Pride In Print media release (June 2009)

Printing Gets Green Makeover

The print and paper industries have been praised for leading the way in environmental awareness, leaving other industries in their wake as they set new benchmarks in “green” initiatives and in health and safety.

Charlie Bartlett, programme manager for the Enviro-Mark®NZ certification programme, says with 35 companies currently involved in Enviro-Mark, the industry is one of the best represented in the programme.

“The printing and paper industry seemed to get into this much quicker than other sectors. They have been proactive in establishing practices to improve health and safety and environmental performance in a wide range of areas, and in getting formal recognition for those improvements,’ he says.

Pride In Print is also playing its part in removing the traditional image of the “grubby print shop” full of messy inks and chemicals, and turning the industry’s focus towards environmental awareness.

Pride In Print Awards Manager Sue Archibald says the creation of an environmental category within the Awards is helping showcase the strides the print industry is taking to embrace “green” concepts.

“The print industry has often been misrepresented in the environmental areas – the industry is in fact very responsible in New Zealand

“Practices and attitudes have changed but we still need to showcase the successes of companies in the environmental area to ensure print buyers and the country as a whole knows that printing is a ‘green’ industry.”

An example of this showcasing in practice can be evidenced in Good Magazine, which is printed entirely carbon-neutral by the Image Centre Ltd.

Earning the Industry Development and Innovation category at this year’s Pride In Print Awards, Good Magazine has strict monitoring at all stages of production to ensure the carbon-neutral claim.

Senior Pride In Print judge Damian Fleming says the magazine set a new environmental benchmark for the industry.

“These guys have been audited in terms of the paper they use, their inks, their production processes and so forth to establish their emissions output, and have been prepared to buy credits to offset those emissions.

“There will be other print buyers who now come to printing companies and say ‘I want quality but I also want something that is environmentally sound’. This magazine has shown the way to answer that. These guys have pushed the industry forward as a whole.”

Environmentally-friendly progress extends to the paper-making industry. Spicers Papers marketing manager Carolyn Lockstone says there have historically been some “huge misconceptions” over the source of pulp used in the paper-making process.

“Most of the pulp comes from renewable tree farms, which are sustainably-managed and plant several new trees for every one harvested. Contrary to what many people believe, paper-making isn’t a threat to conservation forests and isn’t a cause of deforestation.

“In addition, all the paper mills Spicers deals with have ISO 14001 as the minimum environmental management system (EMS) they operate to. Some have others over and above that, but ISO 14001 is the industry norm.”

Ms Lockstone says recycling remains a feature of the industry.

“This process diverts potential waste from landfills, but we do need to be aware of factors such as the energy being used. It’s a matter of ensuring the recycling plant has all the energy and waste efficiency processes in place and puts the waste back into such things as the manufacturing of bricks.”

While still a relatively new concept to the New Zealand paper market, Ms Lockstone says the next environmental wave is being seen in the development of carbon-neutrality both from the tree farm to the paper mill and from there all the way through to paper suppliers.

In another “green” initiative, PrintNZ recently formed an alliance with the Enviro-Mark®NZ certification programme which is expected to significantly help printers develop and implement a credible EMS for both their and the planet’s benefit alike.

Enviro-Mark’s Charlie Bartlett classic areas for initiatives are a reduction in waste and electricity use, where paper is procured from, the type of inks used, type of printing equipment and the use of solvents etc.

“It is fairly intuitive for a lot of print managers to take some simple steps forward. “When you are implementing an EMS, you are really scrutinising how your business works. A lot of our members who have been in the programme for just a few months often find these efficiencies soon after.”

As a whole, the printing industry has evolved to the point where it is carbon-neutral and as such is a better role model for other industries than Toyota, the world’s most highly-acclaimed company for its environmental understanding.

That was the startling message given to delegates at the 2008 PrintNZ conference by Philip Lawrence of Ecological Strategies, whose address on “Going Green with Printing” laid out clearly the argument as to why printing industries need to market their “green” image more forcefully.

Mr Lawrence said that printing was now 97% less damaging to the environment than it was in 1990. The biggest impact had been made by the switch to CtP (computer to plate) technology which had removed several processes from the printing process. Other major factors included auto-washing of machinery, usage of vegetable inks and more energy-efficient presses.

Both the Kyoto Protocol document and the influential Stern Report had recognised the carbon-neutrality of the print process including using sustainable plantation wood crops.

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