Business Management - Sustainability

Black liquor has been a hot topic and meant big bucks to the paper industry since 2007. And when we talk about “big bucks,” we mean big—as in billions of dollars. Let’s take a step back and look at how this whole thing works.

As part of the competition to promote sustainable business practices in xpedx’ supply chain, MBA students from the Net Impact network will develop a survey and scorecard that xpedx can use to document the sustainability goals and policies of the manufacturers xpedx represents.

While News Corp. is claiming to be the first global media company to achieve neutrality, that accomplishment is based on carbon off-sets. Now it is working on reducing absolute emissions. To reach that goal, it has implemented a number of efficiency projects, which generally have an ROI of two years.

I believe that FSC certification in the commercial printing and marketing communications industry has hit a negative tipping point. By this, I mean that the future of FSC certification in these fields is murky at best. I base my assertion on a lot of anecdotal evidence I have seen in the field, both from printers, and especially from marketing professionals and print buyers.

Back when I started conducting green marketing seminars in 2007, there was growing interest in FSC, and a sense that it would become the industry standard. It was on its way there, but it was hurt

While not following the true form of the 12-step method, the actions outlined in the “12 Steps to Sustainability: How Every Company Can Implement Sustainability to Improve the Bottom Line and the Environment” report are intended to reduce environmental impact.

After more than 10 years, the Federal Trade Commission has released proposed revisions to the “Green Guides” used to help companies apply “truth in advertising” when making environmental claims. The new changes can be summarized in two words: Prove it.

For years now, you've been told that you need to be a “green” printer. Well, now I’m going to tell you to be a sustainable printer instead. Green and sustainable have much the same meaning to most people.

Asia Pulp and Paper (APP), the pulp and paper division of Sinar Mas, stirred up the ire of Greenpeace once again. So much so that Greenpeace presented APP its Golden Chainsaw Award for being “one of the worst rainforest destroyers in Indonesia.”

The green printing movement is having a big impact on college printing operations across the country. We ask Lisa Hoover, director of Publications, Print and Mail at Bucknell University, to tell us about these changes and how they're making a difference.

Green printing is anything you can do to lessen the impact on the environment - whether that's a choice of paper, printing fewer of copies of something, recycling what we have printed already, utilizing chemistry-free systems, working with FSC (Forest Stewardship Council) or SFI (Sustainable Forestry Initiative) certification processes, or reducing overall energy consumption.

President and CEO Dick Kouwenhoven talks about measuring the results of Hemlock’s green initiatives, incentives and reporting, and working with designers to create projects that are recyclable or reusable. Founded more than 40 years ago, Hemlock Printers generates sales of about $30 million CDN.