Time to Go Green With Your Plate Production?

Over at Presstek, John O’Rourke, director of CTP products, agrees: “Chemistry-free plate technology will continue to be the fastest-growing product category for digital plates.”

These eco-friendly plates will reduce your pollution footprint right away and further speed up your production cycle. Most are not completely process-free, but they’re close to it; they often require only a water rinse or a clean-out/gumming step, while others “develop” on-press, with the fountain solution handling the clean-out step. None of these plates need conventional developing chemistry or a regular plate processor, and so avoid many of the environmental/waste issues. Eco-plates are available in sizes from two-up to eight-up. Some manufacturers offer polyester plates, but the majority of the product offerings are metal plates.