Dan Godman, Kathleen Vincent-Lucas and Eleanor Nguyen

How are printers and publishers within the Australian publishing industry incorporating ink practices into their sustainability policies, and what else can be done to enhance these practices?

Keywords: Australian printing industry, ecofonts, Australian publishing industry, ecofonts, ISO 14001 certification, mineral-based inks, Sustainable Development Goals (SDG), sustainable practices, vegetable-based inks, volatile organic compounds (VOC)

Introduction

Historically, trade printing has used inks made with heavy metals and mineral-based oils. The use of these inks is ecologically problematic. They create noxious fumes during the drying process and are not renewable, and efforts to recycle these books requires the de-inking process to release these toxic substances as waste. Additionally, there are health concerns associated with inhalation of fumes while the ink is drying.

Innovations have shifted preferences toward vegetable-based inks. These inks, often made from soybean oil, are renewably sourced and significantly reduce the ecological and health impacts of printing.

Australia’s government sector and companies are interested in ecological impacts and improvements to environmental sustainability. In this document, we examine the role of sustainable ink practices in contributing to the overall environmental sustainability of the publishing sector.

For our purposes, the phrase ‘sustainable ink practices’ refers to a holistic view of the ecological considerations associated with ink usage, wherein the composition of the ink is only one consideration within a broader framework of practices. Examples of these practices include the reduction of ink wastage and overall resource consumption within book manufacturing and minimising the carbon footprint of ink storage and transportation.

Ink types

Mineral-based

Mineral-based inks are harmful to the environment. A 2002 research paper by Rothenberg et al. presents a historical call to action for the printing industry, citing almost 21 million pounds (9.5 million kilograms) of toxic chemicals released into the air by printing presses across the US in a single year. This total figure includes other chemical releases (such as cleaning solvents) and is not exclusively caused by mineral-based inks. The use of these inks in the Australian printing industry is uncommon due to their environmental impact and the availability of sustainable alternatives.

Vegetable-based

A more sustainable option is vegetable-based inks. Multiple studies demonstrate the viability of soy-based or other vegetable-based inks. These findings are bolstered with ongoing research that enhances these inks with new innovations to their compositions.

For example, Tobias Robert identified limitations in vegetable-based inks made with non-renewable resins, saying that ‘it would be of high interest to combine these esters with bio-based resins to obtain a formulation that is 100% based on renewable resources’. Later published findings proved that this was achievable using a new composition of entirely renewable ink with shorter setting times.

Ecological typography

In 2017, Zondervan Bibles (HarperCollins’ Christian publishing division) began making subtle adjustments to the layout of their bibles. Thinner margins and alternate fonts resulted in approximately 350 pages saved per bible. Since then, HarperCollins has expanded this approach to other imprints, claiming to have saved over 245 million pages as of April 2024.

Infographic 1: example of HarperCollins print typeface (Sergan 2024).

In recent years, some typeface designers have begun developing new fonts that are explicitly designed for their environmental impact. The Ecofont family by SPRANQ and Ryman Eco by Dan Rhatigan contain gaps within the letters. At sufficiently small sizes, wet ink bleeds and fills these gaps.

Recent studies by Gudelj et al. affirm that significant savings can be made in ink usage with negligible difference in readability. These findings are significant for companies because the reduction in resource consumption is ecologically and economically beneficial.

International Organization for Standardization and the ISO 14001 certification

The ISO 14001—Environmental management systems—certification was developed with expert opinion by the titular International Organization for Standardization, as a ‘voluntary, certifiable standard that specifies the requirements for an effective environmental management system’.

Camilleri’s research finds that the ISO 14001 can be employed by businesses of all sizes, industries and contexts. Through accreditation, businesses can gain a competitive advantage and increase their legitimacy and environmental credentials for stakeholders. He also states that a business can increase their reputation and trustworthiness by publicising their inclusion of—and the behaviours adopted to keep—these certificates.

One issue is the cost of getting certified. While these certifications may be designed to apply to businesses of any size, very small businesses may not be able to afford certification, despite potentially being highly sustainable.

Despite this limitation, it’s important to consider that the largest companies, such as the OPUS Group, will have a vastly greater environmental impact. These are companies in the position to purchase accreditations, and the certifications held by the OPUS Group show us that the majority of Australia’s printing is held to a standard of environmental sustainability.

Current guides and research

Much of the existing literature on ink composition is heavily jargoned. Publishers and printers who do not understand chemistry terminology may struggle to understand the research being done to aid their own industry’s sustainability. The accessibility these documents have for publishers, printers and anyone else within industry who is not an ink manufacturer is limited.

Publishers are interested in environmental sustainability. The United Nations Sustainable Development Goals Publishers Compact is sufficient evidence of this. There are also many industry-based documents that confirm this: for example, the Australian Publishers Association (APA) released their Greener Publishing Guide in 2022, which directly cites the longer and more comprehensive Book Chain Project Design Guide from the same year. These documents demonstrate the interest in environmental sustainability among publishers.

