Page 4 - Recognition Express 2024

Are catalogues a sustainable marketing tool?
Why Catalogues?
At Recognition Express, we are sometimes challenged about our use of catalogues. Concerns are raised about the environmental impact of a paper-based product and how it compares with purely digital media.
The phenomenal growth of digital media appears to make traditional ‘hard’ marketing materials dated and obsolete. It has also brought into question the environmental impact of the printing industry and many now challenge that the internet has a less damaging environmental impact.
We thought it would be useful to help you understand how catalogues are a sustainable resource and a valued part of the Recognition Express marketing mix.
The Drive for Sustainability
A sustainable environment is the primary concern of
the world today. Our current choices affect the way the earth, and our future generations, will survive - or not. In a nutshell, sustainability is fulfilling current needs without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their needs.
Everything we do on our planet creates an environmental footprint, no industry or activity can avoid it, just mitigate or reduce its effects.
Print and Sustainability
Print is a hugely important industry, despite the explosion of digital information. Print-based communication still plays an important part in our lives and is likely to do so for many decades.
Paper
Finland is the main European producer of paper. It is a huge, energy-hungry industry that has recently seen a major transformation. The industry basically chops down trees, or processes recycled paper, and turns it in to pulp from which paper is produced.
The basic components are water, heat, production energy and pulp, each of which affects the environment. Water consumption is now considerably reduced or recycled. Heat and energy are derived from renewable sources and the machinery is vastly more efficient. Pulp is harvested from vast, carefully managed forests and stringent auditing constantly improves sustainability.
The Printing Process
For centuries, print has been a principal driver for education, commerce and industry, without it the world would be very different. Up until the digital explosion, printed material was the primary source of information storage, access and sharing. The ‘digital age’ challenged the environmental sustainability of the print industry, forcing it to assess how it operated.
Inks that were almost always petroleum-based, have now been replaced with sustainably produced vegetable- based alternatives. Waste ink is collected, recycled and reprocessed. Volatile chemicals and processes have been largely eliminated.
Energy consumption has also been dramatically reduced with more efficient machinery and the installation of solar panels and heat pumps. In short, the print industry
has one of the lowest environmental footprints of any major industry.
In its simplest form, printing is the process of applying ink to paper or some other substrate. The three main elements are paper, ink and the production process.