Producing paper can have a significant impact on our natural environment, from sourcing the fibre to the processes and chemicals used to make it soft, white and smooth.

Sadly, approximately 70% of all paper produced comes from virgin fibre (such as rainforests). Cutting these old growth forests also accounts for around 30% of global carbon emissions. This needs to change!
At Falcon Offset, we only use high quality recycled papers. Our house stocks are 100% post-consumer recycled. More details on the stocks we use can be seen below.

Why use recycled paper?

With an ever-increasing amount of papers coming onto the market from sustainably managed forest plantations, one might ask why use recycled? The simple answer is, the more we can re-use materials such as paper the less waste we produce.
Paper made from tree plantations is far better than paper from virgin forests. However, it still has an effect on our natural environment. Plantations of only one species do not provide suitable habitats for wildlife. It has also been known for virgin forests to be cleared to make room for plantations.

There is now such a wide range of recycled papers on the market, that are of such a high quality, that you really have no excuse not to use them.

What is the difference between post-consumer waste, pre-consumer waste, mill-broke and alternative fibres?

Post-consumer waste - is paper and card, from items such as juice containers, that has been used and then recycled and made useable again.

Pre-consumer waste - is from paper that has left the paper mill but never made it into use, such as off-cuts and test sheets from printers. This is then sold back and reused again.

Mill-broke – is paper that never leaves the mill, such as off-cuts and low quality rejected materials. This is re-pulped and put back into the mix.

Alternative fibres – are derived from materials other than wood such as cotton, bamboo, bagasse or sugar cane waste.

Does recycling paper use more resources?

No. Making paper from recycled fibre rather than virgin fibre (from trees), produces less air and water pollution. It also generally requires less water and energy to produce. Recycling paper requires removing ink with a type of soap, which results in a toxic sludge. Using vegetable based inks, helps to solve this problem.

 

Vegetable Based Inks

There are different types of printing inks available for lithographic printing. Inks are made up of various ingredients such as pigments (organic or inorganic) which create the colour, an oil base liquid that is mixed with the pigment and then dries, and a binding agent made of either organic resins or polymers. The two main types of ink used in lithographic printing are described below.

The environmentally friendly alternative is vegetable based ink. The base liquid for this ink is made from a variety of vegetable oils such as corn, walnut, coconut, linseed, canola and soy bean. Vegetable based ink takes longer to dry but, as a result, releases only around 2-4% VOCs into the atmosphere. Vegetable oils are a renewable resource, unlike petroleum. Solvents are not required for cleaning, as the press can be cleaned with a water based cleaner, reducing VOCs further. Vegetable based ink is also much easier to de-ink when recycling and results in much less hazardous waste.

Vegetable based inks are no more expensive than petroleum based inks. With time we predict petrol based ink will be a thing of the past. The sooner the better!

Falcon Offset use vegetable based inks for all printed materials.

THINGS TO AVOID:

There are a few extra things you should also consider when creating your designs and deciding what colours to use.
Metallic ink:

Ink that contains metallic particles should be avoided. These inks cannot be recycled and end up in landfill, where they can then leak toxic compounds into the water table. Metallic fragments can also be harmful to animals and humans if inhaled or absorbed. There are other ways to create extra special designs with a standout factor, such as environmentally friendly aqueous varnishes and finishes like embossing or die-cutting.