One example of a document that presents ink composition research in an accessible way is Carver and Guidry’s 2011 book, Rethinking Ink. It instructs publishers in sustainable book design and includes sections on selecting renewable inks, however fourteen years after its publication, it remains one of few books to do so.

We were unable to find any Australian chemists studying ink composition, and we were also unable to find Australian typographers specialising in eco-friendly fonts. BookPeople’s Sustainability Paper and the APA’s 2023 Australian Publishing Industry Sustainability Survey are the only Australian resources listed here that contain academic rigour.

Gap

Australia’s publishing industry is a substantial contributor to our national carbon footprint, and Australia’s ecology gives it unique concerns regarding climate change—yet these facts are not sufficiently reflected in the current literature concerning ink practices.

In an attempt to bridge this gap, we spoke with The Text Publishing Company, an Australian publisher, and with Printgraphics Printgreen, an Australian printer. We also conducted a survey of Australian publishers and printers. Additional data is also presented on sustainability certification and eco-friendly typefaces.

Case study: Text Publishing

Founded in 1990, Text Publishing is ‘a Melbourne-based publisher of literary and commercial fiction and non-fiction’. In 2022, they joined the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals Publishers Compact, opting to focus on the goals of ‘gender equality, responsible consumption and production, and climate action’.

When we contacted them, Text’s art director and design team manager, Imogen Stubbs, offered to complete a short questionnaire regarding Text’s environmental sustainability practices.

Stubbs’ responses provide a brief overview of the sustainability practices of an Australian publisher. They described, for example, utilising digital processes to reduce unnecessary printing in the office. Furthermore, Text’s FSC accredited books are printed in lower quantities to minimise excessive resource consumption.

Most of Text’s books are designed with similar templates. These templates are determined as a balance between readability and resource consumption. While Text’s design team have not specifically discussed eco-friendly fonts as an aspect of book design, Stubbs observes a general trend within the company to favour these fonts over ‘old school’ options.

When asked about business dealings with printers, Stubbs was quick to address the limited options within Australian printing. An example of this is Griffin Press, which is now a member of the OPUS Group which—following their 2022 acquisition of Ovato—now controls all printers for large scale book manufacturing in Australia.

Although smaller printing operations like Printgraphics Printgreen remain outside of OPUS, they are too small to produce large print runs, and so Text’s business decisions are governed by the near monopoly of OPUS. Stubbs could therefore only provide limited information on questions regarding printers, which became an important prompt for further inquiry.

Case study: Printgraphics Printgreen

Printgraphics Printgreen is a small Melbourne-based printing firm. Printgraphics began making deliberate efforts to be environmentally sustainable in all aspects in 2002, promoting themself as a 'truly green' printer'. Part of this effort included gaining ISO 9001 and ISO 14001 certifications. Our interview with company director Nigel Quirk, who has worked at Printgraphics since 2016, provided us with a substantial amount of qualitative data. Quirk stated that, while Printgraphics do not measure their carbon emissions, they do analyse their supply chain to reduce environmental issues before usage. They recycle paper and metal, both for environmental purposes and monetary returns, and utilise rainwater tanks in operating their machinery.

The inks used by Printgraphics are soy-based and imported from the international ink-production company Hubergroup. Hubergroup’s CMYK ink is used for much of their work. Quirk affirms that vegetable-based inks have improved in quality significantly over the past 20 years.

Along with these enhancements to product quality, Quirk further stated that public consciousness of environmental sustainability in printing has had a positive influence on their business: their ISO certifications and environmental policies have influenced clients’ willingness to work with them. However, there are limitations to these certifications: the cost of certification and issues stemming from multiple parties owning the plantation land are two examples of why a sustainable company may not be certified.

Quirk emphasised that what may not initially appear to be ecologically sustainable sometimes is, while that which does appear sustainable may not be. Moving content to digital platforms, for example, reduces paper consumption, but that paper (a carbon sink) may be more sustainably sourced than the energy being used. This becomes a case-by-case basis, requiring critical analysis of the details of each scenario.

Despite growing public awareness of environmental issues, there are now fewer innovations being made in sustainable printing. Much of Printgreen’s effort to improve sustainability therefore comes from continuous, incremental, internal decisions made while waiting for printing technology to improve.

Publishers and printers survey

To better understand standards of practice among Australian publishers and printers we conducted a qualitative survey. This reflects the approach made by the APA in their 2023 sustainability survey.

Two versions of our survey were distributed to Australian publishers and printers, with nine publishers and five printers responding. The questions focused on company environmental policies, whether environmentally sustainable ink was in consideration, awareness and use of eco-friendly fonts, cost barriers, public and industry awareness, and types of inks used. While the small sample size limits our ability to confidently extrapolate from our data, the surveys nonetheless offer a snapshot of the interaction between the two industries and a basis for future research.

