Marla Rabamad
Professor Christina Cogdell
Design 40A
13 March 2013
Raw Materials of Newspaper Manufacturing
Newspapers have been a genuinely productive way of accessing the news locally and around the world for centuries. In our current technologically advanced era, we are now in a society where finding news is easy to get in a matter of seconds. However, it is also in this current era where chemicals and toxins affect us more than ever before. So due to this sustainability crisis in the world today, my goal for this research paper is to find out just how sustainable newspapers really are. I will explore the material used, including what paper and ink are typically used. I will also find out how long newspapers have or have not been really sustainable. Additionally, I will address the fact that since we have now reached a new age in technology, are newspapers really needed as much as before? Wouldn’t it be cost effective to save paper and ink and read it online? Because a majority of the newspaper’s raw materials consist of paper and ink and due to the large amount of carbon footprint in the world today, it would certainly be more efficient to reduce the number manufactured in order to achieve a more sustainable society.
The following lifecycle of newspapers consists of the eight consecutive parts of production: forest, transportation, manufacturing, printing, distribution, user, recycle, and recycled fibers. The first part of the newspaper lifecycle is where the newspapers come from, which is from the forest. They are mostly extracted from Swedish spruce trees. Afterwards, the newspaper wood is set up for transportation. The fibers of the wood are assembled into mechanical pulp, which is produced when the fibers are automatically separated in order to include all the elements of the wood. Lignin, a main element of mechanical fibers, fades under the activity of light. This occurrence is also generally seen in the yellowing of newspapers ("A Life Cycle Assessment of the Production of a Daily Newspaper and a Weekly Magazine.").
Additionally, the next step of the life cycle process is the manufacturing. In order to prepare for printing, the most important essential components that need to be prepared are the mechanical pulp and recycled fibers. The next step would then be to print the paper. The offset technique is the method used in order to print newspapers. Through this technique, the printing plates and cylinders are produced in the preliminary stages. The publications would then be processed for allocation in a post preparation stage ("A Life Cycle Assessment of the Production of a Daily Newspaper and a Weekly Magazine.").
After that, the distribution stage takes place. In this stage the publications are transferred to either marketing channels, retail outlets, or to households. Afterwards, the next step is for the user to read the printed products. Then, the recycled collection or landfill step would take place. In this step, family members would either collect the abandoned publications or send them to a recycled container or a landfill. Finally, the very last step to the newspaper life cycle process is the recycled fibers step. In this final stage, the recycled fibers would be considered the most essential of all raw materials for paper. These fibers are created by continuously breaking up the waste paper. Additionally, the ink used in abandoned newspapers would then be abolished from de-inking. ("A Life Cycle Assessment of the Production of a Daily Newspaper and a Weekly Magazine.").
The general lifecycle of a newspaper is comprised of many steps in order to ensure that the newspaper is manufactured efficiently. The main raw materials that are involved in this production are mechanical pulp (also known as wood pulp) and fibers ("Newspapers: Getting Started."). On the other hand, the ink that is used in newspapers is soy-based and water-based. This is the most eco-friendly kind of ink to use since it emits much fewer traces of volatile organic compounds. Volatile organic compounds are a main cause of air pollution due to the typical inks that are most frequently used. These particular compounds lead to the development of ozone in the atmosphere, a constituent of smog. Fortunately, the ink in newspapers had switched from the toxic, hazardous ink to the eco-friendly soy-based/water-based ink during the late 1980s ("Newspapers and the Environment: A Good Story to Tell.").
However, the newspaper wasn’t always as affordable as they are now. When it came to materials, cost was an issue. During the 18th century, the paper was usually constructed from textile fabrics such as cotton and linen. It wouldn’t be until the invention of wood pulp paper that newspapers would be affordable for the public. The paper made from wood pulp would be would be a cheap and low-quality version. This is due to industrialization and new global markets in mainly raw materials that would help increase the production rate that would make newspapers affordable. Another reason why newspapers became affordable was due to alterations of print technology. At first, print was used manually by hand with metal letters. These letters would then be inked and then the paper would be pressed on one single sheet at a time. It also became much more effective to send stuff at faraway places, thanks to railroads, steamships, and the telegraph. Photos were also made available to transfer over wires from photographic advancements in the late part of the 19th century ("Newspapers: Getting Started.").
