This timely update of the best-selling CD-Art looks at digital developments in the music industry. It includes new work produced for the growing download and interactive market: albums packaged ...
This year, along with getting our arms around Health Care Reform, the other big issue on everyone’s radar (finally!) is energy policy. According to the Mineral Information Institute, every year, 40,000 pounds of minerals must be provided for every person in the United States to maintain their standard of living. These numbers, it should be noted, do not include tailings (residue and waste of mineral production), and the ratio of tailings to ore can be enormous.
Drilling down into these 2007 statistics from the Mineral Information Institute (www.mii.org), we find that over 22,000 pounds of the resources mined each year is to meet just the energy needs (oil, gas, and coal) of each U.S. citizen. Where we get our energy, as we dig into grappling with this huge issue, is as important as how much of it we use.
In the packaging world, we understand that we need to reduce our energy consumption just from a profit standpoint. This includes how efficiently it can be converted, the numbers of trucks needed to haul goods, and product shelf-stability issues. But where we get all our energy from is only now starting to get onto citizens’ radar screens. Many companies are trying to figure out what it means to create a more sustainable package. For instance, even if all the production steps were done just right, if a product or package was produced by burning coal extracted through Mountain Top Removal (to use one example), all of the other good works and efforts go down the consumer-perception drain.
Sources and sourcing
Papermaking, as we in the business know, is a resource intensive process. Chlorine effluents and water quality issues abound, as do air quality and pollution issues. Paper recycling is playing a vital role beyond conserving trees and wood fiber. The recycling process also saves water, reduces the need for chemicals, and decreases energy usage compared to manufacturing virgin pulp into paper for more and more grades on the market today.
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