contain metals. Recent studies cited by Metz and Seadle (2012) have shown the presence of heavy metals (cadmium, arsenic, mercury, antimony, lead, and selenium) in offset inks: although the mass fraction of each metal in the samples did not exceed 10^-5, total concentrations of metals often exceeded 30*10^-6, and the maximum concentration reached 39*10^-6. Depending on a particular metal and the amount of ink wastes, the excess of emission limits often occurs, thus, turning worked out inks into the category of hazardous wastes and evaporations of volatile organic compounds at their production into toxic air pollutants. Especially dangerous are the increasing energy costs and CO₂ emissions in the manufacture of printing inks, while, according to Hutchinson (2002), the application of innovative materials based on organic materials is able to reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 16% and power consumption of factories by 40%.

Another carbon intensive area is over the road delivery. In general, road transport is the largest source of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere of cities (90%) (Tchepel et al., 2012). While according to Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research, the 2012 emissions of carbon dioxide reached a record level of 35.6 billion tons and the total amount of harmful substances in road transport emissions generally makes more than 1,000 items, the carbon dioxide emissions from the car park of a single sufficiently large delivering company equals to approximately 500,000 tons per year (Tchepel et al., 2012). Thus, there is a serious need for reducing the harm caused to the environment by over the road transportation through minimizing the CO₂ emissions coefficient calculated as the ratio of all emissions to the number of transported cargos.

In their turn, the emissions by printing companies, divided into technological and ventilation ones, contain high concentrations of harmful volatile substances and dust and should be subject to mandatory clearing. In particular, the dampening solutions for inks often contain isopropyl alcohol, known for contributing into the formation of ozone in the lower atmosphere (Stevenson, 2001). Though in most printing presses the concentration of isopropyl alcohol in the solution makes 15-20%, generally, offset printing uses concentration up to 35% (U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, 2012). This concentration parameter is much higher than the maximum allowed one in many countries and some states in the U.S., as many government agencies prohibit the usage of isopropyl alcohol at a concentration of 3-8,5% (U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, 2012). In addition, printing houses produce different types of waste that are potentially suitable for recycling, and a huge part of them is paper waste (edge cuts, defective products, monks-and-friars, etc.). However, market conditions often do not allow companies to go for the extra costs on waste management.

Thus, in our opinion, the ecologization of book publishing production should be a part of a general project on implementing quality management system, providing the most important factor – the quality of the environment. In particular, sustainability measures could include the replacement of wood as a raw material for paper by other renewable raw materials, as well as the replacement of cutover trees by newly-planted ones, and further recycling of used paper. In addition, non-organic inks based on synthetic solvents may be substituted by soy-based, eco-solvent, bio and nano-inks, while the basis of the dampening fluid may be change from isopropyl alcohol to 2-ethyl-1,3-hexanediol or other components with suitable properties (Metz & Seadle, 2012; U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, 2012). Moreover, nowadays some companies produce specialized equipment for the filtration and distillation of inks. The use of alternative types of inks and solvents and the ability to re-use them will reduce their specific toxicity and the total volume of waste. These measures will also help accelerate the process of ink production and hence, reduce energy costs, increase the intensity of inks, extend the life of printing equipment for up to 30%, and reduce volatile organic compounds emissions at ink producing plants and in printing houses. In its turn, maximal minimization of CO₂ emissions produced by over the road transportation could be reached through such measures as the usage of two-level trailers, exploitation of a new type of vans running on compressed natural gas (CNG), and training drivers on the principles of ecological driving.