Contiweb, a specialist manufacturer of web-handling equipment and provider of integrated technical solutions for web offset printing, web inkjet printing and packaging production, has announced that Roularta Printing, part of Roularta Media Group, has invested in three Contiweb dryers – two Contiweb Ecosets and one Ecodry. All three systems will be installed later this year and are expected to reduce the company’s overall carbon footprint by 14 percent.

Created in 1954, Roularta Media Group is firmly established within the Belgian commercial printing world as a market-leading producer of magazines in both French and Dutch, while also being the second largest magazine publishing company in the Netherlands. Following government initiatives in 2010 to improve sustainability practices within businesses, Roularta has been at the forefront of green and environmental growth within the printing sector and has made it the company’s mission to find solutions that improve the practice. As a result, the management team identified Contiweb dryers to reduce gas consumption in accordance with the company’s ISO 50001 certification.

“Our aim is to achieve carbon neutrality by 2040, 10 years faster than the EU target and our strong financial position affords us the opportunity to accelerate those plans,” says Steven Renders, general manager, Roularta Printing. “At Roularta, we are certified for calculating carbon footprints of printing jobs in line with ISO standards and based on this, we are able to show our customers what the carbon footprint of their printing job is and how it can be improved. Contiweb’s drying solutions should prove to be a major help in achieving our overall goal, so much so that we anticipate the solutions will reduce our overall carbon footprint by fourteen percent.”

For several decades Contiweb has been the market leader in gas dryers for heatset web offset with nearly 1,000 installations. Contiweb dryers such as the Ecoset and Ecodry systems are innovative, reliable and long-lasting, based on a high-air volume, low-temperature process that optimizes print quality and productivity by minimizing the negative effects of heating the web. They combine high performance with simplified operation and low operational costs. The Ecoset dryer is the cornerstone of Contiweb’s dryer portfolio for commercial printing applications, and Roularta’s latest equipment will become some of the first sold since the landmark number of 100 sales of the Ecoset.

“During the recent gas crisis we have seen an increasing demand for our dryer products. This, alongside the ever-growing importance of sustainability, has led us to focus on products in our portfolio that help reduce environmental impact,” says Rob Bosman, sales director at Contiweb. “Roularta is a huge name in Benelux, and beyond, so it is an important step for our company to aid in its sustainable growth, something that we ourselves take pride in. As with all our solutions, we continue to identify ways in which to meet, and even succeed, today’s environmental requirements. Future data from Roularta will provide invaluable feedback for us moving forward.”