Case Study: Lorraine Press

Lorraine Press, located in Salt Lake City, is reaching its goal of minimizing its impact on the environment by not only making its operation more efficient, but also by using raw materials that are less damaging to the environment and by adopting a comprehensive recycling program."At Lorraine Press we have a 'Print Responsibly' program that looks at all phases of print production to lighten our environmental footprint," says Kent Brinker, Lorraine Press' Environmental Manager. "We try to live by Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle."

Background

Lorraine Press has been in existence since 1947. The printer employs 30 individuals and prints a wide range of products from corporate brochures to point-of-purchase materials.

Environmental Benefits

The printing process generates paper, aluminum plates, ink, film scraps, and solvent, as well as office paper and cardboard waste. Lorraine Press has adopted the following source reduction strategies to reduce their impacts on the environment and reduce disposal costs:

1. Worked with aqueous coating suppliers to convert to reusable drums.
2. Switched to reusable "air fill" pillows instead of styrofoam as a packaging material.
3. Established a recycling program with a local recycling vendor to recycle paper, cardboard, shrink wrap, hard plastic, aluminum plates, and film scraps.
4. Scrap pallets are sent back to the manufacturer for reuse, when possible.

Lorraine Press has taken the following steps to further reduce its impacts on the environment:

1. Switched to raw materials that are less damaging to the environment, such as converting to a solvent that contains 12% less Volatile Organic Compound (VOC) and no Hazardous Air Pollutants (HAP).
2. Totally eliminated isopropyl alcohol use from the dampening systems of all presses.
3. Uses a 20% vegetable-based ink on all sheet-fed presses.
4. Changed to a new lithographic offset sheet fed press with an auto wash blanket and roller system.

Next Steps

Lorraine Press has made a commitment to seek recognition as a Sustainable Green Printing (SGP) Partnership printer. To become certified, Lorraine Press is working toward meeting the Partnership's criteria relating to sustainable business practices across the product, process, and infrastructure areas of the printing operation.