Environmental Gold For APN Tauranga

Environmental Gold For APN Tauranga

A strong commitment to the Ministry for the Environment and multi-council initiative, EnviroSmart, has seen APN Print Tauranga reach Level Three Gold Certification on the Enviro-Mark ladder in just two years.

APN Print Tauranga administrator Elizabeth Scott says her company’s endeavours in the Landcare Research-driven programme, which has the mission of achieving “a truly clean, green, sustainable New Zealand”, are now being rewarded through reduced costs and increased business efficiencies.

“One of the most notable examples is that we have achieved a significant reduction in our waste going to landfill -- from about a tonne to 500 kilograms per month,” says Mrs Scott.

“This is something our entire site is working towards. At smokos everybody has bought their own mugs in, so we don’t use the polystyrene cups and our plates are all recycled. My little bit here in the office is that my waste paper is recycled and the waste bin only gets emptied about once a month now.
“Part of the process entailed us looking at emissions from the heatset press. By installing a new afterburner, we were not only able to make those emissions cleaner, we are also using less power and natural gas.

“We also installed a power factor unit and a new switchboard to ensure we are only billed for the power we are actually using. These and other measures have already seen us cut our power needs by about 5% -- and there is room for further improvement.”

As a consequence, Mrs Scott says APN Print Tauranga is effectively flowing on the “green” processes already instigated by ink and paper suppliers right through to the end printed product.

She admits it has been a “big learning curve” for all concerned.

“At the Bronze Level we basically looked at our general health and safety programme as a company. We already had a very good system in place, but were able to expand on that again.

“The Silver Level entailed us looking at the different aspects of our business -- right from office administration, pre-press, printing and publishing through to the tea room -- to consider what components and energies were being used and the end waste being created. Management systems were reviewed, we put a very good environmental policy in place and also considered how to apply legislation -- such as not only ensuring our dangerous goods licence was up-to-date but considering how we stored things so if there was a problem it could be contained on site.

“Then Gold saw us take all of that information and set ourselves environmentally-friendly targets. All of which of course creates an efficient workplace and goes hand-in-hand with saving our company money.”

APN Print’s early commitment to the Enviro-Mark campaign has seen it lead the environmental drive for newspaper-print operations in New Zealand. These endeavours are particularly admirable considering the approach taken by some industries, as reflected in the recently-reported comments of Business New Zealand chief executive Phil O’Reilly.

According to the Dominion Post of July 20, Mr O’Reilly believes businesses should cease thinking sustainability and that the “greening” of both businesses and consumers was slowing down or would stop due to the recent economic crisis and its aftermath.

However, Commerce Minister Simon Power counters that businesses will increasingly need to integrate environmental management into their operations.
“Environment management system certifications are growing strongly around the world but they are declining in New Zealand,” he says.

“We have to reverse this trend. Failure to do so will make it more difficult for our businesses to compete in overseas markets where they are required to demonstrate formal environmental credentials.”

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