Printing local

The answer to any question about environmental impact is usually ‘it depends’. I was reminded of this at the Independent Publishers Guild annual conference in Brighton last weekend. During a discussion session touching on the environmental impact of publishing, one of the delegates remarked that they were doing all their printing locally as a green measure to reduce impacts. 

Is it green to print locally? It depends. The key issue is where the paper comes from. The weight of finished goods will always be a bit lower than the weight of the paper used for the manufacture. If the paper is sourced from the Far East, for instance, the carbon footprint could thus be higher if the book was printed locally in the UK rather than in the Far East. Other things being equal, the emissions from shipping finished books will be lower than the emissions from shipping the paper needed for printing the same distance, using the same method of transport. (Paper and pulp almost always move by sea; if the books are air freighted, that would of course change the calculation radically.) 

Of course, other things never are equal, and besides the essential price comparisons, there are usually other benefits to keeping business local apart from carbon emissions. However, it does neatly illustrate how important it is to think about the environmental impact of the overall production process, and not just of any one step.