Green
Digital On the Rise!
Digital is growing! The addition of our fully automated digital printing and cutting press, the Primera CX/FX has really helped our digital department grow. Digital orders tend to be smaller than our average order, but nearly 10% of the orders placed in 2011 ran on this new equipment. We expect to see digital continue to grow – here is why:
- Low minimum order quantity – as few as 50-100 labels can be professionally printed
- No setup fees or die charges
- Any size – any shape
- Wide variety of materials available
Call is today to see if digital is right for your project.
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SCRAP to save the planet!
Rose City Label is one of many Portland companies that send excess material, waste, and over run labels to this great local non-profit.
This group takes all types of excess material and allows artists of all ages and abilities to create amazing things — all while keeping tons of waste out of landfills each year. The group has a service to collect from local business, or business can deliver to their retail store, as shown in the photo above.
To learn more, or to support his great group, visit www.scrapaction.org
For the record, we never donate customer labels without the permission of the company – we donate setup stock, blank labels, and other print waste so that our customers’ valuable labels will never show up in a kindergarten art project.
Paper Recycling Update – we can do better!
A recent study found that the USA continues to lag behind Europe in paper recycling:
Paper recycling by country -
Germany – 67%
Japan – 52%
USA – 45%
Hopefully we can get to the 50% mark soon to ensure a sustainable future for our companies, our families and our world. If you want to make your labels more sustainable, and have a lower impact on the environment with your packaging, call us today! We have several innovative solutions to make your great labels even better.
Call us today!
What is PLA, anyway?
2 mil Clear EarthFirst® PLA Film
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| EarthFirst® 2.0 mil Clear PLA Film is a registered trademark of Plastic Suppliers |
PLA is a revolutionary product that will help reduce the environmental impact of labels, packaging, and many other products. PLA is not made from trees (like paper) or made from petroleum derivatives (like most film labels). So what is it?
PLA is an abbreviation for PolyLacticAcid. It is a compostable film which allows many more options to keep labels and packaging out of the landfill. Rose City Label has recently partnered with a prominent recycling firm in the Northwest to independently test the breakdown of PLA in the composting process over time – we will provide more on these results in the future — but WHAT IS IT?
PLA is made from ‘ingeo’ – which is a plastic pellet derived from corn by NatureWorks LLC. NatureWorks does not divert a significant amount of corn from the world food supply in making ingeo, but the company is still working to use other raw materials to create whatever the ‘next ingeo’ might be. Click here to learn more about NatureWorks.
Plastic Suppliers then converts the ingeo into a 2.o mil white or clear labelstock. This patented product is called ‘EarthFirstPLA Film’ and it is the first product of its kind in the label industry. Read more about Plastic Suppliers and EarthFirst here.
Next, the PLA film is sold to a Roll Stock company that coats the film with adhesive and a backing (liner). We typically buy our PLA label stock from Technicote, but others are working with the EarthFirst film as well. Learn more about Technicote here.
Finally, we (Rose City Label) print, diecut, and prepare the final labels for delivery to you, the eco-friendly customer!
That’s a complex production process, but really not much different than all the other label materials we print every day. As the demand for these products grow, we will continue to carry more compostable, recycled, and other eco-friendly products.
Call us today to find out if these products can help reduce your environmental impact. We are ready to help.
Green Packaging is for REAL
An excellent presentation at the Northwest Food Processors Association trade show and conference highlighted the real impact of consumers need to be green. Here are the results of a world wide consumer study by Ball Corporation in Boulder, CO:
- Sustainable Packaging sales were $88 Billion in 2009 and will grow to $170 Billion by 2012.
- 60% of US consumers say they will pay more for ‘Green’ products
- 84% Look for the Recycle symbol on packaging
- The aluminum Wine Bottle is growing in Australia – it is lighter and easier to recycle
- People are asking for ‘right-sized’ packaging, minimalist packaging, and smaller, semi-permanent containers
- The rest of the world is leading the USA in Green Packaging – in Europe recycling is a ‘duty’, while in USA it is still seen as a choice
Want to learn more about how to ‘Green’ your label? Call us today!
First EarthFIRST PLA label ships!
After many quotes and interesting inquiries, we are proud to announce that the first live job on the amazing EarthFIRST PLA material has shipped. Pastini, the progressive Portland food company, has created this label to go on their PLA food containers. This way, the entire package, including the label, will be compostable and will divert waste from the landfill. We applaud our customer for this progressive packaging decision.
Like Pastini, Rose City Label is committed to being a good corporate citizen and to protecting the environment. More than a year ago, we were recognized by Clackamas County as a BRAG certified green business, and we continue to try to find new ways to reduce, reuse, and recycle.
EarthFIRST PLA is an entirely tree-free label stock that is will break down in a composting process.
For more information, please call us today!
First ‘Green’ Job out the Door!
Thanks to our good customers, and their commitment to the environment, we have officially shipped our first job using recycled materials! Many customers have ASKED about recycled products, but one of you finally took the plunge and paid the small upcharge to run your labels on eco-friendly material. Well done!
As more customers become aware of these options, and as the prices come down, we expect that green printing will become a redundant phrase – ALL printing will be green!
Recycled Semigloss Paper
Recycling Old Electronics!
Rose City Label continues to walk the green talk when it comes to reducing our waste. We took advantage of the new free Oregon E-Cycling program which is offered by the DEQ. This great program allows businesses and individuals to recycle old electronics at local Good Will donation sites.
This Goodwill trailer now accepts many types of Computer CPUs and Monitors, as well as TVs, all for free!
Of course all data was wiped from the hard drives by us prior to recycling, so none of our business or customer data was compromised.
Four old CPU Towers and Monitors, as well as a UPS power supply and assorted keyboards and mice were diverted from the landfill on this trip – thanks to Oregon E-Cycles for making it easy to be GREEN!
www.oregonecycles.org has all the details!
Thanks for continuing to read and to support our efforts to be a more GREEN company!
Green Certification
Rose City Label was proud to be recognized by the Clackamas County Recycling program BRAG (Business Recycle Awards Group). 
This Green Award validates our ongoing commitment to the environment. By favoring Green Products in our purchasing, recycling office waste, and making sustainable choices, we make our company better and help the planet at the same time. Many other businesses in our area are joining the BRAG program as well, helping to make the entire business community more eco-friendly.
Rose City Label is proud to be a part of this group.
Recycling Old Cutting Dies!
As part of our ongoing effort to keep our shop neat and organized, we recently cleared out some old, obsolete cutting dies to make room for new ones. The old dies were recycled at a steel salvage facility, so none of our unused tooling ended up in landfill. Keep checking back as we make more improvements to the shop!
Dan takes dies to Recycle Center