Comprehensive interpretation of 'green printing'

Regarding 'green printing', based on the policies we have learned about in the past, the documents we have studied, the meetings we have attended, and the discussions we have participated in, we have tried to analyze it from the concept and background, regulatory standards and evaluation, policy support and guidance, application and practice, suggestions and The five aspects of the measures are comprehensively interpreted for reference by industry insiders.

The concept and background of 'green printing'
The concept of 'green printing' originated in the late 1980s and was first proposed and implemented by developed countries such as Japan, the United States, and Germany.'Green printing' refers to a printing method that has little impact on the ecological environment, less pollution, and saves resources and energy.Its core connotations are 'environmentally friendly' and 'healthy and beneficial'.With mankind's emphasis on environmental protection and the advancement of the concept of 'sustainable development', 'green printing' has become a printing method and requirement that is commonly used and increasingly popular in developed countries in Europe and the United States.
In September 2010, the former State Administration of Press and Publication and the former Ministry of Environmental Protection signed the 'Strategic Cooperation Agreement on the Implementation of Green Printing', which marked the official launch of my country's 'green printing' work.In October 2011, the former State Press and Publication Administration and the former Ministry of Environmental Protection jointly issued the 'Announcement on the Implementation of Green Printing' (hereinafter referred to as the 'Announcement'), which carried out the implementation of 'green printing' in my country. Fully deployed.The announcement proposed the scope and goals of implementing green printing, clarified the basis and approach for implementing green printing, deployed the work process for implementing green printing, arranged supporting support work for the implementation of green printing, etc., and decided that the first week of November each year will be the 'Green Printing Awareness Week'.Since then, 'green printing' has entered a new stage of comprehensive development in our country.
In September 2019, the National Press and Publication Administration, the National Development and Reform Commission, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, the Ministry of Ecology and Environment, and the State Administration for Market Regulation jointly issued the 'Opinions on Promoting the Green Development of the Printing Industry' (hereinafter referred to as the 'Opinions' ''), it is proposed that 'strengthen the design of the green development system of the printing industry, promote the comprehensive upgrade of the green development of the printing industry, and promote high-quality development of the printing industry with integrity and innovation.' This is about the implementation process of 'green printing' and further improvement, promotion and upgrading of requirements.
Regulations, standards and assessments on 'green printing'
1. About regulations
The 'Announcement' is based on the 'Environmental Protection Law of the People's Republic of China' and the 'Printing Industry Management Regulations'. These two documents are also the basic regulations for the implementation of 'green printing' and provide macro guidance for the implementation of 'green printing' effect.The 'Announcement' clarifies that the scope of implementing green printing includes printing production equipment, raw and auxiliary materials, production processes, publications, packaging and decoration and other printed matter, involving the entire production process of printing products.At the same time, the 'Announcement' also clarified that the goals of implementing green printing include reaching the international advanced level of environmental protection indicators of printing products, eliminating a number of backward printing processes, technologies and production capacities, promoting energy conservation and emission reduction in the printing industry, and guiding my country's printing industry to accelerate Transformation and upgrading.In short, 'green printing' is a comprehensive requirement for printing-related equipment, raw and auxiliary materials, production processes and product quality on the premise of complying with relevant laws and regulations.
2. About standards
Green printing standards are the technical basis for implementing green printing and evaluating green printing results.The 'Announcement' clarified that the former Ministry of Environmental Protection and the former State Press and Publication Administration jointly organized the formulation of green printing standards, and carried out green printing environmental label product certification in the printing industry through the standards (referred to as 'green printing certification').At present, the standards that have been released and implemented mainly include five categories, namely: green printing standards, green printing certification standards, energy conservation and emission reduction and environmental protection standards, standards related to raw and auxiliary materials, product quality standards, and standards related to management processes.
(1) Green printing standards.'Green Printing Terminology' (CY/T 129-2015) 'Green Printing General Technical Requirements and Evaluation Methods Part 1: Lithographic Printing' (CY/T 130.1-2015) 'Green Printing General Technical Requirements and Evaluation Methods Part 2: Gravure Printing' (CY/T 130.2-2017) 'Green Printing Product Sampling Methods and Testing Part Determination Principles' (CY/T 131-2015) 'Green Printing Product Qualification Determination Criteria Part 1: Reading Prints' (CY/T 132.1-2015) 'Green Printing Product Qualification Determination Criteria Part 2: Packaging Printed Materials' (CY/T 132.2-2017).These are a series of industry standards approved and officially released by the former State Administration of Press, Publication, Radio, Film and Television. They are the basic standards for green printing certification and self-declaration management. They provide operable standard basis and evaluation methods and are legal standards with corresponding laws. technical standard document for the effect.In January 2019, the China Newspaper Association released the group standard 'General Technical Specifications and Evaluation Methods for Green Printing in the Newspaper Industry' (T/CAN 001-2019), which has played a technical support role in promoting the development of green printing in newspaper printing.In June 2021, the first batch of 12 party newspaper printing companies, including the People's Daily Printing Factory, the Economic Daily Printing Factory, and the Workers' Daily Printing Factory, passed the green printing certification.