Another factor of newspapers is that they have a short lifespan ("A Life Cycle Assessment of the Production of a Daily Newspaper and a Weekly Magazine."). Additionally, the average newspaper can be recycled up to seven times. The material is not stable enough to last that long. This is because the de-inking method eventually fades out the material, so therefore there is a cap on the number of times newspapers can be recycled (“Newspapers and the Environment: A Good Story to Tell.”).
Although, newspapers can be reused as other products such as cellulose, insulation materials, , grocery bags, cereal boxes, and egg cartons. In this case, newspapers are more eco-friendly when they are manufactured into something else after they are used rather than transporting them to mills in order to be recycled (“Newspapers and the Environment: A Good Story to Tell.”).
Also, the supply of newsprint has lowered in number and the demand is high for newspapers. Many recycled newsprint mills have shut down and others have changed over to a higher quality form of paper. The manufacturers additionally have a difficult time acquiring high quality fiber because the fiber demand is also high from export markets (“Newspapers and the Environment: A Good Story to Tell.”).
Furthermore, the cost of newspapers varies, but it is generally very cheap to produce. However, the machinery on the other hand for printing the newspapers costs roughly up to $40 million. This machinery also takes up a lot of space that can take up multiple floors. These machines additionally print up around 70,000 newspapers an hour ("What Is Involved in the Newspaper Printing Process?") Also, millions of newspapers are printed annually, which increases the cost. The newspaper’s revenues have also decreased 48 percent since 2006 (Edmonds, Guskin, and Rosentiel). Unfortunately, this indicates the newspaper’s popularity is decreasing.
Overall, newspapers are a fundamentally historic part of our society. What makes the newspaper so special compared to the Internet are that there are no distractions and you don't have to read through a screen (Michael). It is the same for preferring to read an actual book rather than a story on a kindle. However, since finding information on the Internet has never been easier, there is an extreme possibility that newspapers will become obsolete in the future (Reyes). If this does indeed happen, we wouldn’t waste as much paper and ink, but the downside is that newspapers would be a figment of the past. The raw materials of newspapers are not stable enough to recycle continuously, so if in the future newspapers become obsolete, it will be better for the environment.
Works Cited
"A Life Cycle Assessment of the Production of a Daily Newspaper and a Weekly Magazine." (1998): 1-64. Print. This source is an academic journal that gives the life cycle of newspapers in detail. I was able to get a thorough background on the entire process of how newspapers are manufactured compared to other sources I have researched. This journal includes from the time when newspapers are still in the forest and to when they get upcycled.
Edmonds, Rick, Emily Guskin, and Tom Rosenstiel. "Newspapers: By the Numbers." The State of the News Media. N.p., n.d. Web. 12 Mar. 2013. This source showed statistics of newspapers. And compared them throughout the years.
Michael, Bill. "Newspapers: Sustainable Business Model or Yesterday’s News?" Xerox. N.p., 6 Feb. 2013. Web. 12 Mar. 2013. This source provided a knowledgeable explanation on how newspapers are efficient and how they provide a unique experience for the reader.
"Newspapers: Getting Started." World History Sources. N.p., n.d. Web. 3 Mar. 2013 This source gives a well-rounded history of newspapers and also a brief description of how they were developed. From this source I am able to understand more notably about newspapers.
"Newspapers and the Environment: A Good Story to Tell." Newspaper Association of America. N.p., 2013. Web. 3 Mar. 2013. This source is from a government funded program that discusses in detail how sustainable newspapers are and the history of the types of inks used, etc.
Reyes, Robert Paul. "The Internet Is Making Newspapers Obsolete." The SOP. N.p., 14 Mar. 2011. Web. 12 Mar. 2013. This source discusses how newspapers will someday become obsolete.
"What Is Involved in the Newspaper Printing Process?" WiseGEEK. N.p., n.d. Web. 12 Mar. 2013 This source talks about how the printing process works.
