Ink Manufacturing Companies
No matter how people refer to it - green, eco-friendly, environmentally-friendly, or a dozen other similar phrases - there are a lot of CD manufacturing and CD duplication businesses latching on to the 'green' movement. This raises the question about who is "talking the talk" just for the sake of positive marketing, and who is actually "walking the walk" by implementing green processes, utilizing green materials and producing green products.
Ink Manufacturing Companies
Choosing A Green CD Manufacturing Company
By A. W. Thomas
No matter how people refer to it - green, eco-friendly, environmentally-friendly, or a dozen other similar phrases - there are a lot of CD manufacturing and CD duplication businesses latching on to the 'green' movement.
This raises the question about who is "talking the talk" just for the sake of positive marketing, and who is actually "walking the walk" by implementing green processes, utilizing green materials and producing green products.
If choosing a green CD manufacturing or CD duplication company is important to you, there are a number of factors that should be taken into consideration:
1. Manufacturer or Middle-Man - Is the CD manufacturing company you are working with actually a manufacturer or are they a middle-man? A middle-man (also commonly referred to as a 'broker' or 'reseller') takes your order, pays another company to make it, and has no control over the processes and materials used by their supplier. Based on this, real control over the amount of 'green'
2. Location - The closer the CD manufacturing company is to your location, the less transportation is required for the goods. In turn, this directly relates to reduced consumption of resources and less emissions. If you are dealing with a middle-man you should inquire about the location/distance the goods are being shipped from.
3. Green Policy - Does the CD manufacturing company have a comprehensive 'green' policy that applies to their entire business or does it only apply to selected areas?
4. Amount of Overage - As with most custom manufacturing processes, CD manufacturing requires additional product to be made over-and-above the quantity required to fill the order. This applies for disc production and print/packaging, with the overage being used to compensate for units that are rejected in quality control processes. The amount of overage is dependent on the size of the order but it should rarely, if ever, be greater than 5%. A smaller overage means less waste is ultimately produced and all excess production and rejected units can, and should, be recycled.
5. Substrates - There's a wide variety of recycled paper and board-stock options in the market now so most companies should be able to provide substrates with 100% recycled content with a mix of both pre-consumer and post-consumer waste. If you wish to have 100% post-consumer waste substrates there may be a small premium to pay as it is less available than the mixed pre/post substrates.
6. Technology, Processes and Materials - It's not enough just to print on eco-friendly paper and board-stock because the printing technology and processes also need to be of a certain standard. Traditional offset press printing technology is rife with waste and toxic components, but the new waterless printing technologies using soy or eco-friendly inks are a welcome relief relating to environmental concerns.
By A. W. Thomas
No matter how people refer to it - green, eco-friendly, environmentally-friendly, or a dozen other similar phrases - there are a lot of CD manufacturing and CD duplication businesses latching on to the 'green' movement.
This raises the question about who is "talking the talk" just for the sake of positive marketing, and who is actually "walking the walk" by implementing green processes, utilizing green materials and producing green products.
If choosing a green CD manufacturing or CD duplication company is important to you, there are a number of factors that should be taken into consideration:
1. Manufacturer or Middle-Man - Is the CD manufacturing company you are working with actually a manufacturer or are they a middle-man? A middle-man (also commonly referred to as a 'broker' or 'reseller') takes your order, pays another company to make it, and has no control over the processes and materials used by their supplier. Based on this, real control over the amount of 'green'
2. Location - The closer the CD manufacturing company is to your location, the less transportation is required for the goods. In turn, this directly relates to reduced consumption of resources and less emissions. If you are dealing with a middle-man you should inquire about the location/distance the goods are being shipped from.
3. Green Policy - Does the CD manufacturing company have a comprehensive 'green' policy that applies to their entire business or does it only apply to selected areas?
4. Amount of Overage - As with most custom manufacturing processes, CD manufacturing requires additional product to be made over-and-above the quantity required to fill the order. This applies for disc production and print/packaging, with the overage being used to compensate for units that are rejected in quality control processes. The amount of overage is dependent on the size of the order but it should rarely, if ever, be greater than 5%. A smaller overage means less waste is ultimately produced and all excess production and rejected units can, and should, be recycled.
5. Substrates - There's a wide variety of recycled paper and board-stock options in the market now so most companies should be able to provide substrates with 100% recycled content with a mix of both pre-consumer and post-consumer waste. If you wish to have 100% post-consumer waste substrates there may be a small premium to pay as it is less available than the mixed pre/post substrates.
6. Technology, Processes and Materials - It's not enough just to print on eco-friendly paper and board-stock because the printing technology and processes also need to be of a certain standard. Traditional offset press printing technology is rife with waste and toxic components, but the new waterless printing technologies using soy or eco-friendly inks are a welcome relief relating to environmental concerns.
7. Recycling Client Materials - Community curb-side recycling programs do not accept the type of plastics used for CD manufacturing and CD cases, so what do you do with old and unwanted materials? For most people the only option is regular garbage which ends up in the landfill, but your CD manufacturing company should be able to add your unwanted CDs and CD cases to their own specialized plastic recycling program.
A.W. Thomas is the Marketing Manager at http://www.CDwest.ca, a factory-direct CD manufacturing and CD duplication company providing a wide variety of eco-friendly print and packaging solutions for their disc products.
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