Beyond the Product: Closing the Sustainability Disconnect

“Sustainability needs to be integrated into your business philosophy.” With this simple but powerful statement, Sarah Osorio, Environmental Health and Safety Affairs Coordinator at PRINTING United Alliance, opened her recent session at PRINTING United Expo—urging print businesses to look beyond the ink, paper, and substrates that typically dominate sustainability conversations.

Osorio’s message was clear: the printing industry must shift from a product-centric view of sustainability to a holistic, operations-driven approach that includes energy usage, waste management, employee safety, supply chain management, and governance. This expanded view, she emphasized, is not only environmentally responsible, it is essential for long-term profitability and resilience.

What Sustainability Really Means

While sustainability has become a buzzword, its formal roots go back to the 1987 Brundtland Report, Our Common Future, which defined sustainable development as meeting “the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.” Or, as Osorio summarized: “Take no more than you need, don’t harm the environment, and if you do, make amends.”

In print, sustainability is often equated with substrate choices or certifications, such as 100% recycled or FSC certified. While these are important, Osorio stressed that such credentials tell only part of the story. “We’re seeing the industry market green products rather than green practices,” she noted. “That’s where the disconnect happens.”

The Three Pillars: People, Planet, Profit

Osorio reminded attendees that sustainability is not just about climate change or carbon emissions—it is built on three equal pillars:

• People (equity): Employee health and safety, culture, training, and community engagement. Printing is a high-risk industry, she emphasized: “We’re a high-amputation industry. People lose fingers. People lose limbs. Safety is central to sustainability.”
• Planet (environment): Energy, emissions, resource usage, water, waste, biodiversity, and more.
• Profit (economic viability): Sustainable practices reduce costs and strengthen long-term operational stability.

Sustainability, then, is not environmentalism alone. It is a holistic business framework.

Energy and Water: Small Changes, Big Impact

Energy efficiency is one of the fastest entry points for printers looking to reduce environmental impact and operating expenses. Osorio provided examples ranging from major upgrades to surprisingly simple fixes.

One company reduced its lighting costs dramatically through task-specific lighting, bringing fixtures closer to work areas so they required less power. “Those little things really add up,” she said.

Other ideas included:
• Choosing energy-efficient equipment when upgrading machinery
• Implementing occupancy sensors in low-traffic areas
• Installing programmable thermostats
• Adding water-saving faucets, low-flow toilets, and refill stations

These changes often require minimal upfront investment—but deliver ongoing savings.

Waste Management: A Hidden Opportunity

Before joining the printing industry, Osorio shared, she worked in waste management, and her expertise was immediately clear. Many businesses, she explained, overpay simply because they are not sorting waste correctly.

One common mistake is combining all production waste into a single hazardous waste drum. With proper segregation, companies may be able to ship far less hazardous waste—dramatically reducing costs. “It’s a win-win,” she explained. “You lower your expense, and you reduce your hazardous inputs.”

Other strategies include recycling programs for inks, solvents, paper, plastics, and corrugated materials, as well as cutting single-use plastics in break rooms—a culture shift, she admits, but one that pays off.

Rethinking Product Design

Though Osorio cautioned against a product-only approach, she emphasized that product design is still essential, and that it must be done holistically and collaboratively.

“Include sustainability at the very first stage,” she said. That means selecting inks, coatings, and adhesives that support recyclability, compostability, or reuse. It also means designing for disposal, not just production.

She highlighted advancements in ink technology—such as inks that float to the surface during recycling wash cycles instead of dissolving into wastewater—making recycled plastics cleaner and more valuable.

Critically, she cautioned against making sustainability claims that aren’t backed by data: “If you’re going to make claims, you have to back them up. Third-party certifications are very important.”

The Supply Chain: The Biggest Piece of the Puzzle

Up to 95% of many companies’ emissions come from their supply chain, Osario said, their “scope 3” emissions. For printers, this means upstream activities like substrate production and downstream activities like product disposal.

She urged encouraged attendees to work closely with suppliers: “Your suppliers should be not just suppliers of products, but suppliers of information.” She said building sustainable supply chains includes:
• Choosing materials with credible certifications
• Asking suppliers the right environmental questions
• Prioritizing vendors with sustainability expertise
• Shortening supply chains when possible to reduce transportation emissions

These relationships must be mutual. “You should be a resource to your suppliers too,” Osorio added.

Culture: The Secret Ingredient

No sustainability program will last without employee buy-in.

“People want to work somewhere they feel they’re doing something good,” Osorio said. She recommended forming sustainability committees, displaying progress, asking employees for ideas, and offering small incentives.

Employees often know the workflow better than management, she emphasized: “They know where you can make a difference. Their ideas are probably really good.”

Metrics: The Foundation of All Progress

Perhaps Osorio’s strongest message was the importance of measurement:
“You can’t improve what you don’t measure.”

Key metrics include:
• Scope 1, 2, and eventually scope 3 emissions
• Water usage
• Hazardous waste shipped
• OSHA-recordable injuries
• Training completion
• Utility costs

She shared a story of an SGP-certified facility that caught a major utility billing error—saving thousands—only because they tracked their metrics monthly.

Regulation: It’s Coming Fast

While federal environmental rulemaking in the U.S. has slowed, states—and especially California—are accelerating. New laws related to greenhouse gas reporting, extended producer responsibility (EPR), PFAS bans, and digital product passports are reshaping expectations for manufacturers, including printers.

“Don’t be surprised if your biggest customers start asking for your greenhouse gas metrics,” Osorio warned, Scope 3 reporting, in particular, is driving this shift.

Starting the Journey

For printers just beginning, Osorio recommended:
• Conducting an honest sustainability audit
• Creating a sustainability policy
• Setting small, realistic goals
• Engaging all departments
• Tracking metrics and sharing progress

Sustainability, she emphasized, is not a destination but a “winding, exciting journey.”

And perhaps most importantly: “Sustainability isn’t slowing down.” Whether driven by regulation, customer expectations, or genuine concern for the planet, the print industry must evolve. But with thoughtful planning, collaboration, and measurement, sustainability isn’t just possible—it’s profitable, resilient, and fundamentally good business.