Environmental Impacts of a Printing Plates that In-plant Printers Should Consider

By John Zarwan

1. Conventional chemically processed
2. Reduced chemistry
3. "Chemistry-free"
4. Processless

Each of the major plate manufacturers offers a variety of options within each of these broad categories. Here's a breakdown:

Conventional Chemically Processed

There are two main technologies for conventional chemically processed digital plates, using thermal or violet (visible light) lasers. After imaging, these plates need to be processed with chemistry in a processor. Violet plates tend to use more chemistry than do thermal plates. Within each of these broad categories, however, chemistry consumption is essentially similar across manufacturers.