Publisher survey results

Of the publishers surveyed, four considered themselves a traditional/trade publishing business, with the remaining five being independent. Table 1 shows the results of the question: ‘Does the company have an industry-tailored environmental sustainability policy?’

Of the seven who responded ‘no’, two indicated they had policies currently being drafted or in consideration.

Question 3 (Figure 4) inquired whether publishers had plans to include ink in their sustainability policy if they did not already. Four responded no, while two said yes and another three said that it was already included.

Questions 6 and 7 were also on policy, asking if companies actively seek out printers with better environmental sustainability policies and whether they avoid printers who do not have one. Four responded that they do actively seek out printers with better sustainability policies, with three avoiding conducting business with those without.

We also asked whether publishers were aware of ISO 14001 certification and if they deliberately seek out certified printers. Four are aware and do seek out, one is aware and does not seek out, and the remaining four publishers are not aware of the certificate.

We next asked the publishers about fonts and costs, asking publishers whether they consider how environmentally friendly a font is. Of the publishers who responded to our survey, 78% indicated they would consider using, or already use, ecofonts for their publications.

When it came to costs, we asked the publishers to indicate on a line, with -10 indicating lowered costs and 10 indicating higher costs, if they’d found sustainable inks changed production costs. As infographic 5 shows, most publishers found that, on average, costs were inflated due to sustainable ink, but only slightly.

We also asked publishers to expand on other costs affecting their ability to print sustainability. Two of the comments made mention of the availability of paper stock and how smaller businesses rely on large suppliers, limiting the ability of publishers to prioritise the sustainability policies of a printer.

Printer survey results

As with our publisher survey, the printer survey began by inquiring about environmental policy. Only one of the ‘no’ replies had no plans to develop one in the future. Both the printers who responded affirmatively recorded that their policies did include their ink usage. When asked about ISO 14001 certification, only one company responded they were certified, however two of the other four companies indicated plans to inquire into the certification in the future.

The survey moved on to discuss the types of inks in use, where we found all the printers who responded use eco-friendly/organic ink. (See Figure 3; Figure 4 below).

The final two questions were on recycling and publisher engagement. All the companies recycle their ink cartridges, except for one who listed their answer as not applicable. All companies responded that there has been an increase in publishers requesting environmentally sustainable products.

Findings

The cost of sustainable ink practice

As can be seen in the results of the printer survey, there is some discrepancy on the costs of ‘going green’. When compared to how well Printgraphics has utilised sustainable thinking to their benefit—incorporating rainwater into their production as one example—this discrepancy may be due to some businesses not giving sufficient thought to how sustainability could benefit them. This will require further studies—what works for Printgraphics will not work for every business.

The costs of certifications are also relevant to this discussion but counterbalanced by the increased revenue they may garner. Also related is a company’s intent to appear to be environmentally sustainable. As Free et al. indicates, the term ‘greenwashing’ is sometimes used to describe actions made with economic motivations but framed as being environmentally motivated.

Nonetheless, having economic and social incentives for sustainable ink practices does not negate the sustainability of those practices (provided that the actions themselves have not been exaggerated).

For example, our examination of ecofonts has shown that publishers can enhance their sustainability through carefully chosen typefaces. The experiences of HarperCollins affirm that books printed with thinner, smaller fonts will use less ink and paper, reducing overall resource consumption. This reduction in resource consumption is both economic and ecological. When surveyed, only one publisher reported that they consider the environmental impact of the fonts they used, but seven expressed interest in adopting ecofonts in the future.

We assert that there are direct benefits for the Australian publishing industry to have a deeper understanding of sustainable ink practices. As knowledge of sustainable practice increases, so too does knowledge of how those practices can be utilised to save money, giving incentive for their widespread adoption.

Australian industry potential

Undoubtedly, new methods of enhancing ink sustainability will emerge outside of the scope of this article. We eagerly anticipate these new studies, and hope for the adoption of their results within the industry, where applicable.

If more of this research were to occur in Australia, it would be beneficial on multiple levels. Firstly, it may assist in improving the awareness of inks within Australian publishing and among consumers. Secondly, there would be potential benefits to Australian printers and ink manufacturers—Australian ink researchers would do well to consider, for example, Australian grown soy or canola, or possibly even drought-tolerant Australian natives, as a base for vegetable-based oils. We would also be interested in future research into public opinion on sustainable ink practices, and how that might influence consumer behaviour.

Finally, we encourage wider discussion of ink and sustainable ink practices among Australian publishers. This goes beyond academic literature: increased understanding of these practices has the potential for tangible benefits across the publishing industry, both fiscally and ecologically. Ink is glaringly under-represented in the current discussion on sustainable publishing.