WHAT DO YOU MEAN, ‘SUSTAINABLE PRINTING’?
Collaboration with your printer is key to meeting sustainability goals.
Requesting a “sustainable” production from your printer is a bit like requesting a “nicer” haircut from your barber.
No problem. Where would you like us to start?
In the last couple of years, sustainability has become a boardroom buzzword. And like many buzzwords, it belies the extent of its implications.
Most people probably think first of sustainable materials such as recycled paper. But paper is a complex issue in and of itself – and this only part of the story.
In the printing industry, due to the wide variety of materials and processes involved, and our complex supply chains, many long-established norms have been overhauled as we’ve sought to rein in our environmental impact. The process is still ongoing.
Client-side, ‘sustainable’ is not a fixed term. A production considered sustainable by one business may be unsatisfactory to the next.
For some businesses, emissions are the prime focus. For others, it’s reducing carbon footprint, for others it is reducing landfill through use of recyclable materials or materials that can be recycled. Increasingly, today, the agenda is led by plastic and petroleum products.
For us, this is all in a day’s work.
A good printer should be prepared to discuss and consider a client’s business goals and marketing objectives in order to come up with the perfect formula. Sustainability is just one more dimension to be factored in.
For the best chance of success, bring your CSR goals and budget to the table right at the beginning, and arrive armed with questions to test the limits of your printer’s sustainability credentials.
Environmental certifications: no easy solution
If you’re shopping around for a new supplier, it may be tempting to rely on industry certifications. But while some industry certifications can be used to create a shortlist of suppliers, they won’t give the answers you need.
