Sustainability

Reducing Our Environmental Impact

The single biggest step we can take as a Printing Company to affect our environmental impact is the type of paper we use. So it may come as a surprise that we don’t offer recycled paper as an option. There is quite a bit of debate out there over sustainable versus recycled paper and having done our research we feel sustainable paper is actually better for the environment overall for a number of reasons:

  • Recycled paper is great for making cardboard, but the process to make printer quality paper requires a huge amount of bleach to make it white enough. This causes recycled paper to create far larger amounts of waste industrial chemicals which is bad for the environment.
  • There is no industry standard or independent verification for how much recycled material recycled paper contains. Some new wood pulp is usually required to bring it up to printing quality, meaning it can be difficult to know how much of your paper is actually recycled.
  • Programs such as the Forestry Stewardship Council are committed to preserving and using forests around the world in a sustainable way. Forests are vital for removing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and promoting their use in this way can protect them from being cleared out and the land given over to agriculture or development.

We’re working towards getting our ISO14001 certification, which is the international standard for environmental protection within a business which requires companies to go beyond legal duties to do as much as they can to reduce their impact on the environment

 

Green Energy: We get our electricity from a green energy supplier who guarantee that all our energy needs are met from renewable sources.

 

Reduce, Reuse, Recycle: From installing low energy LED lights in work spaces instead of energy hungry spot lamps, to saving boxes from our deliveries to ship out our own orders, we’re always looking for ways we can cut waste and reduce our energy consumption.

 

Risograph Printing: Risographic printing is unusual in that it presses vegetable based ink through a wax mould, as it requires no heat or water it uses a fraction of the energy traditional printing requires. Our Risograph machines can print 150 copies a minute while only using the same energy as a light bulb. (Link to Riso products page)

Businesses We Buy and Contract From

The steps we take are only part of the solution, which is why environmental policies are something we look at closely when choosing our suppliers and delivery partners.

Cycle courier is the most environmentally friendly way to deliver our orders to customers, but for larger orders and those going further afield a traditional courier is necessary. We’ve chosen to use DPD because they share our commitment to only using renewable energy and. wherever possible, recyclable materials. They are also investing heavily in electric vehicles and currently 10% of their fleet of vans are electric powered.

We only purchase our paper from certified sustainable sources and have a strong preference for brands like DoubleA. DoubleA was founded in Thailand and has a strong focus on working with their local community to promote sustainable forestry and green initiatives.

For our digital printing we use Xerox presses that use dry toner instead of traditional oil based liquid inks. Empty cartridges, waste toner and broken parts are all sent back to Xerox and recycled.

DPD

Double A Paper

Xerox