Politicians are treating the printing industry with contempt - Bernard Cassell

A strong lobby group in Canberra is required to redress the attacks of green groups on the printing and paper industry.

Greenwashing claims by major corporations that electronic communication has no environmental impact must be challenged. According to Bernard Cassell, (pictured) CEO of CPI Group and chairman of the Australian Paper Industry Association (APIA), there is a need for a broad information campaign on behalf of the industry.

In a wide-ranging interview in this month’s Pulp & Paper Edge, he outlines his ambitions for a peak body, the Sustainable Print Alliance, to lobby on behalf of the industry. “Politicians have long treated our industry with contempt. They have not paid any attention to it, nor sought to protect it in any way, shape or form,” he said.

Instead of being damned as an environmental vandal he wants to see the industry held up as an example of how to improve and transform environmental processes. “We should be lauded by Green groups and used as an example, no pilloried for the sake of the simplistic symbolism of saving a tree,” he said.

He flagged the creation of a half a million dollar fund to defend and promote print and paper. APIA is seeking to recruit 100 associate members from outside the paper industry, such as printers, print management companies and industry suppliers, to help achieve its goals.

“The issues confronting the industry are so broad that no one part of the industry, I believe, could adequately satisfy the questions by themselves,” he said.