Home / Think Green Design

A friend to the Environment

At Loman Cusack Design we have gradually adopted a number of environmentally friendly practices which help us to reduce our impact on the planet. We have gone one step further in making it a strategic objective of Loman Cusack design to concentrate on the prevention of waste and pollution.

We know you care about the environment as much as we do, and we all try to do our part to reduce the impact that our business has on the environment. When it comes to reducing carbon emissions of printing, there are many shades of green.

We have compiled a brief summary of the most important aspects of printing you should consider if you really want to be green with your next project. Of course, you can also contact us if you have any questions

How do you know which paper to use?

In the best possible scenario, your paper should have these characteristics:

100% Post-Consumer Waste (PCW)

Processed Chlorine-Free (PCF)

Forest Stewardship Council (FSC)

All recycled paper is not created equal

There are three categories of paper that can be used as feedstocks for making recycled paper:

  • Mill broke
  • Pre-consumer waste
  • Post-consumer waste

Mill broke is paper trimmings and other paper scrap from the manufacture of paper, and is recycled internally in a paper mill.

Pre-consumer waste is material that was discarded before it was ready for consumer use.

Post-consumer waste is material discarded after consumer use, including old magazines, old telephone directories, and residential mixed paper

It looks so white and clean ...

A brand new sheet of brilliant white paper may look very pure to you, but getting that level of whiteness comes at a price. Selecting recycled paper is a step in the right direction, but selecting Chlorine-free paper is a huge leap forward to help to the environment.

In it’s original form, paper pulp is brown (like brown paper bags) and must be bleached to achieve its whiteness. Chlorine is a common method of bleaching. Unfortunately, bleaching with chlorine releases noxious chemicals into our waterways either by the production process or by paper waste (which still retains chemicals even after it reaches the consumer) affecting aquatic life and even our own health. Chloroform, a by-product of the chlorine bleaching process, is a carcinogen.

Chlorine-free Paper

  • Totally Chlorine-free (TCF)

  • Elementally Chlorine-free (ECF)

TCF paper is produced with pulp that has been bleached without any type of chlorine, or that has not been bleached at all.

ECF papers are produced from pulp that has been bleached with a chlorine derivative such as chlorine dioxide (ClO2), but without elemental chlorine (Cl).

Recycled papers are typically “processed-chlorine-free” (PCF), but this doesn’t mean that some of the recycled stock was not originally bleached with chlorine. And some recycled papers are bleached with chlorine.

Some inks are better than others

That’s right! If you really want to make a positive impact when printing your next brochure or annual report, consider using vegetable-based inks. This is the best option when sending your job to press. They contain less Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs) than commonly used petroleum-based inks and are priced competitively.

When you use vegetable-based inks you:

  • decrease the amount of VOCs released into the atmosphere
  • prevent hazardous heavy metals from being released into the environment
  • make printing plants a healthier place to work
  • encourage the use of renewable resources.

Give yourself, extra time for printing, as vegetable-based inks take a little longer to dry due to its lack of evaporative solvents in the form of VOCs

You can be creative too!

If you plan ahead, you will see that there are many creative solutions to minimise your project’s environmental impact.
Consider for example:


Are there alternative distribution methods?

Your website or email lists are valuable resources for distribution. Why not email or post your catalogues, brochures, or annual reports as PDFs? PDFs have the added benefit of interactivity, including clickable table of contents, URLs and emails. CD ROMS and DVDs can also be interactive and hold more information in a single disk than a single email and are easier for recipients to catalogue for longevity. Your timing is also critical: distributing materials in seminars, conventions and other public events is a great time and money saver

Can your long document be divided?

Think about it. How many people need to read the entire annual report and how many would appreciate an executive summary? One can be printed and the other distributed online.

Do you really need all that packaging?

Self-mailers are the obvious way to reduce packaging, and if ready-made cartons are not appropriate for your package, we can help you design something that uses less materials and looks great too.

Are you designing for re-use and longevity?

If you are printing new folders for the launch of your new campaign, why not keep the exterior free of campaign-specific information so that you can use it again until stocks run out?

Have you considered digital printing?

For quantities under 500 units, it is more economical to print digitally and re-print as needed. You may sacrifice the choice of inks and narrow your options for paper, but ultimately it is more environmentally friendly to go digital if you can foresee needing small quantities.