Mirror mirror, on the wall: Print21 magazine article

It’s time for the printing industry to take a good hard look at its green credentials. While many printers claim to be concerned about the environment, the number of companies prepared to put themselves to the test in the full gaze of the public eye is still miniscule. Simon Enticknap looks at recent industry moves to improve the green accountability of printers.

Progress in improving the environmental performance of the printing industry is often measured in tiny increments. It’s a topic that seems to have been on the agenda for ever; it is discussed openly ad nauseum at industry functions and in boardrooms but still it seems that the printing industry is unable to shake off its image as a nasty polluter. A dirty, tree-killing, chemical user.

That’s not surprising really because, for too long, there has been a lot of truth in these accusations. Printing in the past did involve some very environmentally questionable practices and while the industry has come a long way in the past decade, the mud still sticks. This hurts everybody, both the new breed of green printers who are trying to improve the industry’s track record as well as those who have done little to change proactively but who now feel the pressure of competition from alternative media sources that are all too happy to paint themselves as paragons of cleanliness.

Pictured: The first of the Truly Green: Graduates from the first GASAA environmental management system accreditation course receive their certificates (l-r) Garry Knespal (GASAA), Luke Everingham (Shepson Printing), Nathan Kable (Rawson Graphics), Michael Jones (CDM Print), David Whitfield (Digitalpress), Rick McDonald(NSW Department of Lands Graphic Services), Wayne Dabbs (JA Wales Printers), Paul Kohn (AKP Leura).

The latest attempt to make tangible progress in this area comes in the form of industry-based certification programs that aim to lead printers towards the internationally accepted standard for environmental management, ISO 14001 (or ISO 14001:2004 Environment Management Systems certification – to give it its full name). These programs are designed to help printers overcome their reluctance to embrace more environmentally-sound practices – which may be due to a lack of knowledge or an unwillingness to invest in this area – and provide an open, transparent and credible means of enabling customers to determine what constitutes a ‘green’ printer and how to find them.

In Australia, Printing Industries recently launched its Sustainable Green Print (SGP) program (see page 12) which offers a graduated assessment scheme for printers wanting to chose the level of environmental management to implement. This step-by-step approach recognises that while, for many printers, ISO 14001 certification might be a desirable goal, the resources and time involved in getting to that point effectively puts it out of reach for many companies – at least for now.

In the same vein, GASAA recently awarded certificates to the first batch of graduates in NSW from its Truly Green program which is also designed to bring companies to the point at which they are capable of taking on the ISO 14001 audit. This group-based training program is also kicking off in Victoria later this month as well as a second group in Sydney and one starting in Brisbane.

In New Zealand, the main industry program is the Enviro-Mark scheme which has been in operation for several years and is not restricted to the printing industry. Late last year, Soar Printing became the first New Zealand printer to achieve the Diamond level Enviro-Mark (other levels are platinum, gold, silver and bronze) which, again, indicates that the company is ready to undertake an ISO 14001 audit.

Of course, there are already ISO 14001-certified printers in Australia although exactly how many is hard to determine. Green print pioneers such as Finsbury Green and Focus Press have had ISO certification for a number of years now and they have slowly been joined by a number of other progressive companies such as Scott Print in WA, Sprinta Print in Tasmania, Complete Colour in Victoria and Lilyfield Printing in NSW (there are others too). Even web printers such as Offset Alpine and HannanPrint have joined in. Nevertheless, the number remains pretty low, an indication perhaps of the time, expense, effort and know-how required to gain a certificate that many printers still don’t recognise as an essential requirement.

Standing on the shoulders
The introduction of industry-based accreditation schemes is partly a recognition that while many are willing, the majority of printers still don’t know where to begin and find it too much of challenge to take on something like ISO certification by themselves.

Joe Kowalewski at Printing Industries says one of the big advantages of an industry-based scheme is that a lot of the hard work in terms of finding out what requirements are relevant to the printing industry has already been done. Instead of starting from scratch each time, individual companies can take advantage of the work that has been done before them and focus on what is unique and specific to the printing industry.

The corollary of this is that the industry-based schemes are being presented as a more cost-effective means of moving towards ISO 14001 certification. The GASAA Truly Green program, for instance, shares the costs of the ISO standards consultant, Paul Kohn of AKP Leura, between the participants. Each company still gets individual attention in the form of onsite audits conducted by Kohn and then come together for the five group sessions held monthly.

