Environment

Orbus Exhibit & Display Group has announced a partnership with environmental not-for-profit Repurpose America. The partnership not only allows the company to further its own environmental protection efforts but also supports and encourages local recycling and repurposing of waste materials.

Orbus has been certified under ISO 14001:2004 since March of 2010, upholding a strong dedication to minimising harmful effects on the environment, protecting the environment, and achieving a continual improvement of environmental performance.

Recently, Orbus’ environmental preservation efforts via its Las Vegas facility, operated by Aaron Kozar, have branched into a partnership with local, like-minded not-for-profit organisation Repurpose America.  Headed by Zachary Delbex, the Las Vegas-based organisation aims specifically to reduce waste created by tradeshow exhibits and displays.

To date, the partnership has produced several repurposed items such as badge holders, masks, tote bags and iPad holders, all created from scrap vinyl and other materials used in the production process.  The collaboration furthers Orbus’ dedication to preserving the environment, and also serves as a means of supporting one of the communities the company is located in. Orbus is pleased with the results of the partnership effort thus far, and looks forward to what the future will bring.

In cooperation with Printing SA (The Printing Industries Federation of South Africa), the Two Sides campaign will soon be launching in South Africa.

“To have South Africa join the Two Sides network is fantastic news”, says Martyn Eustace, Director of Two Sides. “South Africa is the home to international companies like Sappi and Mondi and is the leading economy in Africa with important paper manufacturing and printing industries. The issues which Two Sides faces globally are highly relevant to South Africa and I look forward to working with an enthusiastic team to ensure that the environmental sustainability of our industry is communicated to the business users and consumers who are often subjected to incorrect and misleading information”.

Pulp, paper, print and packaging is a significant contributor to the South African economy with an annual turnover in excess of 65 billion Rand (€5 billion). The industry employs over 50 000 people in 3000 enterprises across the value chain from forestry all the way to print and paper based distribution. Suppliers to the industry of equipment, chemicals, print consumables and raw materials are also included in this number.

In recent years Two Sides has expanded its activities from Europe to the United States and Australia. Other countries are expected to join. Multi-county websites and newsletters hold and distribute information about the sustainability of print and paper and the organisation produces a fully sourced and detailed booklet on the Myths and Facts of the industry. Two Sides also engages with anti-print and paper messages which imply that print media may not be an environmental way to communicate and has had great success in changing the marketing messages of many well known corporate organisations.

Deon Joubert, Past President of Printing SA, will be heading Two Sides South Africa, and comments, “Printers and their associates have been maligned for many years, yet we don’t attack other forms of media. Through Two Sides, we have a golden opportunity to defend the paper-based community and provide valid arguments for the prolonged success of our industry.”

Patrick Lacy, CEO of Printing SA, adds, “A campaign blueprint is almost complete. As a non-profit organisation, we’ll be relying on members and media partners to support our efforts to elevate the value of this important issue.”

Historically, retailers’ obsolete visual merchandising signage has just been thrown into the landfill. But thanks to DuPont’s LifeCycle Based Solutions program, retailers can recycle entire Tyvek and Vivia displays with ease, enhancing the materials’ appeal to sustainability-minded big brands and their supply chain printing partners.

“The DuPont LifeCycle Based Solutions for Tyvek is part of our ongoing initiative to offer sustainable material options, which meet our corporate responsibility goals. It also aligns with the tenets of the Sustainable Green Printing Partnership (SGP), a certification body that DuPont has actively supported since its inception in 2008,” comments Annette Kim, North America Marketing Manager for Tyvek at DuPont Protection Technologies. SGP Certification requires that printing facilities undergo a thorough audit of their operations in order to satisfy its criteria for sustainability. “We support SGP Certified facilities by favoring them in our print procurement practice,” states Kim. “We are also proud to support their sustainability journey by developing innovative products to their use and to advocate to their clients.”

