Roland DGA Corporation, a leading provider of wide-format inkjet printers, vinyl cutters, 3D milling machines and other innovative digital devices, has opened a new regional office in Atlanta, Georgia – the Atlanta Imagination Center – which will allow customers, prospects and partners to access Roland DGA’s latest technologies in this region of the country.

The Atlanta Imagination Center houses many of Roland DGA’s newest and best-selling products, including the recently launched third-generation TrueVIS Series printer/cutters, allowing visitors to see the capabilities of these state-of-the-art devices firsthand through live product demonstrations. Staffed by experienced application specialists, the new 5,600-square-foot facility also will serve as a hub for both in-person and virtual training and events.

Roland DGA conducted a grand opening event for the new Imagination Center on May 3 in conjunction with the start of ISA International Sign Expo 2022 in Atlanta. The event allowed invited sign and graphics industry professionals, already in the area to attend the Expo, to be on hand for the festivities. The event included a welcome address by Roland DGA Vice President of Sales Amado Lara, an official ribbon-cutting ceremony and guided tours of the facility, plus a DJ, food and drinks.

To learn more, visit https://www.rolanddga.com.

The Sustainable Green Printing Partnership (SGP), the leading authority in sustainable printing certifications, will hold the 2022 Sustainability Summit on July 20, 2022, at Fenway Park, Boston, Massachusetts. This year’s event is themed the “The Power of Sustainable Print in the Digital World.”

The Sustainability Summit brings together thought leaders and community stakeholders in pursuit of more accountable sustainable print supply chains. This year, it will feature insightful presentations and roundtable discussions given by industry leaders on the power of sustainable print in a digital world.

All SGP Community members, interested printers and print buyers are welcome to attend. For details and registration visit www.eventbrite.com/e/2022-sgp-sustainability-summit-tickets-342872850927.

Neenah, Inc., Alpharetta, Georgia, has released its newest Idea Shop by Neenah promotion to better help brands connect with consumers, from the unboxing experience of e-commerce to personalized direct mail and more. Designed in collaboration with Design Army, the promo highlights the power of attention-grabbing packaging, point of purchase and other uniquely branded samples that engage the senses across each carefully branded consumer touchpoint.

The new promotion starts with a deep black soft-touch folding board box accented with black foil for a premium, sophisticated look and feel. Upon opening, recipients are greeted with a personalized welcome. The samples maintain a holistic approach to every branding touchpoint, from letterpress invitations paired with translucent envelopes to a point of purchase display made from a recyclable heavyweight board.

Idea Shop members enjoy a long menu of creative benefits, including first access to paper-based promotions, exclusive webinars with industry leaders, free paper samples and newsletters.

For more information, visit www.theideashop.com/join-us.

Stoughton Printing Company, located in City of Industry, California, upgrades capabilities with the purchase of a new Kolbus DA 260 casemaker and SA260 inside lining machine special version for the production of exquisite Old Style® vinyl record jackets.

Stoughton has been a leading supplier of CD and vinyl record jackets to the recording industry for nearly 60 years, employing the newest print technology and old world craftsmanship to produce an array of patented products including its brand Old Style®, Old Style Tip-On® and Old Style Gatefold® jackets from 5” through 12” sizes. The company continues to invest in new equipment and will be offering new solutions to their customers with its recent purchase of a new state-of-the-art Kolbus DA 260 casemaker in line with SA260 Inside Lining machine.

“The consumer and our customers have driven us to produce the highest quality jackets possible. A natural progression of this is the addition of this Kolbus hybrid machine. Working with the Kolbus engineers, they have fine tuned their casemaker machine and tailored it specifically to our demands, our customer demands,” said Jack Stoughton, president, Stoughton Printing Company.

“The Stoughton installation is another example of how Kolbus is utilizing their years of experience and expertise in gluing and wrapping of boards for books, game boards and luxury packing for a completely new application,” said Art Crawley, sales manager, Kolbus America.

For more information, visit https://www.stoughtonprinting.com/ or https://kolbusamerica.com/.

Across manufacturing, recycling is receiving increasing attention. In 2018, China – America’s major end point for recyclables – slashed the amount of the world’s waste that it would accept for recycling, leaving our nation in search of new solutions to recyclables and waste management. Many consumers, especially millennials, see landfills overflowing and waterways awash in waste, and they want change.

To address the problems, the Biden administration passed the Bipartisan Infrastructure Deal last year, which includes $350 million for solid waste and recycling grants. Also in 2021, the Environmental Protection Agency unveiled the first national recycling strategy with an aim to increase recycling by 50% by 2030.

