Printing posters and signage is one of the best-known ways for advertisement. Millions of dollars are spent every year on graphic designing, printing, and display of outdoor signage, posters and so on. Every company, whether small or big, is attempting to win in the race by designing larger, more attractive, and unique posters for its brand with the aim of attracting the largest mass towards it. Along with outdoor signage, there are other mediums of print advertisements like pamphlets, news paper advertisements and wall wraps used for various branding purposes.
The important thing to note here is that, all these activities are creating a lot of non-biodegradable print waste which can be a problem for the environment. With more and more print waste like chemical ink and toxic print materials accumulating every day, it is very important for every company to become environment conscious and attempt to reduce the amount of waste as much as possible. Increased use of biodegradable materials for printing and the recycling of the non-biodegradable waste produced can effectively solve the problem.
There are many valid questions that come in the minds of the business owners when it comes to use of sustainable, environment-friendly technologies. For example, what are the latest developments in this area? Are biodegradable materials more expensive? Where are such materials readily available? And what changes they need to undertake in the conventional process to accommodate the changes in material type? We will attempt to answer few of these queries in the following section.
Major Developments in the Field of Environment-Friendly Printing
The latest developments in the field of sustainable and eco-friendly utilization of resources are using already-recycled materials such as 3D printing materials, recycling existing 3D printing materials, and bioplastics, as well as recycling on location.
Using Bioplastics like PLA
Polylactic acid or PLA is a promising material for printing which is durable and provides excellent printing quality along with added biodegradable features. The material will degrade in a landfill within one to a few months time depending upon the thickness of the sheet. Use of organic, biodegradable ink to print on PLA will leave no reason to worry about pollution for the manufacturers. The material has failed to catch up as the best choice. However, with little modification in the material, it will have a great future.
Recycling on Location
Recyclebot is a unique concept, where a small robot stationed at your house will recycle all the recyclable trash generated into printable material. On a larger scale, such a machine can be installed at your workshop to recycle all the scrap materials into usable print sheets. This way, you can considerably reduce the amount of waste generated while printing as well as save up on some cash.
Recycling 3D Printing Material-ABS
ABS is the most commonly used 3D printing material and here the recycling of the waste will lead to sustainable use of the material. ABS is made by the chemical combination of a variety of polymers and a range of oils. In spite of its complicated structure it is interesting to note that it is recyclable. There are companies which will pick up the waste produced in your workshop and recycle it. They will later on sell the recycled product at a reduced cost.