The feeling of producing a quality print that meets one's expectations is truly wonderful, and I thank Lula for it's "back to the print" campaign.
However, this immensely satisfying feeling must now coexist with the knowledge that the current way of keeping the printer operational is contributing to an intensifying environmental disaster. The Financial Times has a
very readable article on the topic of plastic pollution in general. In short, the problem is probably far worse than you might imagine, unless you've been paying close attention to the issue, in which case you know it already. The article links to an excellent set of fine art photos by
Mandy Barker, whose work I was previously unfamiliar with.
All those plastic ink cartridges, the many plastic maintenance cartridges we go through -- the "use once, toss them out" model is now clearly proven to be unsustainable and in fact highly destructive. There has to be a better way.
May I request of the Lula team: can you please ask your contacts in the printer manufacturers what their plans are to confront this problem, and share the results with us in an article? The bottom line: we need to be able to refill printers with ink and run them without creating additional plastic waste. Even if they have nothing important to say today, I hope they will pass the request for information up the chain to the important decision-makers and planners.
While naturally the plastic used in printing pales in comparison to some other human activities, that's not the point: the point is that many product and consumption processes need to be done better, one industry at a time. And this is our industry, whether we are enthusiasts or pros.
