Pride in paper and print campaign kicks off in Sydney

Summit meeting calls for the industry to stop being defensive about its track record in communications and the environment and to start a push back against a continuing campign of malicious and self-interested slurs and slanders.

The long-term promotional and information campaign, with the slogan, ‘Print – part of every day’ was launched by Bernard Cassell, managing director of CPI Group in his role as chairman of the Australian Paper Industry Association (APIA). Before an audience of leading industry figures, campaign managers Tim Woods (on left) and Robert Eastment (Pulp and Paper Edge) (right) outlined the goals and the strategy of the campaign, which is designed to improve perceptions of and lift morale in the print and paper industry.

The  campaign seeks to enlist the 76,000 people who work in the industry to help push back against, what Woods called “the vilification of the industry.” The aim is to combat the notion that paper and printing is damaging to the environment. It looks to win the debate around the barbeque when people are criticised for working in the industry.

‘Print-part of every day’ is not a public campaign but is rather directed at the industry itself. It depends on industry professionals signing on and spreading a ‘viral’ message. A website is due to be launched in the next few weeks and material will be produced that printing companies can download and produce for further dissemination.

A major target of the campaign is the ‘greenwashing’ claim that corporations are aiding the environment when they induce customers to switch to electronic statements. Comparisons of the carbon footprint between paper-based and electronic communication tell a different story. Inevitably the real reason is to cut their costs.

“There is this idea that electronic communication has no environmental cost, which is wrong,” said Cassells. “We have to stop being defensive about our industry. The changes we’ve [pulp and paper industry] made are astounding. We’ve got a great story to tell, so it’s time we get out there and tell it,” he said.
He finished by quoting Jonathon Porritt, Head of the UK Sustainability Commission; “Very few industries can claim to be completely sustainable – pulp and paper is one.”

A major report on the sustainability of the industry is due for release in the next few weeks.
Stay tuned for further details.

What do you think? Does the printing and paper industry have a good story to tell or is the Paperless Alliance right when it says we shouljd be working towards a paperless world? Are we part of the future or a problematic relic of the past?