What should a printing company do in a green world?

By Rajesh Setty on Sun 02 Nov 2008, 8:34 PM - 5 Comments

There is so much talk about going and being green. I see so many emails that ask me to “print responsibly”.

What would a printing company do in this environment?

It would be odd if they start asking people to print “irresponsibly”.

That won’t work.

One way is to help people create more materials that are “print worthy”. Tabbloid from HP is one such project. Tabbloid promises to create a personal magazine out of all your favorite feeds and then deliver it to you as a neat PDF – something that is print-worthy. If a small percentage of people who receive these personal magazines print them, HP would be happy

What can you do in your own business to provide a reason for your customers to use your services?

Hat Tip: My friend Phil Gerbyshak

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Deepak on November 3rd, 2008

I feel, a better alternative is to create “sustainable” paper. Paper that comes out of non-tree pulp. I read about hemp paper all the time, but I am not clear about the bottlenecks of mass-producing this. It might be a good idea to come up with a solution before the last tree goes!

Badri on November 3rd, 2008

If only Tabbloid could read-in OPML, instead of entering each feed at a time; this could be useful even if one does not print.

Phil Gerbyshak on November 3rd, 2008

Glad you found this helpful Raj. I’m curious what all the different uses folks will find for this.

For me, it’s helpful to get my own posts in PDF format so I can read it offline, print it out, make corrections offline, make things better, etc.

ranjith on November 5th, 2008

nice line of thought…i would say that the emails and the egreetings of the world did more damage to the printing companies than “going green”. One strategy as you said is to make a premium offering with “personal” touch.

i wonder what if we could have “re-printable” papers…wacky idea but just in case, if you manage an ink with a life of say 6months, then you can rotate your paper consumption and still keep printing

Natalya on November 9th, 2008

The volume of discourse of “green” is certainly striking. It is also critical to note that different industries will struggle with the challenges posed by environmental sustainability in different ways. Rajesh, you ask what everyone can do in their own business to enhance their own products and services. As a student in an unconventional business administration program at Parsons School of Design, this question often comes up, and I always wonder what traditional business schools are doing to prepare managers to answer it.

In an increasingly globalized, complex world that your blog does an excellent job of exploring, are the classic BBA and MBA programs addressing issues of environmental sustainability systematically, such that students graduate ready to navigate these momentous issues? I think most of the focus is still on generating shareholder value–a short-term view that is dangerously simplistic and shortsighted today.

Business schools need to endow their students with the knowledge and skills to create competitive advantage out of social responsibility. The future of our global economy depends on it.