We are back today with a new tip on our weekly series of green printing tips, where we bring you information on green printing in collaboration with Greg Barber, an experienced eco-friendly printer.Today Greg is talking about one of the most important issues when it comes to green printing - how you can actually save money by adopting eco-friendly practices.
Saving money on eco-friendly printing
Tip #46
I encourage my clients to analyze three items before deciding which way to proceed on their next environmental print project. I say environmental print job, as most of my clients want 100% post-consumer waste paper, processed 100% chlorine free, or at least 30% PCW paper. Here are the three questions.
Firstly: Is the project a digital or offset print job, by quantity?
My rule of thumb, is to see if your printing can fit on 500 sheets of 13 x 20 paper. If it can, you are probably going to save money on 4 color print jobs printing digitally.
You can fit (9) 4.25 x 6 postcards on a 13 x 20 sheet size and yield 4500 postcards.
You can fit 1000 8.5 x 11 fliers on 500 sheets of 13 x 20 and you get 10,000 business cards, at (20) up on 13 x 20.
Secondly: Can you use a white sheet that is approximately the brightness of a typical xerox paper (90) brightness, or do you need 96 brightness, like a typical laser paper?
If the whiteness or brightness is not crucial, you may save 30% on your final print bill. We offer 89 brightness at $1.00 per pound less than our 96 brightness. If you needed 500 pounds of paper, that is a paper savings of $500 plus the printers mark up.
Thirdly: Let the printer advise you if a slight size change can save you significant money.
The best example of this is postcards. If you want 5 x 7 postcards, you will get (4) cards per 13 x 20 paper size. If you switch to the normal postcard size of 4.25 x 6, your yield is (9) postcards per sheet. More than double the cards if you changed to the smaller size. That might save you 50% on the printing.
For additional information, please visit www.gregbarberco.com and www.ecofriendlyprinter.com. You're also invited to contact Greg via email at greg@gregbarberco.com
You can find links to all the tips at http://www.ecolibris.net/greentips.asp
Yours,
Raz @ Eco-Libris
