Environment

Martine Padilla, president of US-based printing strategy company Sophizio and director of the Sustainable Green Printing Partnership, shows how printers are now harnessing the power of their sustainability efforts. 

When sustainability is broadly defined as ‘global prosperity,’ encompassing fiscal, social and environmental responsibilities, the sustainability priorities of big brands vary -  usually driven by the impact of their own footprint. Goals for some companies include simple, passive initiatives such as ‘reduce, reuse, recycle,’ and for others it includes much better-defined goals including reduced waste, natural resource use reduction, emissions reduction, increased use of renewable energy, elevated labour practices and entire supply chain lifecycle analysis.

Understand what new Timber Regulation (EU) no: 995/2010 (EUTR) means to you as a printer. Matthew Botfield, environment manager at Antalis UK, explains. 

Did you know that on 3 March this year the European Union implemented Regulation (EU) no: 995/2010, otherwise referred to as the European Timber Regulations (EUTR), making it a criminal offence for any organisation to place illegally sourced timber or timber-based products onto the EU market. If you think that has nothing to do with you, think again.

Why you should be aware of the fledgling Higg List eco index.

Heard of the Higg Index yet? Indications are that you will, and that one-day it will impact upon the way you do business - and who with - because this is a fledgling eco index that promises to fly far and high.

As energy bills rise Darren Riva, head of financing at the Energy Efficiency Financing scheme, explains how you can help the planet and your bottom line.

Squeezed between a sluggish economic recovery and rising electricity prices, businesses will continue to seek ways to reduce operating costs in 2013 and beyond. As a result, energy efficiency has been propelled to the forefront of the management agenda. In the energy-intensive printing industry there is significant energy saving potential. 

The last issue provided a synopsis of the Image Reports panel discussion: ‘Can you sell your sustainability USP as a printer?’ This month, we look at some of the key arguments aired at EcoPrint over why you need to take sustainability seriously even if you can’t.

Not just converted but evangelical is how I’d describe the keynote speakers at EcoPrint, and listening to them explain why the issue of sustainability is of intrinsic importance to our future it’s difficult not to be swayed by their fervour.

Can you sell your sustainability USP as a printer?

That’s the question Image Reports posed at its EcoPrint debate. Here’s how the panel’s international spread of print experts see it…

Building an Ark may be going a bit far, but you certainly need to make preparations for the chaos climate change may wreck on your business as environmental consultant Clare Taylor explains.

We read a lot about preventing climate change, but what about preparing for it? It is happening, and we are already feeling the effects: research for Defra found that almost a third of UK businesses had been significantly affected by extreme weather between 2007 and 2010.Checking the possible impacts on your business and being prepared makes sense.

How a more efficient approach to colour management can dramatically boost your environmental credentials and bottom line by cutting ink use and waste.

Somehow we seem to have assumed that being environmentally friendly is going to cost us more. This idea is so endemic to the way we think that green policies have become one of the biggest casualties of the current economic crisis. Yet one of the biggest threats to our planet’s health is the sheer amount of waste that we all produce. It’s no surprise that reducing waste is also a pretty good way of increasing profit margins.