Print Green with Castle Press

What is black and white and green all over?

Printing from Castle Press, that’s what.

At your service, Castle Press combines the classical power of ink on paper, responsible environmental practices, and advanced 21st–Century print technology to produce documents that you will be proud of.

Print’s matchless capabilities

Print on paper can reach—and convince—thousands, even millions, of people at the same time, a task that would take years of face-to-face contacts.
Printed matter rivets the recipient’s attention. He holds it in his hands and in front of his eyes at a time he has set aside for it, free from distractions by other media.
Documents in print weather storms that disrupt cyber-communications. They never crash, go down with viruses, choke up with Spam, or compete against pop-ups. “The dog ate my homework”—the alibi generations of schoolkids have tried out on their teachers—is rarely true.
A paper document has staying power. It can be carried, saved, and reviewed anywhere, at any time it suits the reader. Its communications effectiveness does not hinge on momentary access to a telephone or a computer monitor.
Especially important in this skeptical, over-hyped era, print—which by definition “puts it in writing”—is inherently believable. One case study by the Magazine Publishers of America found that 36 brands that shifted emphasis from TV to print doubled their earlier advertising effectiveness.
Print means business. Wharton Economic Forecasting/Direct Marketing Association research indicates that direct-mail advertising generates an unmatched Return On Investment of 13:1.

Printing’s environmental impact

The United States consumes more paper a year than any other country—100 million tons of it, including 4 million tons of office paper, 25 billion sheets of newsprint, 2 billion books, 350 million magazines, and 90 billion pieces of commercial mail. Many ecology-conscious people worry about the environmental damage caused by this mountain range of paper, which takes up 40% of the nation’s increasingly overloaded landfill space—and they are right. However, though “Boycott Print: Save a Tree” is a catchy slogan, it is not backed by the facts:

The American forest products industry every day plants 1.7 million trees—a naturally renewable, sustainable resource—more than three times the trees it harvests.
U.S. growers currently add 400,000 acres a year to tree cultivation—which in a five-year period sequesters 53 million tons of atmospheric carbon dioxide, a chief cause of global warming.
60% of the energy used to produce the country’s paper comes from carbon-neutral renewable resources, generated on-site by paper mills.
The nation’s paper industry now recycles 63% of all its products for reuse—more than any other product. Each additional percentage point translates to the recovery and reuse of 1 million tons of paper. Only 18% of electronic devices are recycled.
The average U.S. resident consumes 440 pounds of paper a year. All that paper takes 500 kilowatt-hours of electricity to produce. The same amount of energy would power a personal computer continuously for only 5 months.
Also by contrast, United Nations University research indicates that making a desktop computer eats up 530 pounds of increasingly limited fossil-fuel resources, 50 pounds of chemicals, some cancer-causing, and 3,300 pounds of a thirsty world’s scarce fresh water.
In addition, personal-computer manufacturing uses up dozens of costly minerals and metals such as gold, silver, and palladium, as well as many oil-derived plastics and hydrocarbon solvents, some toxic. Only an estimated 18%-20% of computer components are ever recycled.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency reports that in one recent year, 2012, the country generated 3.41 million tons of electronic waste, only 29% of which was recycled. The rest was dumped into overburdened landfills or burned in air-polluting incinerators.

What The Castle Press does for the environment

It is much easier to preach about protecting the environment than it is to take actions that sustain it. Here are some of the specific steps The Castle Press has made already—with many more to come—to help Mother Earth remain a green, good place to live. The Castle Press:

Mixes its own and recycles them, along with the paper, solvents, and washes it uses.
Has eliminated the need for film and film processing materials—and has entirely dispensed with its use of silver.
Uses sharply lower amounts of Volatile Organic Compounds than other printing companies, slashing pollution by such materials by 20%.
Urges clients to specify recycled Forestry Stewardship Council paper stocks such as those made by Mohawk, Neenah, and Wausau. (The FSC has certified The Castle Press as a “best-practices printer.”)
Employs alcohol-free, glycol-based substances in plate-making.
Uses minimally environment-invasive production techniques, such as non-toxic, biodegradable, toner-based digital printing.
Sparingly applies water-based polymer varnishes. They do not involve clean-up solvents and are economically recycled.
Helps clients keep databases current, which sharply reduces overprinting.

Speaking of green

Wow—see how many extra dollars you can save by printing with the Castle Press.
Our printing and marketing consultants have years of experience and involvement in thousands of projects.
Return on Investment (ROI) projections can be prepared to further assist you in your planning process.
Interquest studies show that Castle Press digital-printing techniques can, on average, generate 5.6 times higher response rates than usual. Take your most recently successful mailing and give it an index value of 100%. Multiply that value by 5.6. That is the response rate—with its corresponding Return On Investment—that Castle Press digital printing can bring you.
Depending on your project you can use all digital technologies, or you can combine offset and digital technologies to achieve the best results. Does digital printing cost somewhat more than one-size-fits-all traditional messaging? Yes, but its increased ROI more than makes up for the difference.
We offer you choices: offset lithography, digital printing, specialized finishing, or CD/DVD duplication. All this and more is done inside the Castle Press.
Our goal is to make you look good and to keep our mutual client happy.
Please contact us to determine how Castle Press can best support your next printing venture. You will not be disappointed.