One SGP Certified print facility in particular, Portland-based Infinity Images, has received positive client feedback as a result of the recycling options of the Tyvek Vivia product line. Infinity Images constantly seeks ways to enrich its solutions to clients while embracing a sustainability-driven business model. Tyvek Vivia allows Infinity Images to accomplish just that for some of the world’s most recognizable brands, including adidas.

“Tyvek Vivia is an awesome product for window campaigns when we need two sided banners or when a customer is looking for something that is recyclable,” states Jason Mockley, Senior Project Manager, Infinity Images. “The clients are happy with the print quality of the banners and are excited to address waste concerns by using the Tyvek mailback program to extend the life of the banner material when the campaign ends, instead of just throwing them away. It’s a good, win-win product that is easier to sell because of that story,” notes Mockley.

By sourcing sustainable substrates and print manufacturing processes from an SGP Certified print facility like Infinity Images, adidas is realising its supply chain goals as part of its Environmental Strategy 2015. As a result, the sporting goods giant is reducing its carbon footprint while advancing its sustainability leadership.

“In addition to being a strong and versatile material, Tyvek Vivia has been designed with sustainability in mind. It’s PVC-free, which is of utmost importance to SGP Certified printers,” notes Kim. “It doesn’t contain any phthalates, binders, heavy metals, or compounds that are found on lists of toxic chemicals.” DuPont’s Tyvek is used as wide format material across the country; the high-density polyethylene is a popular choice for banners and signs due to its durability and lightweight strength, requiring less material than vinyl to accomplish the same task.

To complete the lifecycle of the Tyvek products, DuPont partnered with Waste Management to create a convenient recycling kit and program. Waste Management recycles the banners and reprocesses them into resin, which is then repurposed for a variety of uses.

Waste Management also gathers valuable data pertaining to the Tyvek recycling program by scanning a barcode on the recycling kit envelope. The material owner can then receive a certificate that details how much Tyvek® is recycled. “The recycled material tracking is a unique feature of the program and is valuable to SGP Certified printers. It provides documentation of their sustainability best practices and helps monitor their continuous improvement progress, which can easily be incorporated into their annual reports,” Kim notes.

Print facilities and their clients using Tyvek can sign up for the program at recycletyvek.wm.com to receive a recycling kit. The standard kit includes an expandable Tyvek envelope capable of holding 250 square feet of Tyvek material. Custom recycling kits are available upon request.

Mondi, the paper and packaging manufacturer, has become the latest company to join Verdigris, the environmental initiative from graphic arts research group Digital Dots. Mondi is the first representative of the paper industry to join the Verdigris project.

Verdigris helps all parts of the print chain evaluate the carbon footprint of print and electronic media, from the point of file creation via production to final distribution, use and disposal.  The project's goal is to raise awareness of print’s capabilities in reducing environmental impact, through cooperative content development shared with an international network of trade publishers.

"We are very pleased to have signed on as an Associate Member of the Verdigris Project,” says Johannes Klumpp, Marketing and Sales Director for Mondi Uncoated Fine Paper. “Print does have a positive story to tell: Paper is a recyclable material that comes from a renewable resource. As a leading producer of office and professional printing papers, we are reliant on forests as the primary raw material for our products and we have a responsibility to maintain the healthy functioning of the forest ecosystems we own and manage. Sustainability is vital to Mondi’s business and our license to operate and we are happy to use the synergies between the paper and printing industries to tell this story."

Mondi's manufacturing process looks at the issue of carbon footprint from the ground up, starting with the development of a sustainable forestry programme. In 2012 Mondi Group sustainably managed around 2.1 million hectares of boreal forest in Komi Russia and 306,000 hectares of plantation forests in South Africa. Mondi Group planted some 31 million new trees.

The latest development from Mondi has been the Green Range of products. As of January 2012 all Mondi branded papers now meet the company's Green Range criteria. The Green Range consists entirely of FSC™ / PEFC™ certified paper from responsibly managed forests, totally chlorine-free paper or 100% recycled paper.