Elaine Palacios
DES40A: Newspaper Production
Prof. Christina Cogdell
March 12, 2013
Newspapers and Their Energy Needs - Embodied Energy
When buying products, consumers have the tendency to not know the energy that is required to make all the things they need. What most consumers know is what they need and by when they need it. One product that often gets overlooked is the traditional newspaper. One can assume that a typical consumer of a newspaper is a person that is in search for local or international news and desires a central location where this can be found. In addition to providing information, newspapers also provide a simple form of entertainment. Like many things in this world, energy is a key component in creating a newspaper. As a result of rising concerns for the safety of our environment, the concept of the Life Cycle Assessment was created. Based on the United States Environmental Protection Agency website[1], Life Cycle Assessment (also known as LCA), is “a technique to assess the environmental aspects and potential impacts associated with a product, process, or service, by compiling an inventory of relevant energy and material inputs and environmental releases, evaluating the potential environmental impacts associated with identified inputs and releases, and interpreting the results to help make more informed decisions”. In summation, this paper will look at the Life Cycle Assessment of newspaper for a clear depiction of the process of creating newspaper and further inform on how much energy is used in the various steps of creating a newspaper.
Based on a study done in Zurich, Switzerland in 1998 named “A Life Cycle Assessment of the production of a daily newspaper and a weekly magazine”[2], the life cycle of a newspaper consists of eight stages. The first stage is acquiring wood from a forest. “Wood is the most important raw material for printed products…”. The second stage is the fresh fiber production, which is when wood is processed into mechanical pulp and chemical pulp. Mechanical pulp is “produced when wood fibers are mechanically separated and thus contains all the constituents of wood”. Chemical pulp “consists mainly of cellulose”. The third stage if the process if paper production and this consists of producing paper appropriate for printing. Next stage is printing. “Newspapers are printed by the offset technique…the printing plates and cylinders are manufactured in the preliminary stages”. Next is distribution, which can be done with different forms of transportation. In addition, to transporting to newspaper sellers, newspapers are also distributed to household. After distribution then comes the reader and then disposal of the newspaper. Today, newspaper disposal consists of two options, waste bin, which ultimately means disposing the newspaper in a landfill or recycle. If the newspaper is recycled, the last stage is the process of creating recycled fibers. According to this study, “recycled fibers are now one of the most important raw materials for paper”. Furthermore, a deinking process discards the ink used. In summation, the case study concluded that in the newsprint papers examined “40 and 52 percent of the [environmental] impact comes from the fiber input. The great majority of the remaining impacts (ca. 40 percent) are due to the energy consumption”. Energy is a key player in the life cycle assessment of newspaper production. This is due to the “CO2 emissions from fossil fuels that affect the climate and other emissions affecting various sectors of the environment”. Furthermore, optimizations are being attempted by having various forms of energy (some examples can be steam, nuclear, hydroelectric power, etc). Even though companies have some desire to lower their energy consumption or find alternatives, the reality of the situation is that companies and private individuals do not have a free choice of energy supplier.
When looking for information about the energy consumption from forest to paper mill and then to printers. No information was found in a general sense, all was very specific to company policies and goals. As a result, this information cannot be provided, but some assumptions can be made. One of these is that depending if the paper used for the production is recycled or not, no energy can be used if the product is recycled, unless the waste is transported from facility to facility for conversion from waste to fiber for the creation of new paper. If the paper is not recycled, then energy is used for the transportation from forest to mill. Furthermore, the distance from forest to mill is dependent on location of a paper company, which results the task of finding energy consumption in this matter very hard to specify.
As mentioned before, fiber is a very important aspect of newspaper process. According to the Environmental Paper Network[3], fibers from virgin forest make up approximately two-thirds of the pulp that goes into the papers made in North America, but these percentages shifts based on type of paper. Overall, one can determine that using recycled fiber is better for the environment, when compared to virgin fiber. Some of these reasons are that recycled fibers reduce the demand on forests, use less energy, use less bleach, produces less toxic releases, saves water, reduced was in landfills and or incinerated, and has a higher rate for efficiency (more than 70 percent). Environmental Paper Network further informs that when comparing 100 percent virgin forest fiber paper to 100 percent postconsumer recycled paper in one ton of use, 100 percent postconsumer paper has great advantages. One is that 100 percent postconsumer paper used 0 tons of wood, where 100 percent virgin uses 3 tons. This depicts that when it comes to energy consumption in transportation, 100 percent post consumption paper is better because it does not need to transport wood for processing. Furthermore, when looking at energy for producing paper, 100 percent postconsumer paper uses 22 million BTUs and 100 percent virgin fiber paper consumes 38 million BTUs, that is a 17 million BTU savings. In summary, the creation of paper for newspapers does consume a considerable amount of energy, but this can be enhanced to a better way of consuming energy by using recycled fiber paper.
