Neil Young's "Greendale" Puts 'Green' Production to the Test

This misconception is one of the reasons why landing the "greendale" project was important to Domtar as well as Insync Media. Gina Pace, group product manager for text, cover and writing papers at Domtar, says that being selected for "greendale" was Domtar's opportunity to demonstrate the quality of its eco-friendly paper.

"Over the past 20 years, [recycled paper has] actually come an incredibly long way. The process that goes into making a recycled sheet has become so refined that it is nearly impossible to tell the difference between what is and isn't recycled," says Pace. "More and more people are discovering what's out there, and they're pleasantly surprised."

But finding the right paper to match Young's criteria was not the only challenge. Finding eco-friendly ink was also necessary.

Gonzales says that since using petroleum-based varnish to protect the sheets from scuffing was not an option, his company had to formulate their own fast and hard-drying soy-based inks. Insync Media has its own ink plant just for this purpose. "We experimented until we found the right formula," says Gonzales.

Throughout the printing process, Insync Media relied on wet densitometer readings to make sure the reflective density of individual inks on the wet sheets and the dry sheets would match. Plus, Gonzales was present for all 46 press checks to give it a final human-eye check to make sure that the printing quality was consistent throughout the entire book.

Forty-six press checks might be more than some projects require, but as Gonzales explains, this is what was required for tight quality control, considering the components:

• 286 pages of text, which are 18 16-page signature forms—two sides (sheet-wise),

• two end sheet forms—two sides (sheet-wise),

• the softcover 'cover'—two sides,

• the dust cover for the 'hardcover' version,