La Papelera

One of Bolivia's leading providers of cardboard and paper packaging for more than 90 years, La Papelera is a company that has long committed to community engagement and environmental responsibility. With process-free platemaking they've found a smart, actionable way to put those values into practice.

Over decades of a successful packaging production business, La Papelera's corporate mission has always focused on acting in the best interests of Bolivia's society and natural resources. As they've seen the global print industry and market trends evolve toward greater environmental sensitivity, La Papelera has felt a stronger urgency to put more sustainable production practices into action. While eager to invest in new technology and practices to reduce their impact, they wanted to implement concrete measures that came with a solid strategy and clear business rationale. They turned to Kodak for smart solutions to help the company move down a greener path.

Because La Papelera specializes in offset production, reevaluating their platemaking approach was an obvious first step. Based on the success stories of more than 6,000 print businesses worldwide, they immediately saw that switching from their traditional wet processed plates to KODAK SONORA Process Free Plates would have a significant affect on their operations. By completely eliminating the plate processor from their production line, La Papelera eliminated the chemicals, water, and electricity it used—an instant sustainability win. The SONORA Plates' stability and high-quality imaging reduces the need for remakes compared to traditional wet processed plates, further minimizing waste. And from a business perspective, going process-free brought the added value of saving time, labor, and costs in both prepress and the pressroom.

The switch to SONORA Process Free Plates has brought obvious environmental benefits for La Papelera, with a dramatic reduction in their water and energy usage and the complete elimination of processing chemicals. Their customers, who are primarily in the safety-conscious food and pharmaceutical industries, also appreciate reduced chemical use in production of their packaging. La Papelera was recently recognized with a KODAK SONORA Plate Green Leaf Award, a sign of their sustainability efforts. More than just a certificate, it represents the company's ongoing commitment to pursue cleaner, greener practices in the interests of their customers, consumers, and society as a whole.