When looking at the whole process of creating a newspaper, based on the case study titled, “A Life Cycle Assessment of the production of a daily newspaper and a weekly magazine”[4], the “processing of the fibers to make paper for newspapers is in third place in terms of environmental impact” and the reason is because of “all the additional energy-intensive processing steps involved in providing the paper with a smooth printing surface”. This stage basically consists of “mechanical pulp, chemical pulp and recycled fibers as well as filling materials and pigments”. Furthermore, based on research project hosted at Stanford University, researchers were investigating the energy use of print versus electronic media[5]. A lot of interesting information was found, one was significant was that “ as of 2006, the pulp and paper industry in the US used 2361 trillion BTU of energy in all to produce 99.5 million tons of pulp and paper products”. Furthermore, the energy required for commercial purposes was averaged to 4.2 kJ per printer, 8.5 kJ/Sheet. In summation, the total approximate energy required for producing a sheet of paper printed on both sides with text is 146.6 kJ.
Technology has changed in many ways the world. One way is the way newspapers are printed efficiently. No reliable sources were found, but one can assume that like any other form of technology currently found, as time progresses, it becomes more efficient and less and less energy is used in the printing process. Furthermore, as more and more people shift their attention to other sources of information (for example, internet, radio, televisions, etc), the newspaper business is declining, which ultimately means the energy consumption is declining with it.
The next stage of the newspaper process is distribution of newspapers to consumers. Based on an article found in The New York Times in the Environmental section[6], the hotel chain Marriott researched and informed that newspapers represent emissions of a half-pound of carbon dioxide, as a result of their announcement of no longer automatically delivering newspapers to their guests. The articles continues by informing that by this new policy, there should be a reduction of newspaper distribution of about 50,000 newspapers everyday or roughly 18 million newspapers every year, which equals to 10,350 tons each year.
Another aspect of the newspaper process is user. Even though the user is a very important part of the newspaper process, it is not possible to quantify a user in an energy aspect. Overall, this means that when looking at energy in the newspaper process, the user aspect cannot be used.
After the consumer is done using a newspaper, there are two options for the newspaper, it is either recycled or thrown into a landfill. When looking at energy in the transportation of trash to a landfill, it is very hard to quantify because there are many variables. Some of these variables are:
-Location of trash
-Location of landfill
-Form of transportation and efficiency of the form of transportation.
As a result of so many variables, a reliable amount of energy consumed to dispose of a newspaper in a landfill cannot be given. On the other hand, when looking at how much energy is needed to recycle paper, based on an article from National Geographic titled “How Much Energy Does Recycling Save?”[7], they inform that the EPA estimates that producing a recycled paper product require only 60 percent of the energy required in creating one from virgin wood pulp. In addition, the Energy Administration Information reports that recycling a ton of paper can save 17 trees.
Overall, this paper was an interesting adventure in regards to finding information. As a result of the newspaper businesses being in decline and a dying form, current data is hard to find. Furthermore, because LCA is a recent development in trying to inform consumers about being responsible to be able to save the environment, and newspaper starting to not be a real problem because a great amount of consumers are shifting to technology to get their information. But the information I did find was incredible interesting and does put things in perspective for me, because I still do read a newspaper, once in a while.
Bibliography:
"Energy Use of Print vs. Electronic Media." Energy Use of Print vs. Electronic Media. N.p., n.d. Web. 13 Mar. 2013.
Hodgson, F.W. Modern Newspaper Editing and Production. London: British Library, 1987. Print.
"How Much Energy Does Recycling Save? | National Geographic." Green Living on National Geographic. N.p., n.d. Web. 13 Mar. 2013.
"Life Cycle Analysis of the Newspaper Le Monde - Springer." Life Cycle Analysis of the Newspaper Le Monde - Springer. N.p., 01 May 1998. Web. 13 Mar. 2013.
