INDUSTRY URGED TO SUPPORT PRINT AGAINST WAR IN UKRAINE

A new initiative, Print Against War, is calling upon the world's printers and converters, publishers, influencers, and suppliers to the printing and packaging industry to join forces to support their colleagues in Ukraine during this incredibly difficult time.

The programme is open to offers of help from vendors, printers, and any other printing community members. To encourage the collection of donations from a broad base of users, Print Against War proposes that online printing and packaging businesses add a voluntary checkout donation option to their e-shops. This will allow a broad base of designers, agencies, print-service providers and individuals around the world to contribute.

In addition, you can make direct donations or offer other forms of material help (for example to provide consumables or paper to Ukrainian printers for free or at special prices).

Print Against War is also working to create alliances between printers in the European Union and those in Ukraine so that the former can share jobs with the latter, making their survival possible.

The organisation says the Russian invasion of Ukraine “has triggered a catastrophic humanitarian crisis with lives being lost and thrown into turmoil, properties and infrastructures destroyed, and millions of livelihoods being threatened every day. It is our duty as humans to provide support and assistance as best we can to the citizens of Ukraine in their deepest time of need.”

Marcus Timson, co-founder of Future Print said, “We encourage anyone in the printing sector, anywhere in the world, to help our brothers and sisters in Ukraine rebuild their businesses and get behind this fantastic initiative.”

Alon Bar-Shany, chairman of Highcon and former general manager of HP Indigo said, “Because in the end, the war ends. And life comes back. As a print industry, I think we want to help our colleagues.”

Print Against War, a nonprofit initiative of the Meaningful Print Foundation, will help Ukrainian printing and packaging companies continue to operate, or provide support when they can again start up their productions.

The Meaningful Print Foundation is setting up an application system to make resource allocation transparent. Through its supervisory board, it will evaluate case by case the eligibility of the applicant and the goodness of the projects to be supported. All funded projects will be made visible.

Together, Print Against War and the Meaningful Print Foundation are designed to mobilise the global printing and packaging industry to help stakeholders cope with wars, natural disasters, epidemics, pandemics, and other damaging and disruptive occurrences.

In addition, the Meaningful Print Foundation will work on long-term projects empowering the printing industry to make a positive impact on the planet by addressing gender equality, carbon neutralisation, sustainable manufacturing, education for students in need, and inclusion of people with disabilities in the workforce.