Photography company Kodak has released its 2021 sustainability report outlining the company's focus on reducing water use.

Getting water in the frame

American photography company Kodak has this month released its 2021 sustainability report that has put reducing the business's global water use as one of its main ambitions.

Kodak's main target is to globally reduce its water use at its facilities by 25 per cent from its 2016 total water use, which was recorded as 2.09 million cubic meters (552,119,589.4 gallons). 

In its 2021 report, Kodak consumed a total of 1.52 million cubic meters (401,541,519.6 gallons) of water in 2020 for its global operations.

For the past three years, Kodak has seen its global water use reduce steadily after it saw its 2017 water use exceed its 2016 total use.

“Kodak's main target is to globally reduce its water use at its facilities by 25 per cent.”

Kodak is based at Eastman Business Park, which was founded by Kodak back in 1890 and is currently homed to a large portion of Kodak’s print, advanced materials, and chemicals operations.

The Eastman Business Park has an on-site wastewater treatment plant that is capable of treating 36 million gallons of water per day. This is as well as being able to handle both hazardous and non-hazardous wastes from various manufacturing processes.

However, it is not only global water use that Kodak is aiming to cut down on. The organization is developing products that can help its consumers reduce their water use.

Helping customers reduce water use

Printing operations require the use of chemicals and a great deal of water, which is why Kodak developed its Kodak SONORA process free plates.

The SONORA is a method of offset printing, where an inked image is transferred from a plate to a rubber blanket and then to the printing surface. This eliminates processing chemicals and water, while also reducing waste and energy use.

“There is more we must do to further integrate sustainability into our products and operations.”

"We have made progress over the years with innovations such as SONORA Plates and water-based inks, but I recognize there is more we must do to further integrate sustainability into our products and operations, said Jim Continenza, executive chairman and CEO of Kodak.

Kodak estimates that SONRA could save customers and the industry 507 million liters of water a year, and 3.3 million liters of plate developer per year.

A water-heavy sector

The photography and printing sector is a water-heavy user. On average, the water footprint of a single piece of printing paper is 10 liters according to The World Counts.

And 95 per cent of them are of conventional ink cartridges are made up of water, says the Inkjet Whole Sale.

Companies similar to Kodak such as Canon set out in its 2020 environmental targets to improve water usage per basic productions by one per cent compared to its 2019 results.

“On average, the water footprint of a single piece of printing paper is 10 liters.”

In 2020, Cannon made a three per cent improvement. At its production sites, Cannon's total water consumption in 2020 decreased by 8.5 pe recent year on year to 8,426 million cubic meters (1,853,460,886 gallons).

Like for a lot of tech-based industries, water is getting more attention. Last year, Google released its environmental report which saw the tech giant make use of reclaimed water to meet its pledge.