Educational Material

Dedicated Waterless Printers Conserve Valuable Water Resources

Since the United Nations declared 2003 the International Year of Fresh Water, and in honor of April’s Earth Day, it seems appropriate to devote this issue of Currents to a reaffirmation of the environmental strengths of the waterless printing process.

First, a few salient and sobering facts about water:

• Our renewable water supply is constant.  There is no more fresh water on Earth than there was 2,000 years ago, when the population was 3% of its current size.

• During the past century, the world population has tripled, while water use has increased six-fold.

• The world’s six billion inhabitants are already appropriating 54% of all accessible fresh water contained in rivers, lakes and underground aquifers.  By 2025, humankind’s share will be 70%, based on population growth.  If per capita consumption of water resources continues to rise at its current rate, man could be using over 90% of all available fresh water within 25 years, leaving just 10% for all other living beings.1

• If current trends persist, by 2025 two-thirds of the world’s population will be living with serious water shortages or almost no water at all.

• More than 70% of the human body consists of water.  It takes less than a 1% deficiency in our body’s water to make us thirsty.  A 5% deficit causes a slight fever.  An 8% shortage causes the glands to stop producing saliva and the skin to turn blue.  A person cannot walk with a 10% deficiency, and a 12% deficiency brings death.

• While it varies by region, industry accounts for 23% of all water withdrawn for human use globally.

• The United States is one of the most prodigious consumers of water.  When total water consumption is divided by the population, each person on average uses 150 gallons (567 liters) a day, compared to 50 gallons (189 liters) for Europeans and just 7-1/2 gallons (28 liters) for Africans.

From time to time over the years we have published statistics on water conservation attributable to waterless printing.  Now, thanks to Australian member Norm Fizell of J. L. Lennard Pty Ltd., we have a new account of water consumption on a variety of presses.  Norm’s research, although Australian-based, should hold true for most of our printer members.

	Annual Water Usage Per Shift
	Press Size & Colours Litres Gallons 28" / 61cm 5-6 colours 10,000 - 12,000 2,646 - 3,175 40" / 102cm 5-6 colours 12,000 - 14,000 3,175 - 3,704 8-unit heat-set web (metre-wide) 90,000 - 100,000 23,810 - 26,455 4-unit heat-set  web (2 metre wide) 130,000 - 150,000 34,392 - 39,683

So according to these figures, a mid-size printer with two 40" presses and one 28" press running three shifts, printing conventionally, would use about 102,000 - 120,000 litres of water per year, or 27,000 - 32,000 gallons.  Though it may not sound like much now, who’s to say how vital an extra 75 or 85 gallons of water a day will be in another few years.  Consider this:  it has been widely predicted that within the next two decades, nations will go to war over water supplies.

The Air We Breathe

The list of environmental contaminants used in printing reads like a chemistry lab.  Researchers estimate that in the United States alone, the printing industry releases more than 41 million pounds of toxic compounds into the environment each year.  The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency reports that the printing industry releases 99% of its total toxic release inventory (TRI) poundage to the air, with the remaining 1% split between land and water.  Other TRI industries average 60% release to air, 30% to land and 10% to water.

The solvent toluene comprises roughly 70% of the total chemicals released and transferred by the printing industry.  Toluene is primarily used in gravure printing, but it is also found in cleaning solutions.

According to American International Group, each year over two billion pounds of ink, mostly petroleum-based, are used by the United States printing industry.  In addition to ink components, the majority of toxic chemicals, mostly petroleum-based, are used in press cleaning and blanket washes, presenting serious environmental risks.  Petroleum-based cleaners contain more than 60% VOCs (volatile organic compounds), which contribute to the creation of smog, which damages the ozone layer and can cause respiratory distress.

The most common form of respiratory distress is asthma, which is growing at an alarming rate.  It is estimated that 17 million Americans suffer from asthma. Occurrences in children under the age of five in this country increased more than 160% between 1980 and 1994 and continue to skyrocket.  Just recently, it was discovered that one in four children in Central Harlem, a predominantly poor urban area at the north end of Manhattan in New York, is asthmatic.  According to the New York Times, that rate is double what experts had expected.

While we are unaware of any attribution of incidents of asthma to VOC releases, as Roy Williams of Seacourt Press expressed when alerting us of the astonishing 50% increase in the appearance of asthma in Britain over the last two years, how can we ignore the possibility?  Roy reported that currently one in seven children in Britain have asthma.  As a father of two children, he could not possibly condone printing conventionally when there is a perfectly reasonable alternative in waterless printing.  (Ed. Note:  May 6, 2003 is World Asthma Day)

Norm Fizell has years of experience within the print supplies industry and represents JL Lennards. His Company supplies both waterless and conventional printers and he reports that alcohol usage per year on sheetfed presses in Australia runs at about 90% water and 10% alcohol by volume, which he considers conservative.  He suggests that the actual usage is probably closer to 15 - 20%, due to the high evaporation rate of alcohol.

	Annual Sheetfed Alcohol Usage Per Shift
	Press Size & Colours Litres Gallons 28" / 61cm 5-6 colours 1,000 - 1,400 265 - 370 40" / 102cm 5-6 colours 1,200 - 1,600 320 - 425

Using our same example as earlier, a mid-size conventional printer with two 40" and one 28" press would use 10,200 - 13,800 litres of alcohol in a year operating three shifts, or 2,700 - 3,650 gallons.  It should be noted that dampening alcohol substitutes are widely used in the United States.

As our world’s governments bring pressure to bear on companies to clean up their environmental act, the value of waterless printing will continue to intensify.