Industry promotion gets a roll on

Printing Industries is encouraging printing companies to print and locally distribute a customised version of a brochure promoting the environmental benefits of print and paper.

Titled Paper - a fundamental part of daily living, the brochure was designed by the recently formed Australian Paper Industry Association (APIA) as the first in a series providing information to industry companies, their clients, consumers and other interested parties, aiming to correct any misconceptions existing about the sustainability and environmental effects of the paper and print industry.

Printing Industries national communications and technical services manager, Joe Kowalewski, said his association had created a Print Promotion section on its www.printnet.com.au website where industry members could download a press optimised version of the APIA brochure (PDF 6.6MB).

"It is very important and an excellent marketing initiative for companies to individually take ownership for promoting our industry's good environmental credentials to their customers, local community, schools, different levels of government and others," he said.

"The press optimised file has an area on the cover where companies can overprint their contact details to identify themselves with the campaign and then print copies for their own use," he said.

"We will progressively add other material to the Print Promotion part of PrintNet so that we build up a stock of knowledge and promotional materials which we want everyone to access and use."

Kowalewski said many organisations had made commendable efforts at producing industry promotional material, often in isolation.

"Printing Industries wants to collate this into a resource that all companies can benefit from and spread the good news about our industry far and wide. We are an industry with manufacturing plants in every electorate, and that gives us a unique way of reaching and educating the entire population if we work together.

"We are also talking to our affiliated overseas print associations and assessing the suitability of material they can provide. We all have the same goal. We just need to co-ordinate and share resources," he said.

Launching the brochure recently Bernard Cassell, first chairman of APIA and CEO of CPI said, "It is vital that those of us in the print industry become fully informed in regard to the environment, so we are equipped to spread the message.

 "What we as an industry need to get across is actually no more than the truth, that paper and print is the only environmentally-friendly and sustainable communication medium."

The flyer highlights the fact that print and paper are environmentally positive, whereas electronic media (TV / internet / CD / mobile) mass communication is damaging to the environment. For instance Australia's per capita paper consumption (magazines, newspapers, bills, flyers etc etc) equates to 72kg of CO2 emissions, compared with six times that, 450kg per annum for the average plasma TV.

The optimised file can be downloaded here or by visiting the Print Promotion section on www.printnet.com.au