MichellePrint design and environmental responsibility

Design decisions are among the most critical issues in determining the external impacts of a product, service or communication over its entire life cycle.
Designers, in pursuit of appropriate responses to client needs, have ethical responsibilities to provide work that minimizes harmful consequences, creates value, and engenders positive results.
A prerequisite of becoming a designer in the 21st century is the ability to address a client’s needs while balancing the economic, social and environmental consequences of design recommendations.
While there are comparatively few negative environmental effects directly associated with the design and print industry, design decisions made in the initial stages of a product life cycle, even when the product is a communication strategy, predetermine many of the waste streams and environmental damages associated with printed matter. Design choices play a major role in determining the financial, environmental and social consequences associated with the selection of raw materials and processes employed in the production of printed products.

According to the American Forest and Paper Association, the average American uses more than 748 pounds of paper per year, and waste paper is America’s single largest export by weight.
It takes about 68 million trees per year to produce the catalogues and appeals we receive annually, yet nearly half of this mail is thrown out unopened.
A common perception is that the adverse environmental impact of paper use is the consumption of trees. In fact, since trees are a renewable resource, their use in paper is not as detrimental to ecological balance as the damage incurred in the process of converting wood to paper.
Paper manufacturing alone is the third largest use of fossil fuels worldwide and the single largest industrial use of water per pound of finished product.
Printing inks and toner are the second largest uses of carbon black, which is primarily manufactured by the incomplete combustion of oil.

In order to fully evaluate and minimize the adverse environmental impacts of design choices and production process alternatives, designers are making the effort to identify and partner with responsible suppliers (those who share a commitment to environmental management)

Principles of environmentally responsible print design.
■ Rethink features and functions to use less material and less energy.
■ Consider closed-loop lifecycles from design through production, use and recovery.
■ Design for recyclability, reusability and recoverability of energy and materials.
■ Select materials with less impact and toxicity (via air, water and solid waste streams).
■ Increase use of recycled and renewable materials.
■ Optimize production techniques to eliminate scrap, error and waste.
■ Select lower-impact packaging and distribution systems.
■ Design for reduced energy use, water use, and waste impacts during use.
■ Maximize the length of the product’s useful life.
■ Recover, reuse and recycle materials at end of the product’s life.

Sources:
http://www.aiga.org/resources/content/3/5/9/6/documents/SustainPrint.7_AIGAx.pdf