Impressions - May/June 2024 - 32

Reusing the packaging you receive is a great way of
minimizing your contribution to the waste stream
and letting customers know you care. Photo by
AntonioDiaz - stock.adobe.com
(madeirausa.com/polyneon-green) and water-based screen-printing
inks that don't require harsh chemicals as part of their cleanup.
Speaking of ink, when it comes to choosing between water-based
and conventional inks, it's important to take a look at the entire
decorating process as opposed to the ink alone. Water-based inks,
for example, while touted for their environmental friendliness due
to their water content, come with a shorter shelf life and require
immediate use. They also require added time and energy in the
drying process. Conventional inks, on the other hand, though derived
from petroleum, offer a longer shelf life, can be reused and
are more energy-efficient during curing. Despite their perceived
sustainability, water-based inks may also contain formaldehyde.
Another out-of-the-box means of reducing the environmental
costs of a company's screen-printing operations is to forego screen
printing completely. Carnes and Lemonick, for example, say one
of the reasons they elected to add direct-to-film (DTF) printing
to their product offerings is the reduced cost and waste.
" In DTF printing, efficiency is paramount, " Victor Nanongkhai,
marketing manager at Arcus Printers (arcusprinters.com) and Axiom
America (axiomamerica.com) says. " Every drop of ink, every
speck of powder serves a purpose, without wasting excess ink or
cleaning chemicals. Unlike screen printing, which generates waste
inks, cleaning chemicals and requires water for screen reclamation. "
As an added benefit, Nanongkhai says, DTF printing excels in
production agility, offering a turnaround of less than five minutes
from artwork to the finished product. Unlike other digital printing
methods, like direct-to-garment (DTG), DTF ink also works
equally well on a wide range of materials, including cotton, polyester,
spandex, leather and pleather, and allows for unlimited colors
without extensive prepress work.
Finally, in the even you are a screen printer, have you added a
water-filtration system to your washout booth to filter out any
P.32
ImpressionsMagazine.com May/June 2024
harmful chemicals you may be using? Failing to do so not only
sends harmful compounds, like inks, oils and photo polymers, directly
into your local waterway, it can also damage your pipes,
leading to costly repairs.
With this in mind, Jessen says at Zome he and his team have
not only had a specially designed drainage trap installed in their
screen reclaim room, they are looking to make things even better.
" We're analyzing our current sludge trap system to look for minor
improvements we can make to the system, which was installed
over a decade ago, " Jessen says. " It's a pretty nasty process, so our
team is looking into new filtration systems that may be better for
the environment and our team's work environment, too. "
3) Switch to on-demand printing
In the past, many print and embroidery shops would decorate hundreds
or even thousands of garments in advance, which they would
then store and sell as required. This in turn led to countless unsold
products ending up in the dump or recycled, at best. By contrast,
these days the combination of online stores, customization options
and digital printing gives shops much better control over both their
inventory and cash flow.
" Digital printing technologies have enabled us to offer on-demand
production so that we don't have to inventory vast quantities
of merchandise for clients that either just sit on shelves or have to
be cleared out when the straggling sizes remain, " Jessen explains.
Additionally, the on-demand nature of DTF further minimizes
waste by allowing a company to print only what's going to be purchased
immediately, eliminating the need for minimum orders and
reducing machine setup waste, Nanongkhai says.
http://stock.adobe.com http://www.madeirausa.com/polyneon-green http://www.arcusprinters.com http://www.axiomamerica.com http://www.ImpressionsMagazine.com
Impressions - May/June 2024

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