(P) Paper Profile
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An environmental product declaration developed by paper companies.
(P) PEFC
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Programme for the Endorsement of Forest Certification. The Programme for the Endorsement of Forest Certification schemes (PEFC) is a voluntary private sector initiative and is based on the mutual recognition of other forest certification schemes. To gain PEFC certification, national standards and certification schemes are submitted to the PEFC Council and the scheme is assessed against PEFC criteria and rule. A decision is then made whether or not to admit the scheme and thus provide the PEFC logo. To date five schemes have undergone this independent assessment
(P) Post Consumer Waste (PCW)
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Term used to describe paper that becomes waste after reaching the final consumer of the paper or paper product. Domestic waste is an obvious example, together with general business paper waste.
(P) Post Industrial Waste (PIW)
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Team used to describe paper that has been produced from fibre that originates form other industries other than the paper industries; such as the furniture industry.
(P) Pre-Consumer Waste
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Term used to describe paper which becomes waste before the finished product reaches the final consumer of that product. For example, waste produced by paper mills, envelope and computer-listing makers and printers.
(P) Product Stewardship
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Is a process that manages the environmental impact of product design, manufacture, and usage through to disposal.
(P) Pulp
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A generic term used for cellulose fibre used in the papermaking process.
(p) pURL
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Personalised URL. A personalised address to a website containing a message individual to you. Used as part of a cross media campaign to drive response to a call to action.
(P) PDF (Portable Document Format)
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Electronic file format for pages including fonts, graphics and text.
(P) PUR (polurethane reactive)
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A glue used for adhesive binding suitable for heavier or difficult to bind substrates. It is very strong, durable, but also flexible. IT also has excellent lay flat qualities.
(P) PVA (polyvinyl acetate)
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Cold melt glue used in binding.
(P) Pass
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The travel of a printhead assembly over a substrate is called a pass. Printers can be either single pass or multi-pass. Single pass printing is usually faster than multi-pass.
(P) Pantone colour
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Also known as the PMS, ie Pantone Matching System. This is an ink system where eight primary colours are mixed in defined ratios to achieve a specific colour, ie if asked for PMS 357 – this is a reference for a specific colour, achieved by mixing three or four of the Pantone primary colours to achieve a particular shade.
(P) Paper and board sizes
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See end of section.
(P) Paperboard
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A term sometimes used for lightweight boards (below 300 g/m2).
(P) Parchment
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A sheet of writing material made from animal skin, nowadays usually used to denote vegetable parchment, or parchmentised papers. These have a high resistance to the penetration of grease and atmospheric humidity.
(P) Perfect binding
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Means of binding books or magazines using adhesive.
(P) Permanent paper
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Paper free from mechanical wood pulp or unbleached fibre, generally neutral or alkaline sized, and containing calcium carbonate filler. It is made to controlled pH value and alkali reserve, and is used for the printing of books and similar works for posterity.
(P) Pernicious contraries
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Any material present in waste paper that is difficult to remove or detect and which might be detrimental to the product being manufactured from the waste, or which might damage papermaking equipment or render re-pulping difficult.
(P) Peroxide bleaching
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The bleaching of wood pulp using hydrogen peroxide. It is believed to be more environmentally ‘friendly’ than chlorine bleaching and many pulp producers have adopted it.
(P) Personalised printing
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The ability of a digital press or printer to individually personalise each sheet within a run. This can take the form of changing text, graphics or images, altering colours or typeface, and personalising the content through variable data printing.
(P) Phantom image
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see Ghosted image.
(p) pH value
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A number on a logarithmic scale extending from 0.3 to 14.5 which indicates the active acidity or alkalinity of an aqueous liquid. Neutrality is represented by pH 7.07; figures below this reading indicate increasing amounts of acidity, and those above, alkalinity.
(P) Picking
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The rupture of the surface of paper during manufacture or printing, which occurs when an external tensile force applied to the surface (eg from an ink that is too tacky) is greater than the cohesion of the paper.
(P) Piezoelectric inkjet
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Form of inkjet technology that uses an electric charge to control the flow of ink. Piezo based printers tend to be very reliable.
(P) Piping
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A defect in reels, consisting of ridges running around the circumference, due to moisture take up by the surface layers.
(P) Post consumer waste
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Waste paper that comes from the end user such as that collected from businesses and homes.
(P) Poster paper
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A grade with a quick drying surface used for outdoor poster work. The rough underside lends itself to rapid pasting.
(P) Pre consumer waste
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Waste paper that has left the mill, but not reached the end user. This consists of printers’ and converters’ off cuts and rejects, as well as some damaged paper. It does not include mill broke.
(P) Preflight checking
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Software that allows inspection of a file to ensure that all information included is correct (ie fonts, image resolution, imposition).
(P) Pre-press
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All the functions that take place before a job is printed such as artwork, proofing, or make up.
(P) Printhead
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The part of an inkjet printer through which ink is jetted onto a substrate. It includes the ink feed, a thermal or Piezo transducer and many nozzles.
(P) Printhead array
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Where more than one printhead comes together to form a larger printing platform.
(P) Print on-demand
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The ability to print the exact number of documents necessary at any required time.
(P) Programme for the Endorsement of Forest Certification
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A neutral organisation that promotes good forestry management and practices. The organisation has developed a set of strict environmental criteria to which forest owners and managersmust work. A certification system means that PEFC products have the highest environmental standards.
(P) Proof
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A pre-production print, made for the purpose of checking the accuracy of layout, type matter, tone and colour reproduction.
