The first print industry focussed EcoPrint summit will take place in Geneva on 6-7 June this year and right now this sector’s input and collaboration is being sought to help ensure it hits the mark. I talked with Frazer Chesterman from organiser FM Future on the subject.
This EcoPrint summit comes more than a decade after the first EcoPrint, which ran as a tradeshow and conference in Berlin at the end of 2012. It hasn’t run since. Why was that, why the relaunch now, and why have you changed the format?
In 2012 we - myself and Marcus Timson, now of FM Future - launched the original EcoPrint event in a converted rail station in Berlin, attracting around 1,000 people from across Europe. In the intervening decade, sustainability has gone beyond a ‘nice to have’ talking point to become the defining issue of our age, with retailers, brands, and other organisations committed to ambitious net zero targets. Despite this, there remains insufficient correspondence in the print supply chain. This has prompted FM Future to build on the foundation of the first event and create an EcoPrint movement that encourages the community to ‘be the change’.
The popular elements of the event in Berlin were the cause and the community, and in truth it wasn’t about machines and technology. We feel the time is right again, 10 years later, to create a focal point for our industry as a summit for ideas and conversation that will bring the industry together.
We’re calling on the industry to help us unravel and clarify what sustainability means, as well as how to integrate best practice into business and gain inspiration from digital print technology that can help our sustainable performance.
Now in 2023, many leading printers have sustainability managers, net zero goals, and a genuine concern for their people and their impact on the planet. Sure, this is not yet wholesale, but even at this early stage in our launch there is a noticeable difference compared with EcoPrint the first time around.
In 2011/12 when we were attempting to gain support for the original EcoPrint, we had to spend a huge amount of time finding people who genuinely believed in sustainability. This is no longer the case. Now, the industry is eager to be involved. They are contacting us as they want to be part of a movement that is created to be a force for good.
The goal is to showcase what is possible with new technology, create a dialogue about how the industry can improve, provide access to guidance on best practice, and maybe even discuss the idea of governmental and industry standards. To achieve this, industry unification is needed. Collaboration is crucial. We cannot afford to sit on our own islands, exist in our own silos, and not work together. The water is rising and the planet is getting warmer. We can all improve by simply collaborating, communicating, forging new ideas and taking action.
When you announced the summit you said the aim was “to showcase the technological possibilities of sustainable print production and discuss how the print industry can collectively make a difference for planet, people and profit.” How are you defining ‘sustainable print production’ in this instance?
That’s a good question and I have always felt that sustainability is about creating a ‘sustainable business model’, not just about being ‘green’. Key to the discussion will be the ‘why’ and the ‘how’ - insight, innovations, ideas, and actions. EcoPrint will focus on showcasing technology that makes a difference with our Eco Innovations awards, as well creating straightforward action plans to help businesses move in the right direction.
You have made it clear that you need the print industry to play a part in ensuring the summit content is right. Have you had much feedback so far, and what are proving to be the biggest concerns?
It’s clear that people are keen to get involved, and like the idea of being part of a movement that is created to be a force for good. As our recent sustainability survey underlines, anxiety about climate change and its increasingly prevalent effects is the key concern driving this change in attitude.
Since we ran the first EcoPrint in 2012, so much has changed. The climate change deniers have all but disappeared into the background. There are net zero targets publicly proclaimed by retailers, brands, and governments. There will be continued legislation, and there is now a whole new generation of professionals who are gracing the stage, a generation that is far more action oriented, more committed, less tolerant of false proclamations. And business leaders are recognising that sustainability is not a trend that will fade away.
We already have a fantastic number of ‘eco ambassadors’ who have joined our EcoPrint advisory group to help shape the event. They represent all the key touchpoints for our industry - not just printers, packaging converters and print manufacturers, but brands, retailers, designers, government, research analysts, sustainability professionals, NGOs - all who are driving the agenda.
The Geneva event agenda is now taking shape, and input from the growing EcoPrint community plays an essential role in bringing a valuable, actionable content programme to life.
The wide-format digital inkjet sector has quite specific eco issues. Are you in collaboration with players in this space, and do you want more?
It’s important to reiterate that the EcoPrint movement needs collaboration and participation from every corner of our industry, and wide-format digital inkjet is certainly an important focus. We are already working with a number of players in this space, and we are of course open to working with anyone else in the sector who wants to be involved.
PVC-free wide-format materials provider Kavalan will serve as a headline sponsor of the Geneva event. Nova Abbott, chief marketing officer, Kavalan, says “sustainability is about preserving the future for all of us, and the print industry is certainly one of many sectors having a significant negative impact on the planet through its waste and emissions. As a business we have a mission to significantly reduce the environmental impact of signage materials by replacing high impact products such as PVC and textile signage with low impact materials - this is where EcoPrint aligns perfectly with our mission.”
Kavalan continues to lead the market in terms of the manufacture of environmentally positive signage, banner, POP and out of home advertising materials, and as such we believe being a part of the EcoPrint Summit is absolutely vital.
Probo, Europe’s largest wide-format print business, is also committed to the vision and the concept of the event with its Sign Again product. Other companies committed include HP, Xanita, Antalis, Epson, HelloPrint, Boxmaker, Northernflags, highcon, HH Global, Fujifilm, Alchemie Technology, Sun Chemical, Agfa, Siegwerk and Kao Chimigraf Swatch amongst others.
Are you collaborating with any trade associations or bodies to help identify topics for discussion?
Part of the reason for choosing a summit format is to invite the key associations such as IPIA, Intergraf, POPAI, BPIF, VIGC, Print Power etc. to participate. However, to be honest, we know that the key leadership on this issue is coming from the brands - the likes of P&G, Unilever, Walmart, L’Oreal, Diageo - as they are the ones demanding change in all areas of ESG. We are not talking just about the processes FSC, Nordic Swan, Blauer Angel, EU FLower, PEFC - we want to talk about what impacts on business.
That said, organisations like the IPIA have been doing some amazing things with members and I expect them to be sharing best practice, as well as Ulbe Jelluma from Print Power who has some great stories to tell.
How can you ensure that the summit focusses on what needs to be discussed, rather than on what speakers want to talk about?
The EcoPrint advisory group will be vetting the presentations to ensure we don’t have manufacturers delivering ‘greenwash’. We expect the morning of both days to be full of amazing content to get people thinking - it certainly will not be a selections of sales pitches.
How is the content programme shaping up so far?
Isabelle De Wolf from Hello Print, Elsie Hargate from Bluetree group, Beate Van Loo Born from Climate Ark, Henning Ohlsson from Epson, Jenny May from CarbonQuota, Steve Lister from HH Global, Kristi Duvall from Boxmaker, Fred Lil of Lil Packaging, and Nathan Swinson-Bullough from ImageCo are already on board.
What do you hope attendees from this event will take away with them?
We will have high value content to inspire on both mornings, then a selection of one-hour workshops from sustainability professionals to offer learning for delegates, followed by roundtable COP style discussion groups to ensure action. Finally at the end of the day the EcoPrint Innovation Awards will recognise best practice and great innovations in sustainability in print.
We believe 2023 is the perfect opportunity to create real, sustainable change within our industry and the sectors it touches, and with the focal point of the growing EcoPrint community being the summit held in Geneva, Switzerland, the ‘home of summits’, European HQ of the UN, and many other important NGOs, it is the perfect location.