Garry Knespal at GASAA said that participants also benefited from the group dynamic which enabled them to share information and swap advice. Graduates of the first course confirmed that the group instruction had been beneficial and emphasised that the program did require working at – it wasn’t simply a case of sitting through it and then getting the piece of paper.

So what do these schemes aim to do? Fundamentally, what all these programs are doing is helping businesses set up their own environmental management systems (EMS) ie the in-house processes companies must have in place to manage their environmental impact. Typically this involves identification of potential areas of waste or pollution and an assessment of the risk these pose. In the process, all parts of a company’s activities are assessed (including the front office) and issues such as chemical, power and water usage as well as waste generated are measured and documented. Obviously legal obligations must be met but an effective EMS will also seek to introduce a culture of continuous improvement with new goals and recurring audits.

If this sounds a lot like the ISO 9001 quality assurance programs that were so popular in the mid-90s then that’s no accident; ISO 14001 shares a lot in common with ISO 9001 and anybody who already has the latter certification will already have done a lot of the hard yards towards ISO 14001.

Not quite ISO
The other aspect that these schemes – SGP, Truly Green and Enviro-Mark – share in common is that while they aim to take you towards ISO 14001 certification, it’s not the same as getting it: you still have to go through that audit process in addition to the industry scheme if you want to gain full ISO certification.

Currently, for instance, if you undertake the industry scheme to get to ISO 14001 standard, it will cost $7,500 for GASAA members in the Truly Green program and $8,000 for Printing Industries members who undertake level 3 in the SGP (There is also a level 4 for those printers who want to go beyond ISO 14001). If subsequently a company wants to obtain the ISO certification, the audit process is an additional cost – how much depends on a number of factor such as the size of the company, the number of sites and even who is doing the auditing. As a result, estimates vary from as low as $1,500 up to $20,000. And it’s not just a one-off fee: audits have to be carried out on a regular basis afterwards to ensure the certification is maintained. The initial audit process itself can take several months and involves an preliminary audit followed by another one a month later and then regular follow-up audits at six monthly or annual intervals.

Both Printing Industries and GASAA are negotiating with accreditation agencies to get a better deal for their association members but, even so, you’re not going to get any change out of $10k if you want to be able to display the green tick box of ISO 14001.

So what is the benefit?

You will save money. That’s the verdict not just of the associations and the accreditors involved but also printers who have been through the ISO process. Any formal procedure that seeks to identify waste in a business will ultimately have a payback, not just in terms of reduced consumption of raw materials but also in helping to identify areas of the business which are not functioning as efficiently as possible. Quite often, excessive waste, like unsafe work practices, is a symptom of a more general malaise in a business that may remain hidden from view.

At the graduation ceremony for the first GASAA Truly Green printers, Luke Everingham of Shepson Printing made the point that undertaking the course was like holding up a mirror to the business.

“And just like when you look in the mirror first thing in the morning, what you see is not always very pretty,” he commented.

Change or perish
Joe Kowalewski agrees that, for a lot of printers, taking on something like eco-accreditation is a big ask but one that is becoming increasingly necessary.

“For a lot of people it’s a cultural change,” he agrees. “It is an impost but you need to do it if you want to remain competitive.”

Eventually governments will start legislating for compliance with environmental codes – this happens already but is increasing, for instance with carbon emissions – so it’s important to get in early and be proactive before printing gets caught out. In many ways, these schemes are the best chance yet for the industry to improve its image and show that it is trying to do the right thing.

Phase 2 of the process, according to Kowalewski, will be to publicise a register of SGP certified printers and promote it with government agencies and major corporates so customers will know where to go to find a green printer and can see exactly what it is they are doing for the environment. And because the scheme is audited, it reinforces that the changes are real and tangible, not just a feel-good motherhood statement.

If this takes off, the question for printers in the future will be not how much it costs but rather how long they can afford not to be a part of it.

As for the argument that a looming recession is not the best time to be engaging in environmental accreditation, Kowalewski says that in fact the opposite is true. What better time to do something like this than when the industry is relatively quiet. Nobody ever has enough time to do such things when they are busy but now they have the opportunity and the time to undertake such work. Plus, in the end, it will give them a competitive edge.