EPA Administrator Michael S. Regan introduced the 2021 National Recycling Strategy by pointing out that Americans “have both an opportunity and an obligation to protect and preserve our natural resources for the next generation. We’ve all heard the phrase ‘Reduce, Reuse, Recycle.’ … But those three words can only take us so far – it’s time to transform the United States recycling system … ”

Regan described the National Recycling Strategy as “a critical effort in work to build a circular economy for all. A circular economy is an industrial system that is restorative or regenerative by design. It is a change to the linear model from which resources are mined, made into products, and then thrown away. A circular economy reduces materials use, redesigns materials and products to be less resource intensive, and recaptures ‘waste’ as a resource to manufacture new materials and products.”

The 2021 National Recycling Strategy includes five objectives to strengthen the recycling industry, all of which have implications for manufacturers:

1. Improve markets for recycled commodities through market development, analysis, manufacturing and research.

EPA will promote market development through workshops and other dialogues, an important effort that will benefit US manufacturers that want to be part of the circular economy and that need reliable avenues for recycling their scrap material and plant floor waste.

Additionally, this objective will include a push to help US manufacturers increase their use of regionally sourced recycled material feedstocks and to ensure a consistent supply of those feedstocks.

2. Increase collection of recyclable materials and improve recycling infrastructure through analysis, funding, product design and processing efficiencies.

As part of this objective, EPA will continue to fund R&D, demonstration and deployment of new technologies and strategies for recycling that can be set up on a national scale, creating a more robust recycling chain.

With a boost from EPA, changes in material and product design that increase sustainability will reduce waste. Changes that enhance recoverability will make it easier to recycle items that currently throw a wrench in the recycling gears.

3. Reduce contamination in the recycled materials stream through outreach and education to the public on the value of proper recycling.

Another thing that jams up the recycling process is contaminated recyclables. In many cases, a contaminated recyclable simply ends up being recategorized as non-recyclable and sent to a landfill.

In this area, EPA will reach out to the public with communication and educational materials on how food contamination, for example, hinders the recycling of plastic containers and how simple cleaning of recyclables ensures that they can remain in the recycling stream.

4. Enhance policies and programs to support recyclability and recycling through strengthened federal and international coordination, analysis, research on product pricing and sharing of best practices.

EPA will investigate the topic of product pricing, examining the environmental and social costs that must be factored into a product’s cost, along with the value recovered through recycling of products.

This objective includes the use of an online clearinghouse for sharing best practices on policies, programs, outreach and available funding.

5. Standardize measurement and increase data collection through coordinated recycling definitions, measures, targets and performance indicators.

With this objective, EPA will develop standardized recycling system definitions, measures, targets and performance indicators, making it simpler to gauge progress in the recycling initiative.

EPA also will create recycled content measures to make it easier to verify and compare recycled content in products, allowing consumers to make informed choices while shopping for goods.

For more information, visit https://www.epa.gov/recyclingstrategy.

Roland DG Corporation, the Hamamatsu, Japan-based parent company of Roland DGA, Irvine, California, has appointed Roland DGA President and CEO Andrew Oransky to its Board of Directors.

As a member of the board, Oransky will play a pivotal role in setting strategy and direction globally for Roland DG Corporation. In addition to Roland DGA, Roland DG is the parent company to other business units throughout the world.

With this appointment, Oransky also will serve as managing executive officer of Global Sales and Marketing for Roland DG, which allows him to have direct oversight of these corporate functions worldwide. Oransky has served as president of Roland DGA Corporation since 2016 and assumed the expanded role of Roland DGA CEO in 2019.

Learn more at www.rolanddg.com/en and www.rolanddga.com.

IMPACK Packaging, a folder-gluer packaging equipment supplier for carton board and corrugated box manufacturers, is celebrating its 20th anniversary.

The packaging equipment for IMPACK, which is based in Saint-Jacques, Quebec, Canada, includes packers, stackers, pre-packers and pre-feeders with varying levels of automation.

The company has a growing international network with more than 400 machines manufactured and installed across four continents and with projects in more than 55 countries.

For more information, visit https://impack.ca/.

Baumer hhs, based in Krefeld, Germany, has developed a new linear lighting system based on high-power LEDs that accelerates job changeovers on folder-gluers by several minutes.

The overall design of the new linear system with high-power LEDs is geared toward optimum illumination. The new system guarantees this level of lighting, even at distances of up to 250 mm. It does not need to be readjusted or reconfigured during job changeovers.

The new lighting from Baumer hhs is a substitute for mercury-containing UV tubes. The lighting module is contained in an aluminum housing equipped with heat sinks. It protects the high-power LEDs, provides for optimum heat dissipation and allows for safe installation of folder-gluers.

Learn more at www.baumerhhs.com.

Paper Converting Machine Company, part of Barry-Wehmiller, opened its Packaging Innovation Center on April 26.

Located at PCMC’s headquarters in Green Bay, Wisconsin, this state-of-the-art facility will serve as a resources for training, demonstrations and industry trials, along with research and development opportunities.

The new center features the latest equipment for plate mounting, anilox roll laser cleaning, and central impression and inline flexographic printing.

Learn more at www.pcmc.com.