"Life Cycle Assessment (LCA)." EPA. Environmental Protection Agency, n.d. Web. 13 Mar. 2013.
"A Life Cycle Assessment of the Production of a Daily Newspaper and a Weekly Magazine." N.p., n.d. Web.
"The Life Cycle of a Product." The Life Cycle of a Product. N.p., n.d. Web. 13 Mar. 2013.
"UNDERSTANDING RECYCLED FIBER." N.p., n.d. Web.
1 http://www.epa.gov/nrmrl/std/lca/lca.html
2 http://sustainability.axelspringer.com/fileadmin/media/nb/top-seiten/studies_and_reports/LifeCircle_NewspaperMagazine_lca_studie_e.pdf
3 http://www.greenpressinitiative.org/documents/recycledfiberfactsheet-EPN.pdf
4 http://sustainability.axelspringer.com/fileadmin/media/nb/top-seiten/studies_and_reports/LifeCircle_NewspaperMagazine_lca_studie_e.pdf
5 http://large.stanford.edu/courses/2010/ph240/pydipati1/
6 http://green.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/04/14/eliminate-newspapers-save-the-planet/
7 http://greenliving.nationalgeographic.com/much-energy-recycling-save-2363.html
Joseph Rivera
Christina Cogdell
Design 40a
13 March 2013
Word Count: 2273
Newspaper Production - Waste and Emissions
Everyday, millions of people around the world read a newspaper to find out what is going on around the globe. 24 billion newspapers are published each year around the world. A small amount of these readers actually know what it takes to make a newspaper. Such as the raw materials and embodied energy that goes into the newspaper production, and the waste and emissions that comes out. Now it’s time to explore and investigate the waste and emissions that come from newspaper production. Newspaper industries may produce lots of waste and emissions but, they have taken many different steps to help decrease these problems so that they could be more sustainable for the environment.
The first known newspaper appeared in Europe during the mid 17th century. It evolved from a broadsheet which is a long vertical piece of paper. Now in today’s society, not much has changed since the 1700’s. The only discrepancy is the content in the newspaper. For example, after the Battle of Gettysburg, there was not much information about the fight because there was no coverage available in a timely manner. Therefore, technology has contributed to the modern newspaper that is used today. The main material used in newspaper is wood pulp which comes from softwood trees. Before, newspapers were made from textile fabrics such as cotton and linens. Newspapers are cheap and are in low quality so that everybody can afford them. Industrialization and new global markets have contributed to the mass production and low cost of newspapers.
Print technology advancements have also contributed to newspaper production. When newspaper production first started off, companies used metal letters that were placed manually inside special grids. Then ink was pressed on one sheet of paper at a time. Due to technological advancements, there is now a reduced effort and an increased rate at which words are printed on. In the 19th and 20th century, newspapers were able to be sent long distances at a cheap and accessible rate. For example, reporters were able to use railroads and steamships to different places so that they could report on interesting stories, telegraphs were used to allow travelers to report back to newspapers on a daily basis, and in the mid 19th century photographic technology had improved.
Newspapers have a huge environmental impact when it comes to paper consumption, recycled content, source paper responsibility, and employing cleaner paper practices. Little do people know is that paper accounts for 25% of landfill wastes. Therefore, the paper industry is the 4th largest contributor to greenhouse gases in the United States. Therefore, if we were to make newspapers with 100% recycled paper, the we would use 44% less energy, produce 38% less greenhouse gases, use 41% less particulate emissions, 50% less waste water, 49% less solid waste, and most importantly 100% less wood. If one ton of newspaper waste were to take up a landfill, it would cover about 100 cubic feet and use of 18 trees. If that were to be recycled, it would save 18 trees and use 60% less energy to be reproduced into other newspaper. Although the paper industry is investing in new recycled newsprint plants, almost none of the new printing and writing paper mills use recycled content.
The life cycle of newspaper has four different sections. They are Materials Production, Printing, Distribution, and Disposal. The first step in the life cycle is materials production. Both ink and paper need to be produced. Newsprint that is used today comes from a combination of wood pulp and recycled fibers. After the constituent materials have been produced, they are then combined in the printing process to form newspaper as a final product. Newspapers are printed through a process called offset printing. Offset printing is a widely used printing technique where the inked image is transferred from a plate to a rubber blanket, then to a surface.
