Business Management - Sustainability

The Benedictine monks at St. Meinrad Archabbey in Southern Indiana have begun Snail's Pace, a new business venture at their Abbey Press. After closing their long-standing direct mail catalog business at the end of last year, the monks decided to convert their printing division into a "green" print operation, which would reflect the Benedictine tradition and history of care and concern for the environment.

The company will produce a variety of environmentally- and socially-responsible paper goods. With this new venture, the monks will renew their roots in the printing industry, which dates to 1867.

Called the Crazy Sustainable Commute, the one-day event on Aug. 27 challenged like-minded folks to consider breaking away from their normal car/bus/train or other fossil fuel-burning modes of transportation in favor of a greener, if not goofy, trip to work. The idea was conceived by Vancouver, BC, resident Steve Unger and his neighbor, Scott Gray, an account executive with Metropolitan Fine Printers.

To cleanse the air of pollutants from its printing plant, Serigraph Inc. first turned to horse manure. The West Bend (WI) printer set up a biological filter for removing volatile organic compounds from the air before it was released from the plant. The filter used horse manure as the medium to grow bacteria that devoured the pollutants. Not just any horse manure. It came from Florida, because Wisconsin horse manure had the wrong pH for growing the bacteria.

Much less smelly, tree bark is now used for Serigraph's biological filter, which is housed in two 30-by-60-foot chambers.

Brian Driscoll doesn’t regard himself as a pioneer, rather a businessman using a natural resource. When Driscoll switched on a 100-kilowatt wind turbine at his Phoenix Press printing facility in New Haven, little did he know that his decision to go with wind instead of another renewable will reveal him as a trailblazer in an emerging state market.

“I was really just looking for ways to reduce my monthly electricity costs,” Driscoll said.

With lower product prices, continued high electricity rates, improving technology and high-profile projects, Connecticut will embrace solar power’s cousin.

The commercial offset, digital and flexographic printer in St. Louis Park, MN, recently completed the installation of a 12.22 kW solar powered system with 52 panels. Its system is expected to generate 15,000 kW hours of electricity per year. ”Adding solar power to our building not only helps the environment but gives our clients an opportunity to contribute to being more green”, says Alan Goltzman Presswrite Printing’s President.

The digital media revolution promises to improve the quality of our lives though an expanded capacity to communicate, collaborate, learn and make informed decisions. Yet our seemingly insatiable demand for digital media is driving a proliferation of consumer electronic devices and IT infrastructure, which are significantly contributing to a tsunami of toxic electronic waste.

This week U.S. Environmental Protection Agency administrator Lisa Jackson announced that promoting citizen engagement and increasing government accountability on enforcement to improve the design, production, handling, reuse, recycling, exporting and disposal of electronics is of the EPA's top six international priorities.

The book industry is rapidly implementing practices that minimize negative social and environmental impacts. Over 250 publishers, representing about 50% of the book industry's market share, have either developed strong environmental policies. This webinar is designed to share best practices in the book industry on sustainability.

Finch Paper recently opened its mill (and forests) in Glens Falls, NY, to several industry media and analysts, myself included. The tour featured an up-close view of the company’s integrated paper-making facility, which includes a woodyard, pulp mill and four paper machines.

Brothers Brian and Kevin Driscoll, co-owners of New Haven, CT-based Phoenix Press, could not help but be excited about their new 156-foot wind turbine. The brothers never imagined that their family owned commercial printing business would serve as a prime location for harnessing wind energy.

The Print Buyer’s Reduction in Taxes Bill of 2010 proposes that any print project, which is purchased in an environmentally sustainable way, be eligible for refunds of state sales taxes by the Federal government.