Going Green: What to Look for in an Eco-Friendly Document Services Provider
Reduce your environmental impact through sustainable green printing practices
Documents are at the heart of every business process. No matter the market or the industry, documents drive the business functions of every organization. Marketing, accounting, customer service, human resources, research, manufacturing and shipping – these are just a few essential business functions that depend on documents as crucial components of the process. Imagine your organization without documents – how would you survive?
Standard Register has been working on waste management and elimination for many years with the following practices:
Paper Recycling Initiative
In the 1990s SR’s rotary manufacturing plants initiated a program for segregation and recycling for the majority of plant-generated scrap paper. This program continues today, significantly reducing much of the landfill practices that were in place prior.
Move from Acid-Based Papers to Alkaline-Based
Again in the 1990s, SR switched from an acid based to an alkaline based paper. This greatly improved the quality of the effluent from the paper mills to local rivers, and allowed for more abundant “fillers” reducing the number of trees required.
Change from oil-based to vegetable (SOY) ink
Soy-based inks are now used as the standard in all of SR’s offset printing applications. One alternate is UV inks – which do not contain any solvents. For flexo-based printing, SR uses water-based inks which are non toxic – any waste is treated at the municipal water treatment center.
Plate Processing
Plate making, prior to the 1990s, often utilized very caustic or hazardous chemicals. Today, plate-making for offset printing uses a water-based solution which is neutralized and rendered harmless prior to introducing to the municipal water treatment center for final processing. Plate processing for flexo-printing is thermal.
Film processing
The vast majority of all plate-making processes at SR have moved to Computer to Plate (CTP) over the past five years. This completely eliminated the use of film negatives to make plates, and the associated chemistry for film processing.
Press Fountain Solution
Offset printing requires the use of a fountain solution in the printing process. The fountain solution was an alcohol-based solvent prior to the 1980s when SR moved to a water-based synthetic, which is safe to flush down the drain for treatment at the municipal water treatment center.
Despite their importance, however, documents and the production methods behind them can be notoriously harmful to the environment. Non-recycled waste, hazardous materials, unmonitored energy consumption, irresponsible forest management practices – all these factors and more contribute to your organization’s environmental footprint.
Read on to learn what choices you can make when selecting a document services provider to better protect the environment and improve your bottom line.
Responsible Forest Management Practices
Explore document services providers who have taken the necessary steps to obtain certifications with Sustainable Forestry Initiative (SFI) and Forest Stewardship Council (FSC). This ensures that papers used are from sustainable forests – comparable to farming the material bases.
The FSC and SFI chain of custody systems connect responsible forest management practices and products with consumers. Through FSC/SFI chain of custody, companies can demonstrate their commitment to environmentally and socially responsible forest management and label their products with the FSC/SFI trademarks. FSC/SFI certifications are for companies that process, transform or trade FSC or SFI certified forest products. It enables companies to:
- Identify and control certified sources and reclaimed/recycled material
- Show their customers that they meet FSC/SFI requirements for the control of non-FSC certified wood and fiber
- Use the FSC/SFI trademarks and labels to promote their products in the marketplace
An Eye on Energy Consumption
By engaging energy consultants to audit production facilities, some document services providers are taking action to make significant reductions in energy usage from both manufacturing and facility use. This involves all energy from all sources and consumption points. Energy consultants often help to implement the corrective and energy reduction actions and conduct a Green House Gas Emissions
Assessment to identify opportunities for reductions of an organization’s carbon footprint.
Reduce Sources of Non-Recyclable Waste
The on-going reduction in sources of non-recyclable waste products is critical to the healthy future of our environment. Document services providers should have ongoing processes in place to eradicate environmental hazards, minimize waste and optimize processes, such as:
- Identifying all internal sources of waste and current disposal methods
- Classifying wastes
- Ongoing measurement of waste streams
- Action plans for each waste stream which continue to reduce and eventually eliminate the waste stream from the facility and, in turn, company-wide.
Sustainable Green Printer Initiative
A new national partnership is being organized by three print associations (PIA/GATF - Printing Industries of America/Graphic Arts Technical Foundation, SGIA – Specialty Graphic Imaging Association, and FTA – Flexographic Technical Association) to help printing companies achieve “Sustainable Green” status and implement the best practices of others in the industry towards a common goal.
Consider document service providers who are currently or actively pursuing becoming a certified sustainable green partner (SGP) in the printing industry. Printers can be listed as a certified SGP Printer by meeting a set of criteria to establish performance standards, and adhering to the following practices:
- Employ, wherever and whenever possible, materials derived from renewable resources or with low environmental impact, maximizing recycling and recovery efforts with efficient utilization of renewable energy.
- Adopt changes within the supply chain through the use of raw materials that do not threaten or harm future generations.
- Recognize and increase social responsibility through sustainable green printing practices.
Standard Register recognizes its responsibility and commitment to the environment and to the communities in which we work and serve. Our “less paper strategy” for managing our customers’ document flow has had a significant impact on reducing total paper consumption in organizations throughout North America. At the same time, SMARTworks®, our Web-based document management platform, provides our customers with an eco-friendly way to procure, manage and track document cost and usage, so they can make responsible choices.
If you’re looking for ways to clean up your business processes, as well as lessen their environmental impact, contact us today. Together we can share responsibility for reducing the environmental impacts of daily operations.