As we’ve already mentioned, catalogues are integral to our marketing strategy; they provide our customers with convenient, accessible, and easy-to-read information on our product lines, and work in tandem with our online nutritional shop. To mitigate the environmental impact of the entire printing process, we outsource a company that strives to operate in a sustainable manner at every stage of the supply chain, fully complying with the requirements of the Environmental Management System Standard ISO 14001.
In addition to offering products that satisfy market demands, this printing firm endeavours to conserve water, energy, metals, packaging, and other natural resources throughout its operations. Some of its best environmental performance indicators include seeking to reduce waste through recycling and reusing products, selecting materials that offer superior environmental benefits, using minimal water in the printing process, encouraging suppliers to cultivate eco-friendly goods at competitive prices, and influencing customers to act in environmentally conscious ways. What’s more, the company is supported by a thriving network of waste companies and suppliers. And this means it receives up-to-date advice on how to reduce its environmental impact by adopting the most sustainable working practices and constantly innovating.
Beyond this, the organisation also trains and motivates staff members to carry out their duties in an environmentally responsible manner. Not only does it urge the resourceful use of vehicles – aided by monitoring techniques and electronic scheduling – but it also promotes conference and video calling, along with the use of public transport for business appointments. The company even takes measures to encourage wildlife to frequent its sites, placing compost bins, log piles, and bird boxes in its grounds.
It’s also worth noting that we utilise the company’s Carbon Balanced Paper scheme, which – with the help of the conservation charity, World Land Trust – offsets the carbon impact of the printing operation. By purchasing and preserving land threatened by clearance, World Land Trust ensures carbon – that would otherwise be released into the atmosphere – is absorbed by plants instead. Thanks to soaking up carbon, these natural reserves deliver Reduced Emission from Deforestation and Forest Deforestation (REDD), which is now acknowledged to be one of the most efficient ways to reduce atmospheric C02. Aside from cutting green house gas emissions, this scheme benefits flora and fauna, too, including a host of species that have been identified at risk of extinction on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species.
Finally, the organisation ensures all paper used in its operations is FSC approved – a certification that guarantees the environmentally appropriate, socially beneficial, and economically viable management of the world’s forests. And if that wasn’t enough, the catalogues are printed using vegetable-based inks using Agfa Chemistry free plates. Any silver areas are printed with ‘Simulated Silver’ which doesn’t include any metallic pigment, but still achieves the metallic effect.
Bibliography:
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World Land Trust. (2019). Rainforest and Wildlife conservation in action with World Land Trust. Available online: https://www.worldlandtrust.org [Accessed 20 Feb. 2019].
