Digital Label Printing Creates Less Waste

One of the biggest advantages of digital label printing over traditional flexographic label printing is that less waste is created during a print run. This aspect is rarely considered by label end users, most people focus on just three things - quality, turnaround time and price. But if you are looking for label printing that is environmentally friendly then you really need to consider digital for the small amount of waste that is created.

Allow me to illustrate with an example of a typical job we print here. We receive an order for five different labels, a quantity of 500 each, and a size of 2" x 6". We print on material that is 12" wide, so we can print 5 labels across the roll which means for a total of 2,500 labels, allowing for a small 1/8" gap between labels the total material needed for this job is around 260 feet. We would produce 30-40 feet of waste to setup the press, so the total job would require less than 300 feet of material.

Now, let's assume this job is run on a traditional flexographic printing press. With an experienced operator you are looking at around 200 feet of waste to get the first label setup. Then probably around 100 feet of waste between jobs for a total of around 600 feet of waste. And that is with a good operator. It wouldn't be unusual for a job like this to create waste in excess of 1000 feet of material. This waste material typically goes straight to the landfill.

So, for a job that actually requires 260 feet of material, a best case scenario for flexographic printing is waste of 600 feet. Less than a third of the material is actually used productively. If the consumer knew how much waste was being created by traditional label printing, they would demand these customers switch to digital.

For very long runs of tens of thousands of feet of material, traditional label printing can make sense. But how can we justify using a printing process where the majority of the material used goes to waste. If you don't have a large label order and you are concerned about the environment, there is only one responsible choice: digital label printing.