What Color Is Your Green?

When you mention color to a printer, it usually means a Pantone Color. When you mention Green nowadays in any industry it means environmentally friendly. We at Stoughton Printing believe the two can go hand in hand.

Beyond the FSC (Forestry Stewardship Council) stocks and soy inks – your green can go deep into the processes of manufacturing. Southern California has the most stringent air and water quality control rules in the country. As a result, virtually all manufacturing facilities are limited by the amount of pollutants that can be released each day. Our early awareness of the impacts of this allowed us to develop a safe and environmentally responsible manufacturing facility – not just to be hip, but to be a responsible leader for you, the customer and for the environment that we live in too.

In 1985, long before water and air quality regulations took effect, our company’s founder, Jack Stoughton Sr. made the bold decision to switch from solvent based press chemistry to water based (aqueous) chemistry. This was a major undertaking for us as there were few graphic supply vendors offering aqueous products at the time. The change-over to aqueous printing plates, water soluble plate chemistry, and low V.O.C. fountain solutions was not an easy one, but in time we were able to achieve the quality and production levels that had existed prior to the switch. We currently run no alcohol in our plant and have not done so for over two decades.

After successfully making this difficult transition, we next approached our ink suppliers. With their cooperation, we switched to low V.O.C. Pantone inks and Soy-based Process inks. Our inks all contain a high degree of vegetable oils (Soy, Linseed, Safflower, etc.) as well as other sustainable materials. Our inks contain no heavy metals, exceeding the state and national guidelines.

Recycling of our waste is also vital to our business. Because of water quality issues and limited landfill capacities in Southern California, all of our inks are removed from old cans and disposed of properly or recycled by a professional graphic waste disposal company. We are able to remix old Pantone (PMS) inks into new match colors with the help of a special computer program.

All of our waste paper and board stock scrap is sold to a paper recycler. Our aluminum printing plates are sold to a scrap metal recycler, rather than going into any type of waste stream. We have no film facilities (Computer to Plate only), so film and film chemistry disposal are not issues.

We choose our raw materials carefully as well. Our SBS Virgin Paperboard only comes from paper mills that do not utilize any material from “Old Growth Forests”, only pulp fiber that comes from managed, sustained yield forests.

We also offer a new SBS sheet that contains up to 25% recycled content, yet retains that bright white look and strong fiber structure that so many projects require. We offer many types of FSC Certified or recycled grades of paper and paper board materials. Coated and Uncoated paper stocks, CC/NB (Clay Coated, News Back) or CC/KB (Clay Coated, Kraft Back) made from up to 100% recycled content in many grades and calipers. Most of this stock is up to 30% post consumer waste, with some grades going even higher.

In our specialty packaging for the recording and video industries – we offer packaging that combines 100% recycled chip material as base stock combined with FSC Certified sheets wrapping the outside. Other variations of this type of packaging can also be utilized. Rather than wait until the last possible moment, or even resist the implementation of local environmental regulations as many competitors in our area have done, Stoughton Printing Co. elected early on to be a leader in the local printing industry by striving to use our planet’s resources wisely. Consequently, in the long and difficult process of adapting to change, we have found that conservation is not only an important ethic—it also makes good economic sense.

So, What Color is Your Green?