How Kornit’s Digital Printing Helps Protect Biodiversity

Kornit provides a better way to create fashion with innovative printing technology and systems that make sustainable production possible. Our solutions provide alternatives that are better in terms of material waste, pollution, emissions, and even biodiversity.

What Is Biodiversity and Why Is It Important?

Biodiversity refers to the richness of variety found in plant and animal life around the world. It’s not just the variety found in different regions but the unique composition of species found in each individual environmental niche.

This diversity is vital to life on earth. Every organism plays an essential role, from the bacteria that consume excess nitrogen to the predators that keep animal populations in check and everything in between. This delicate balance is something to cherish and protect, and it’s facing numerous threats.

As human populations grow and develop, they consume more resources, destroy more habitats, and produce more pollution. All of these factors lead to a reduction in biodiversity. Certain species are more susceptible to the impact of these threats, but they are only the first to go. As more and more vital species disappear, the entire balance becomes upset.

Today, governments, industries, and individuals around the world are working to find effective solutions to protect biodiversity. Efforts cover every aspect of society, from food production to city planning. Kornit is one company that’s making an effort to protect biodiversity by lessening the impact made by the fashion industry.

Kornit’s Commitment to Sustainability and Biodiversity

Kornit is strongly committed to sustainability on multiple fronts, with our textile printing solutions working to reduce resource waste and chemical and atmospheric pollution. Among our most considerable achievements is the incredible water efficiency that our printing solutions achieve.

The fashion industry consumes over 79 billion cubic meters of water each year, making it second only to fruit and vegetable farming. This puts a significant responsibility on fashion manufacturers to reduce water use, and our printing technology makes that possible for creators at any scale.

The elimination of pre-treatment, steaming, and washing steps in textile printing during our process drastically reduces the amount of water used. Not only that, but our process avoids the dye-laden wastewaters produced by other finishing operations.

A life-cycle assessment of two of our leading machines, the Presto S and the Atlas MAX, highlighted the exceptional water efficiency that Kornit achieves. This assessment shows Kornit to produce minimal water waste, present a low-biodiversity risk, and have low freshwater eutrophication.

Freshwater eutrophication is among the most significant threats to biodiversity in freshwater environments. When other manufacturers release effluent to natural freshwater, they can carry excess phosphate, nitrogen, and other nutrients. The massive concentrations of these nutrients cause algae to grow uncontrollably, consuming other resources that a wide variety of plants and animals need to live.

In the worst-case scenario, eutrophication can directly kill fish. While algae produce oxygen in sunlight, it consumes it at night. Eutrophication can cause algal blooms of such size that they consume all available oxygen overnight, suffocating fish.

Kornit is doing its part by developing viable solutions to reduce the fashion industry’s impact on water use and biodiversity.