Digital BW, The Print

Hi,
I'm thinking aloud here and if anyone has anything to add about how we can reduce the impact of our printing on the environment, I'd be interested in your ideas.

Jon Cone's recent posts have made me think again about how we can reduce the environmental footprint of our printing.

His comments about using carbon inks and a CIS made me think. But unfortunately my experiments with a CIS and MIS pigments on two printers have turned me off using non-OEM inks, due to incessant ink flow problems.

But what else can we do?

Inkjet printing has made the making of huge prints a popular option. But if we print smaller, we'll consume less and put less empty cartridges and packaging in the landfills - and consume less paper. Having recently attended a couple of exhibitions (one, Lee Miller's War, had prints no bigger than about 16x20" and the other had a lot of old masters like Atget etc - and most of them were about 8x10"), I was reminded how beautiful small can be - and that resolution - print quality - is the main consideration, rather than size.

If we consume less, we'll pollute less. Maybe something to consider.

What else can we do? Fortunately my personal photography is emphatically local in subject matter so that saves a certain amount of petrol. Often the best subject matter - that with which we have the most insite - is close at hand.

Red River have a Greenpix recylced paper and hopefully there will be more such papers. (I've not bought it myself so can't claim any moral high ground - I wish it was double-sided.)

Unfortunately, it won't be in the printer manufacturers' financial interests to sell bulk ink and refillable cartridges - I wonder what can be done to change this. I'm not optimistic now that this new court decision has happened.

Would it be better to opt for fibre-based rather than resin-coated papers? They would break down better if discarded. I don't know about the manufacturing ramifications environmentally.

Would it be better to buy a bigger printer so that you buy fewer, larger, cartridges? Maybe better construction would also add to longevity of the printer?

I'm not preaching here - just raising the issue because it's been on my mind and would be interested in anyone's ideas.

thanks,
Richard
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