Welcoming Mondi’s support, Verdigris founder Laurel Brunner says,  “It is wonderful to have a paper company add its support to the Verdigris project. Mondi is one of the few paper companies which really appreciate what we are trying to achieve with the project. Mondi is certainly practicing what it preaches with its sustainable forestry programme and the development of its 'Green Range' of paper products.”

Italian paper company Favini is underlining its commitment to protecting the environment by renewing its support for a community based project in Madagascar, off the African coast.  The company is working to help improve the quality of life for the community of Sahavondronina by teaching more innovative farming techniques that make it possible to respect the local ecosystem while helping to develop a more ecological tourism industry.

The project is named “Voiala” and is a microcosm of community actions aimed at protecting and recreating natural resources that have been heavily exploited.  The main goal of the project is to use the experience at Sahavondronina to develop a model for other local communities to follow. At present, the inhabitants of this village in the east Madagascar, are protecting 2,077 hectares of virgin forest and in reforestatiion around the village, which has been stripped bare by decades of exploitation. 

For the first three years, Project Voiala focused on protecting 2,077 hectares of virgin forest from further destruction, exploitation and poaching, as well as on related education efforts. At the same time, infrastructure was created in order to help with reforestation.    Between December and March, a period that coincides with the rainy season, the project has planted more than 12,500 plants donated by Favini, involving 300 people and 2 schools, covering 6 hectares. Quarterly reports are posted to the Favini website to highlight the progress being made.

Andrea Nappa, CEO  of Favini, comments, "We are proud to be partners of a project that has a great social value that provides a real support to the people to preserve their own environmental heritage.  We strongly believe in the need to protect and reforest valuable forest, which fully represents our philosophy and our commitment to protect the environment , this is an important 7 year project from 2009.”

Favini was the first Italian paper company to adopt the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) Standard as a guarantee to respect rigorous environmental, social and economic standards in the raw materials used to manufacture paper.

For more information on the project, please visit www.favini.com/madagascar/en/

Royal Mail has joined the Two Sides and Print Power campaigns, describing the groups' actions to promote print as a sustainable medium as 'completely complementary' to its own work in the area. Royal Mail has emphasised 'the important role mail plays in the fabric of our daily lives' as well as the impact of printed marketing material in a digitised industry.

The goal of the Two Sides and Print Power campaigns is to promote the responsible production and use of print and paper, and dispel common environmental misconceptions by providing users with verifiable information on why print and paper is an attractive, practical and sustainable communications medium.

Royal Mail is an essential part of the UK’s economic and social infrastructure, serving companies, customers and communities six days a week; delivering 59 million items every working day to businesses and households.

David Gold, Head of Public Affairs at Royal Mail comments: “It is important that we recognise and focus upon the importance of mail for all UK citizens; ensuring that companies and consumers alike not only recognise the important role mail plays in the fabric of our daily lives but also how mail can deliver corporate marketing messages that really stand out an increasingly digital and media cluttered world”

Gold continues, “The mission of Two Sides, to promote the attractiveness and sustainability of mail, is completely complementary to our own activities and we are looking forward to working with the organisation to assist the development of their campaigns and strengthen our own relationships with information that will benefit all our stakeholders”.

Martyn Eustace, Director of Two Sides responds; “It’s great to see Royal Mail, an organisation very much at the forefront of print and mailing technology, supporting our campaigns. We’re currently having great success, supported by magazine and newspaper publishers, with our £2.5 million ‘No Wonder You Love Paper’ campaign, aimed at changing consumer perceptions about print and paper’s sustainability. The Print Power magazine, which promotes print’s unique effectiveness as part of multi-media campaigns, is now established as a must-have magazine for Brand Owners and Media Decision Makers. Royal Mail’s support for these campaigns, and our ability to collaborate with them, will be invaluable.”