(2) Green printing certification standards.The former Ministry of Environmental Protection issued 'Technical Requirements for Printing of Environmental Labeling Products Part I: Lithographic Printing' (HJ 2503-2011) 'Technical Requirements for Printing of Environmental Labeling Products Part II: Commercial Paper Printing' (HJ 2530-2012) 'Environmental Labeling Products Technical Requirements for Printing Part 3: Gravure Printing' (HJ 2539-2014).These standards respectively stipulate the printing process, environmental control and harmful substance limits of products for different printing methods, including basic requirements, technical content and inspection methods, which are the direct basis for the implementation of green printing certification.
(3) Energy conservation, emission reduction and environmental protection standards.The scope of green printing in the 'Announcement' includes energy conservation and emission reduction, specifically including requirements for waste gas, waste water, solid waste and noise. It is basically clarified in the form of mandatory standards.
The main national mandatory standards include the 'Comprehensive Wastewater Discharge Standard' (GB 8978-1996), 'General Industrial Solid Waste Storage and Landfill Pollution Control Standard' (GB 18599-2020) and 'Comprehensive Emission Standard of Air Pollutants' (GB 16297-1996 ) 'Environmental Noise Emission Standards for Industrial Enterprises at Boundaries' (GB 12348-2008), etc.
The industry mandatory standard 'Technical Guidelines for Self-Inspection of Pollutant Discharge Units for the Printing Industry' (HG 1246-2022) is a just-released mandatory standard targeting the environmental requirements of the printing industry.After the implementation of this standard, all printing companies must carry out self-monitoring of wastewater emissions, waste gas emissions, noise and surrounding environmental management impacts in accordance with the standard's stipulated monitoring points, monitoring indicators and monitoring frequencies.This standard will be implemented on July 1, 2022, and we hope that all printing companies will pay attention to it.
Local mandatory standards include the Guangdong Provincial Standard 'Emission Standard for Volatile Organic Compounds in the Printing Industry' (DB 44/815-2010), and the local standard in Beijing 'Emission Standard for Volatile Organic Compounds in the Printing Industry' (DB 11/1201-2015) , Shanghai local standard 'Printing Industry Air Pollutant Emission Standard' (DB 31/872-2015), Tianjin 'Industrial Enterprise Volatile Organic Compound Emission Control Standard' (DB 12/524-2014), etc.Other provinces and regions also have similar local standards. These standards are basically about the content limits of Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs). They are applicable to VOCs emission control of existing printing companies, as well as the environmental impact of new, renovation, and expansion projects. Evaluation, design, completion, acceptance and VOCs emission control of pollution sources after completion.
(4) Relevant standards for raw and auxiliary materials.The scope of green printing in the 'Announcement' includes raw and auxiliary materials. Commonly used raw and auxiliary materials include paper, ink, plates, adhesives, cleaning agents, blankets, wetting fluids, pre-coating films, powder spraying, etc.
At present, in accordance with the standard requirements for green printing certification and evaluation, some raw and auxiliary materials have formulated corresponding basic standards, such as 'Limits of Volatile Organic Compounds in Adhesives' (GB 33372-2020) and 'Volatile Organic Compound Content in Cleaning Agents' Limits' (GB 38508-2020) and 'Limits of Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs) Content in Inks' (GB 38507-2020). These three standards are mandatory safety and environmental protection standards, focusing on the atmosphere of the printing industry. Prevention and control of pollution sources.In addition, the former Ministry of Environmental Protection has successively issued green certification standards for some raw and auxiliary materials, including 'Technical Requirements for Environmental Labeling Products for Adhesives' (HJ 2542-2016), 'Technical Requirements for Environmental Labeling Products for Offset Inks' (HJ 2542-2016) and 'Environmental Technical Requirements for Labeling Products: Gravure Inks and Flexographic Inks' (HJ 371-2018) 'Technical Requirements for Environmental Labeling Products for Plastic Packaging Products' (HJ 209-2017).
Other raw and auxiliary materials can be quoted or referred to the latest standards, including national standards, industry standards, and group standards, such as 'Printing Technology Offset Blanket' (GB/T 33248-2016) 'Maximum Limit of D65 Brightness for Paper and Paperboard' ( GB/T 24999-2018) 'Papers for primary and secondary school textbooks, printing quality requirements and inspection methods' (GB/T 18359-2009) 'Offset printing inks with low volatile organic compound content cleaning agents' (T/PEIAC 010-2021) 'Green Product Evaluation Processing-Free Thermal CTP Version' (T/PEIAC 011-2021), etc.
There are no national, industry or even group standards for other raw and auxiliary materials. When conducting green printing evaluation, only certain specific requirements can be put forward, such as powder spraying and varnishing oil. The green printing evaluation requirements stipulate that the powder spraying should be plant-based spraying. powder, the glazing oil should be water-based or light-curing glazing oil.
