May 2007
Pagefast upgrades its eco credentials with chemistry-free platesetter
Pagefast Print & Publishing is pleased to announce the successful installation at its Lancaster-based print works of a chemistry-free digital platesetter.
The new platesetter, an Agfa Azura, is only the second of its type to be installed in the Cumbria / North Lancashire region. The Azura eliminates the use of harmful developing and fixing chemicals from the plate-making process, and eliminates also the associated need to process these chemicals to recover waste silver before disposal. Its sole consumable input is a biodegradable organic gum, which may be safely disposed of without treatment.
A direct-to-plate production capability and chemistry-free plate-making increasingly are required of their print suppliers by the world’s major publishing organizations. The World Wildlife Fund and Pearson, which owns the Penguin Group and the Financial Times Group, for example both mandate that their suppliers conform to strict standards of environmental responsibility.
Pagefast is delighted that, through the purchase of the Azura, we are in a position to offer a similar level of environmentally responsible printing to our customers – small buyers as well as large organizations – in the North West. We have long been committed to the use only of vegetable-based inks and chlorine-free paper from sustainably managed resources, and are delighted to add this direct-to-plate, chemistry-free process to our portfolio of printing and publishing services.
Pagefast welcomes enquiries from anyone interested in learning more about this process. We also would be happy to discuss with buyers of print services ways in which they might reduce their environmental footprint.