Today, one of the stamp printers we contacted called and was actually very nice and willing to help. She works at Walsall Security Printers. She basically said that printing stamps in eco-friendly paper is a very big issue now. They have been trying to print in different papers, like seaweed paper, but haven't had any success with them, because they have problems with the coating of the stamp.
She said they mostly use water-based inks, which are better and less harmful for the environment. Also, she was kind enough to email a Environmental Report that was made for them, unfortunately, it is confidential, so I can't print it or pass it around, but some of the most important things I will mention.
- Basically self-adhesive paper isn't very recyclable, though some labels are launching eco-friendly schemes to recycle it.
- Also, it says that in the future it may be possible to produce a self-adhesive liner that is worth recycling but a replacement for the silicone layer will need to be developed, and also the graphic design in each stamp should be revised to reduce the ink consumption in the prints.
Apparently this is a very big issue in the printing process of the stamps, but they still haven't found a way to print a excellent quality stamp thats very eco-friendly, the one thing that is reassuring, is that they are investigating and running trials on the printing process of the stamps to try to resolve the issue. It seems that they have to develop too many things (paper, lining, coating, inks. etc) so maybe this is why its taking soo long, and we still don't have eco-friendly stamps.
1 comment:
Aurora
Great that you spoke with the printers some very interesting feedback. If the information you got limits your ideas and thinking then don't let it. The RSA is concept based so if you know that potentially an idea is possible (but not necessarily security based) thats enough.
If we get too hung up on limitations then ideas and innovation doesn't develop.
You've looked at quite a few areas and research many past stamps. So at this point it might be useful to summaries your areas of interest and indication what direction solutions might take. What would be on the stamp? How would I get this information across? What supporting material or site might be developed?
Against your thinking it's always useful to consider what would visually reflecy the idea or the observation.
Amanda
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