Distribution of newspapers is another device used in its life cycle. Newspapers are manufactured at a facility, it is necessary to ship them to distribution locations for the consumer. Tractor trailers and other large vehicles are used to transport newspapers. After newspapers have been read, they lose value. Therefore, disposal methods are then employed. These include both recycling and incinerating. About 50 percent of newspapers in the United States are recycled while the half is either burnt to provide electricity or taken to landfills. Wood pulp and soy beans are both biodegradable, so there is not much harm done to the environment.
When it comes to production of newspaper, there are four devices that are used to produce newspapers. The first one is a press which is a device that is used for evenly printing ink onto paper. It applies pressure to the ink surface of a moveable type, which then transfers the ink. The next advice is a typesetter which is used to store font’s that were designed by someone. The next device is an image scanner which is used to scan images, print text, or takes handwriting and converts it into a digital image. The last and final device used is a photographic engraving machine which is used to incise a design onto usually a flat surface by cutting grooves into it.
Furthermore, all these devices work together to produce three major types of waste streams in the printing industry. The first waste stream is solid wastes which are a predominantly household waste from human activity such as discarded newspaper that is collected and then transferred for the use of raw materials in manufacturing activities. In the general printing environment solid wastes can consist of empty containers, used film packages, damaged plates, developed film, test production, bad printing, damaged products, and scrap paper. Next there is waste water which is any water that has been adversely affected by an anthropogenic influence. Printing operations and can consist of lubricating oils, waste ink, cleanup solvents, photographic chemicals, acids, alkalis, plate coatings, iron, chromium, copper, and barium. Finally there are hazardous wastes which are wastes that pose a substantial threat to human health. For example etch baths that are used for making printing plates contains hydrochloric acid, nitric acid and heavy metals. Solutions that are used in the plate making film process contain silver, lead, chromium, cadmium, toluene, chloroform, and methylene chloride. Then there are printing inks that contain several amounts of toxic metals such as chromium, lead, and cadmium, as well as hydrocarbon solvents, plasticizers, barium based pigments, and acrylic copolymers. Last but not least there are cleanup washes that contain alcohol, benzene, toluene, xylene, methyl ethyl ketone, perchloroethlene, carbon tetrachloride, and kerosene.
Waste occurs in print factories for several different reasons. One significant cause is by the emission level. Newspaper publication returns more newspaper prints that will be sold to customers. 20% of newspapers are printed, distributed, and then are taken to recycling or landfills without even being read. The second cause of waste is because of the mechanical setup process. It requires a huge amount of test printing before the production can market. Paper is the dominant component of overall greenhouse gas emissions in newspaper production. According to the Climate Group and GeSI, they have identified that greenhouse gas savings for paper produce around 70 million metric tons of CO2 per year.
Newspaper production admits atmospheric emissions from the whole product systems. At the highest end of the spectrum, a household who gets the newspaper 7 days a week which is sent to the landfill, it could produce up to a ton of CO2 in the atmosphere. On the lower end, a household who receives a slim weekly newspaper and recycles almost regularly will only contribute a few kilos of CO2 into the atmosphere. Printing can produce volatile organic compound emissions from the use of solvents and inks as well as alcohol. Bigger printing plants can emit NO and SO2 emissions. Raw materials and manufacturing contribute to greenhouse gas emissions. The transportation energy of raw materials and the intermediate products to the final manufacturing includes CO2.
In contrast, paper products that are recycled, results in tree left standing that would’ve otherwise been left standing. In other words, this results in a larger amount of carbon remaining sequestered. This results in negative emissions because the standing trees store carbon, where newspaper production usually releases carbon. According to the US Forrest Service staff, they generated output models of estimated recovery of one metric ton of paper. The results showed that in incremental forests, carbon sequestration of 0.81 metric tons of carbon equivalent.
