This article is part of the Verdigris series of stories about understanding the environmental impact of print. The Verdigris project is supported by founder members Agfa Graphics, Canon Europe, Digital Dots, drupa, HP, Kodak, Ricoh and Unity Publishing, and associate members EFI, Pragati, and Xeikon.

Click here to read volume two, part one.

This tree has been capturing carbon dioxide in central London

for hundreds of years. According to legend it grew from the

ashes of a bonfire of books during the English civil war and

has thrived ever since

Myth 5: Print is not as effective as digital media

This is the kind of generalisation that is often used to criticise print and justify low marketing and advertising spends. It is a myth because it is both true and untrue. For short or trivial messages electronic media can be far more efficient than print, because distribution and receipt of such messages are close to immediate. However, for information that perhaps is more complex or difficult to absorb, print may be more efficient: the subtleties and sophistications of high-resolution typography, composition, colour, special effects and beautiful finishing are not yet available to digital media. All of these characteristics contribute to efficient understanding and absorption of ideas and complex concepts. Media effectiveness depends on the medium, the message and the nature of the expected response, so effectiveness is highly subjective.

Myth 6: It's impossible to de-ink digital prints

There has been a lot of market confusion relating to the de-inking of digital prints. Papers are de-inked in the recycling process using a combination of detergents and water. Conventional offset inks are literally washed from the papers, and floated to the surface of a de-inking tank using air, where they are skimmed off. Dry toners commonly used in xerographic digital printing are similarly easy to remove. However, not all digital inks are so simple to get rid of. Water-based inks as used in ink-jet digital printing simply melt into the washing water. Much as one red sock can stain an entire load of laundry, ink-jet inks can effectively pollute an entire load of pulp. Chemists from major manufacturers have formed the Digital Printing Deinking Alliance to develop a common solution to the problem. They have found answers for pigmented inks using precipitation techniques. It is still early days, but the impossible may not be so impossible after all.

Myth 7: Paper production wastes energy

The days are long since gone when any manufacturing process was allowed to waste energy. Since the oil shocks of the 1970s to current awareness of anthropogenic carbon's impact on world climates, energy efficiency has been at the heart of all manufacturing processes. The paper industry, as a traditionally high-energy user, has made huge progress to reduce its energy usage and so its power bills. Paper companies have also come up with highly imaginative ways to reuse heat generated through energy use. M-real in Husum, Sweden, for instance, heats the village school and football field with the heat generated from its pulp production processes.

Myth 8: Carbon dioxide is evil

Carbon dioxide is a bi-product of metabolism in humans and a raw material for plant metabolic processes. There is nothing evil about it, unless it occurs in excess when it can make you drowsy, dizzy or even render you unconscious. If it is unavailable plants cannot grow or release oxygen into the atmosphere. Carbon dioxide is a necessary compound for life on this planet so carbon management at least should be at the heart of any printing company's business plan.

Myth 9: Print is bad for the environment

Print has made huge progress to reduce its environmental impact and continues to do so. The printed word has driven human progress since the first characters were scratched onto a surface. The mechanisation of print production in the 15th century led to a massive and unstoppable flowering of knowledge, economic growth, creative expression and social development. The process continues to this very day, alongside other media including broadcast and electronic forms.

It is not print but waste that is bad for the environment. It is everyone's responsibility across industry to reduce waste materials including printed matter. Misconceptions about print media's environmental impact can discourage printers from investing in a greener future for their business, and this is extremely damaging for the industry. Perhaps even more seriously, misconceptions and myths about print's environmental impact also influence print buyers and end users' perceptions of print, reinforcing false opinions with ersatz facts. The printing industry must collectively counter accusations of print's negative impact on the environment. Buyers and consumers need reassurance and to understand that of all media types print is the only truly sustainable one.