(5) Product quality standards.The scope of green printing in the 'Announcement' includes product quality requirements. Different printing methods have different product quality requirements.At present, three product standards for lithography, commercial paper, and gravure have been released and implemented.The quality of lithographic printing products should comply with national and industry standards such as 'Lithographic Decorative Printing Materials' (GB/T 7705-2008) and 'Lithographic Printing Materials Quality Requirements and Inspection Methods' (CY/T 5-1999); the quality of commercial bill printing products It should comply with 'Commercial Paper Printing Part 1: General Technical Requirements' (CY/T 49.1-2017) 'Commercial Paper Printing Part 2: Folding Bills' (CY/T 49.2-2018) 'Commercial Paper Printing Part 2 Part 3: Roll-type Notes' (CY/T 49.3-2017) and 'Printing of Commercial Papers Part 4: Roll-type Notes' (CY/T 49.4-2008) and other national and industry standards; the quality of gravure printing products should comply with ' Gravure Decorative Prints' (GB/T 7707-2008) 'Inspection of Printing Quality of Product Barcode Barcode Symbols' (GB/T 18348-2022) (Note: This standard has been released and will be implemented on October 1, 2022. Currently Implement national and industry standard requirements such as GB/T 18348-2008) and 'Quality Requirements and Inspection Methods for Gravure Prints' (CY/T 6-1991).Quality standards are the core attributes of products and the basic requirements for product functions, and should be observed and valued.
(6) Management process related standards.The 'Announcement' covers the production process of green printing, and clearly requires that pollutant emissions from production companies should comply with national or local pollutant emission standards, and production companies should strengthen cleaner production.These requirements also imply that enterprise management must be standardized, and there shall be no violations or administrative penalties in terms of quality, environment, safety, energy conservation, etc.Therefore, 'Quality Management System Requirements' (GB/T 19001-2016), 'Environmental Management System Requirements and Guidelines for Use' (GB/T 24001-2016) 'Occupational Health and Safety Management System Requirements and Guidelines for Use' (GB/T 45001-2020 ) 'Energy Management System Requirements and Usage Guide' (GB/T 23331-2020) and other management system standards are often used in conjunction with green printing.
3. About assessment
In the 'Opinions' jointly issued by five ministries and commissions in September 2019, it was proposed to implement a green product conformity assessment system for the printing industry and promote the green development of the printing industry through third-party certification, self-declaration and other methods. In accordance with the 'Management Measures for the Use of Green Product Labels' Use relevant logos.It can be seen from the policy that companies can evaluate the implementation of green printing through third-party certification evaluation and self-declaration.
(1) Third-party certification evaluation.Printing companies conduct compliance certification in accordance with relevant standards through a qualified third party. Currently, only the Central Joint Certification Center in China has green printing certification qualifications.
The relevant procedures for applying for green printing are: data preparation, internal training, certification application, certification contract signing, certification inspection, inspection result processing, and post-certification work.The basic principle of green printing certification inspection is to take the technical requirements of environmental labeling products as the core and use the environmental labeling product safeguards guide as a tool to inspect the product realization process.The main contents of the inspection include: the management requirements of the enterprise, the environmental behavior requirements of the product, the environmental management requirements of the production enterprise during the production process, the compliance of product quality and the authenticity of the submitted materials.
The third-party certification and evaluation method is recognized by the market and society because of its relative objectivity, independence, and authenticity.With the state's support and inclination in project development funds, industrial policies and management measures for green printing certified companies, as of the end of 2018, more than 1,300 companies across the country have passed green printing certification. Certified companies are spread across the country. The printing industry Achieved full green printing coverage of 1.3 billion primary and secondary school textbooks.However, the promotion of green printing is affected and restricted to a certain extent because of the long certification cycle, high certification fees, and fewer certification agencies, which virtually increases corporate costs.
(2) Enterprise self-declaration.Enterprise self-declaration is a first-party evaluation in conformity assessment activities, also known as 'enterprise self-evaluation'. That is, the enterprise uses self-declaration to self-certify and conduct explanations and reviews to show that the enterprise has met certain requirements.Self-declaration is an internationally recognized conformity assessment method with complete management procedures and mechanisms. Currently, the reference standard is 'Environmental Management Environmental Labeling and Declaration Self-Environmental Declaration (Type II Environmental Labeling)' (GB/T 24021-2001).
Enterprise self-declaration requires a complete system, including platforms, standards, methods, guidelines, etc.During the self-declaration process, printing companies need to pass testing by third-party testing agencies (referring to product testing) to ensure that the materials and processes used comply with green printing standards or relevant legal regulations, and promise that all information is true and valid, and will be accepted by the competent authorities at any time. inspection.Self-declaration can be filed voluntarily by enterprises on the platform. This method, with higher certification efficiency and lower certification fees, will greatly speed up the process and intensity of promoting green printing nationwide.