Therefore, if newspaper industries were to recycle, it would result in negative emissions to the atmosphere. Garbage in landfills is one of the major contributors to global warming. Solids wastes are the biggest man made source of methane gas in the United States. Methane is one of the most power fullest greenhouse gases because it is 23 times more effective at trapping heat in the atmosphere than other greenhouse gasses like CO2. Every time you throw away a newspaper in the garbage, you are helping contribute to global warming.
One problem that I had researching is the use of rubber bands on newspapers. Rubber bands play a huge role in newspaper production because; each newspaper is equipped with one. I couldn’t find any books or articles on the production of rubber bands. This was the only failure I came across during this investigation. It would be helpful to know whether or not rubber bands can be recycled and if so, what are they recycled into. Also it would be helpful to know how many rubber bands are left laying in landfills each year and if they contribute to greenhouse gasses. Therefore, I would like to assume that rubber bands from newspaper do indeed add to greenhouse gases from the concentrated latex that goes into it. Furthermore, even though we don’t know much about the rubber bands that are used in newspaper production, we can assume that they do in fact add to the overall emissions of greenhouse gases.
Newspaper industries have come up with several different sustainable solutions to solve their waste and emissions problem. One solution to this problem is to change the design choices of newspaper. By changing layouts that use the most efficient image size to the paper size will reduce paper waste when it comes to cutting and binding. Also what will help will be decreasing the amount of ink from layouts and by using recycled paper. The next solution is to recycle because it plays an important role in printers waste. Some of the materials that can be recycled are paper, solvents, ink, containers, plates, and pallets. Towels that are used to wipe ink can be sent to an industrial laundry service rather than being thrown away. Contaminated wipes can sometimes be hazardous waste and can be a big problem. VOC emissions are also associated with press cleaning operations. Recycling solvents can be recycled from all newspaper industries. The solvents that are collected from the newspaper plants can be recovered and recycled on site or sent to a professional recycler. Another solution to this problem is by doing mechanical modifications to existing printers so that the equipment can prevent against pollution and waste. By modifying the equipment to automatic registration, ink viscosity measuring systems, revised ink pans, revised ink pumping systems, can help reduce wastes.
Furthermore, newspaper industries aren’t the only people taking steps to become more sustainable. The general public is helping newspaper companies reduce waste and emissions. One way they are doing this is by reading their news on the internet. By doing this, it saves paper and doesn’t need to be transported. Another way the public is helping out is by limiting the amount of newspapers they receive each week. By only receiving the newspaper a couple days a week rather than all seven days can make a huge difference every year. The last step that people are using to become more sustainable is sharing newspaper. If you and a friend read the same newspaper every morning before work, then why not just buy one and let the other friend use it when you’re done. That way you can save paper, and still read your daily newspaper except this way you are just saving less paper.
In conclusion, the newspaper industry produces lots of waste and emissions each year that are very harmful to the environment because of the devices they use. Newspapers have been around a long time so by educating the companies and the general public, we will be able to reduce these waste and emissions such as better recycling habits, mechanical modifications, reading digital newspapers, and much more. Therefore, by reading this paper, hopefully I was able to give some ideas to companies and people on how to better help the environment. SO next time you read a newspaper, remember all the work that goes into making it. Don’t forget to throw it in the recycle, not the garbage.
Bibliography
Dhir, Ravindra K. Sustainable Waste Management. Heron Quay, London: Thomas Telford, 2003. Print.
Maxwell, Richard. Greening the Media. New York: Oxford UP, 2012. Print.
Pferdehirt, Wayne P. Roll the Presses But Hold the Wastes. New York: Executive Enterprises Publications, 1993. Print.
Shapley, Dan. "15 Facts About the Paper Industry, Global Warming and the Environment."The Daily Green. The Daily Green, 10 Feb. 2007. Web. 13 Mar. 2013.
Murphy, JD. "Editorial Board/Aims and Scope." Waste Management 27.12 (2007): 177-92.Elsevier. 2 Mar. 2006. Web. 12 Mar. 2013.
Campbell, M.E. and W.M. Glenn. 1982. "Printing" in Profit from Pollution Prevention: A guide to Industrial Waste Reduction and Recycling. p. 201-217.
Circulation Performance Standards. Newspaper Association of America. 2007. http://www.naa.org/Resources/Products/2007-Circulation-Facts-Figures-Logic.aspx