Why Eco-Conscious Yearbook Teams Choose Water Soluble Dye

eco-conscious yearbook staff tips

Yearbook teams in 2020 have more options than ever to create a yearbook that supports their eco-conscious values. Yearbook staff with an eco-friendly aim can choose sustainable tree-free paper, environmentally conscious publishers, or recycled paper blends to build a beautiful book.

Additionally, yearbook committees can support the planet by relying on water-soluble dye and printing solutions to showcase memorable images they’ve captured throughout the year. 

While water-soluble products are the most commonly used dyes for most publishing companies, some still opt for petroleum-based printing products. Petroleum-based colors and print solutions contribute to global pollution problems. Fortunately, there are better, safer choices printing companies and yearbook staff can use. 

In this article, we’re sharing why an eco-friendly yearbook should incorporate water-soluble dyes in the production and printing process.

Yearbook Teams Reduce Ocean Pollution

Hazardous chemicals like benzene and toluene were once widely used in publishing processes, and contributed to the contamination of the world’s oceans. More specifically, chemicals used for lamination processes to produce high-gloss pages and other sheens were quite harsh on the environment.

Thankfully, we now have better options. The use of water-soluble lamination products means yearbooks can still have high-gloss pages, UV spots, or other special enhancements without the use of chemicals that can impact the health of our oceans.

Curious about how to utilize digital resources for yearbook planning that are absolutely free? Find out here!

Vegetable Dyes Produce Vivid-Looking Yearbooks

Vivid colors on a yearbook layout page.

Sometimes, choosing earth-friendly products means sacrificing certain preferences and conveniences, like colorful plastic toothbrushes for neutral-toned bamboo ones, for example. Fortunately, selecting vegetable dyes as the ink used for the yearbook printing process is a choice that is both eco-conscious and delivers superior color quality.

Petroleum-based inks don’t offer the same advantages as the more favourable vegetable-dye options in many ways. Vegetable dyes tend to lower printing costs, are less harmful to the environment, and produce colors that are remarkably vivid and vibrant looking.

Yearbook Staff Can Leave a Positive Legacy

Yearbooks serve to tell the story of classmates and their communal experiences together over a school year. However, they’re also essential documentation of the history and spirit of the people represented on its pages. Future generations will look to today’s yearbooks as a source of knowledge and information.

Building a yearbook to leave a positive legacy and accurately reflect the collective beliefs of your classmates can be achieved through sustainable product selections that reflect those ideals. Water-soluble publishing chemicals, dyes, and solutions can easily be a part of an eco-friendly yearbook.

Want more ideas for your team on how to design a sustainable yearbook? Learn here!

Make a Volatile Organic Compound (VOC) Free Yearbook

butterfly resting on a leaf

When petroleum-based chemicals are used in printing processes, the release of harmful volatile organic compounds (VOCs) can occur. Petroleum-based publishing chemicals emit vapors into the atmosphere even after the application processes are finished. 

The amount of harmful vapors released from an individual yearbook is minimal. It’s not likely to cause a health concern to those handling a single book. However, the use of volatile solvents can be avoided entirely with the use of water-based options. For those inspired to design an eco-conscious journal, water-soluble solvents are a preferred solution.

Yearbook Teams Use Water-Soluble Dyes for Eco-Friendly Books

Eco-conscious yearbook staff in 2020 don’t have to sacrifice yearbook quality or entertain extra costs to produce a book that supports sustainability. Today’s product and publishing options are both functional and serve to support the earth’s health. The use of water-soluble dyes in our publishing processes is just one of the ways that FutureBook Yearbooks strive to provide sustainable and responsible options for our clients. To learn more about our sustainability policy,  read here.

Share this article

Search the blog

Subscribe to our Newsletter

Tips and tricks for Adobe InDesign, Photoshop, layout and design and overall yearbook awesomeness!