the essential 1/2019

Interview with Alfons Leonhart Interviewmit Alfons Leonhart The Leonhart printing house in Gangkofen, Bavar- ia oriented its offset printing operations towards sustainability about 15 years ago: this involved the applied printing materials, ecological electricity from renewable energies and on to the “greening” of the Companies’ premises. In addition Managing Director Alfons Leonhart has always implemented many ideas on sustainable printing. The latest achievement is the label “Ökopress” or “Eco Press”which is the first free quality seal in the offset printing field. Based on the foundations of the label “Der Blaue Engel” the printing House is calling on additional, stricter criteria for environ- mental protection. In order to be entitled to use the Ökopress label on printed products, the complete production chain must comply with most mod- ern environmental standards: from chemical free printing plate production right up to completely deinkable printing inks. In addition, the usage of ecological electricity as well as paper, which comes from 100% recycled paper or from renewable for- ests, count. You are a pioneer in printing with ecological inks. How long have you been using them and which properties must environmentally friendly ink have for you? Our guideline always was that all inks and varnishes should be without mineral oils as binder agents and vir- tually free of heavy metals. The inks should not be poi- sonous, harmful, irritating or carcinogenic. Today, the aspect of deinkability has also taken on enormous sig- nificance. Did you need a lot of patience until the reservations of the customers regarding the quality of environ- mentally friendly inks were relieved? Ecological printing has been a topic, of course, for a long time, particularly among branded companies. First, the de facto customer interest was rather reserved, but there were apprehensions regarding ecological inks. That has in fact changed markedly over the last few years. With all the plus points for ecological inks: which printing jobs leave you with no alternative and how do you deal with this? We print every job with ecological inks or PURe®. That is exactly what our customers appreciate. In public debate, sustainability is demanded, espe- cially in packaging. Is that also your feeling regarding your customers? Our customers are also feeling the societal rethink and they ask us for solutions. This is where our experience as pioneers in environmentally friendly printing comes into play as the customers receive individual, forward-think- ing advice. You spoke out very early on against inks with cobalt soaps. One reason why you became a PURe® user. Which other ink properties made you curious about PURe®? The avoidance of cobalt soaps in printing inks complied fully with our philosophy. In this connection of course we checked intensively whether the printing and drying properties of PURe® ink and its further processing, would work for us. Furthermore, the outstanding deinkability was particularly interesting for us. Could you tell us, based on your printing experience: In which applications has PURe® convinced you espe- cially? What would you like to continue to work with us on? Printing on offset paper leads to really convincing results. Currently we are working with the application technology people on consequently expanding the application range of PURe®. www.druckereileonhart.de www.ökopress.de Trailblazing eco labels The choice is large: Eco labels mean printing houses and print buyers can document their sus- tainable commitment verifiably. Here we explain some important environmental quality seals. 1 | Labels for sustainable printed products EU Ecolabel The EU Ecolabel is the EU environmental seal, which is recognised in all member states, but also in Nor- way, Liechtenstein and Iceland. The voluntary seal which was introduced in 1992 through an EU regu- lation (Regulation EWG 880/92) has developed more and more into a reference for consumers who wish to contribute towards reduced environmental pollution through their purchases of environmentally friendly products and services. How do you apply? Producers, importers, service providers and also agents can apply for the EU Eco- label at the respective responsible national office. In Germany this is the RAL gGmbH. www.eu-ecolabel.de The“Der Blaue Engel” The label “Der Blaue Engel” is the oldest environ- mental seal worldwide. When it comes to resource protection, an award may be received for regarding paper and the print products produced therefrom. The harmlessness of other consumable materials like ink and varnish may also be documented. Since February 1st, 2015, there has been a label “Der Blaue Engel” for printed products (RAL-ZU 195), which ad- ditionally imposes requirements of environmental friendliness on printing processes. How do you apply? Printing houses can get their printed products certified. An application can be made to RAL gGmbH for certification with the label “Der Blaue Engel” for the respective product or ser- vice provision. www.blauer-engel.de/en Nordic Swan Ecolabel The Nordic environmental seal “Nordic Swan Eco- label” is the official eco label for Nordic countries (Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, Sweden). Estab- lished in 1989, the label meanwhile covers 63 product groups and has a degree of recognition in the Nordic countries of over 90%. How do you apply? The precise product groups and the criteria for licencing can be found on the follow- ing website. www.nordic-ecolabel.org 2 | Company internal, sustainability promoting certificates Certificate ISO 14001:2015 The international environment management standard ISO 14001 sets worldwide recognised requirements for an environment management system. Certificate EN ISO 50001:2011 The energy management standard sets the standard for energy management certification, worldwide. The company systematically increases its energy efficiency, identifies relevant energy savings potentials and imple- ments relevant measures towards energy savings. Subtext 1234 5678 N O R D I C S W A N E C O L A B E L Nordic Swan Ecolabel EU Ecolabel Der Blaue Engel 10