Aussie printers green credentials recognised with Kodak award

Four Australian printers – Advance Press, Bluestar Print NSW, Australian Community Media and Hague Australia are among 52 global printers to be recognised by Kodak for their significant sustainable practices and contributions to reducing their footprint.

Each of these operations have won the Kodak Sonora Plate Green Leaf Award with the program now in its seventh year to recognise printers’ green credentials and adoption of Kodak Sonora Process Free Plates technology.

Advance Press director Ian Smith said his Perth-based business switched to Kodak’s processless Sonora plates three years ago and has not looked back as the change removed the need to deal with thousands of litres of chemical waste and was also better for the environment.

He also said the plates perform well and are highly robust.

“We are delighted to have won it. We have done a lot of work at Advance Press in the last five years to minimise our environmental impact and this is highlighting what we’ve done.

Advance Press director Ian Smith told Sprinter

Before making the switch, Advance Press had to store the waste chemistry from platemaking in a 10,000 litre tank and have it taken away to be treated and disposed of.

Switching to the processless free plate system has removed this need, saving time and money and relieving the environment as well.

“It’s so much better for us. We are not actually connected to sewers where we are here in Perth and we used to have a 10,000 litre tank, so all the waste chemistry would go in there and then get taken away for treatment. Whereas now there is no waste and the plates are robust, they perform really well so we are very happy with the outcome,” Smith said.

“It’s a real positive to not have that waste anymore.

“The plates perform as well as our previous plates which would obviously go through a processing line. We have had no issues with the plates for three years so it’s been good for us.”

Eastman Kodak Company plate business general manager Robert Price said an increasing number of printers are seeing the benefits that sustainable business processes can have on the bottom line.

“Those recognised in this year’s Sonora Plate Green Leaf Award exemplify the tremendous dedication it takes to run a high-performance print operation.

Eastman Kodak Company plate business general manager Robert Price said

“In an increasingly competitive and complex industry, more and more printers are adopting sustainable business processes. They understand it can deliver real bottom-line impact to their business, from improved efficiencies to their print operation to increased profitability of their entire business,” Price said.

Kodak said over 4,000 printers of all sizes use Kodak to capture all the benefits of process free. The company added that transitioning to Kodak Sonora Process Free Plates delivers long run lengths, fast imaging speeds, excellent resolution capabilities, UV capability, and excellent productivity, while delivering cost savings and increased profitability.

It said as the transition continues at a rapid pace, one out of every three plates Kodak sells is now process free, with this trend expected to grow.

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