Oct. 15, 2007—You have heard it everywhere—from manufacturers, distributors, analysts, trade press, and almost every trade show in recent memory: Green is in. Or, more precisely, sustainability and environmentally friendly business practices are becoming more and more paramount.

As print providers, print buyers, and creatives, you cannot overlook this movement. The mandate to go green is coming at you—federal regulations are getting tighter and tighter, states are beginning to layer on ever more controls on top of that, and corporations, your ultimate clients, are facing demands from consumers to have openly environmentally sound practices.

There are many resources and products out there to help you incorporate this initiative, from organizations that exist only to offer certification of various products and processes, to manufacturers and distributors who carry not only environmental products, but also offer training and certification of their own.

A Certified Mess
Certification is a route printers are increasingly exploring, as it is a tangible thing to show clients. It is not, however, as easy as it sounds. There are many organizations with certification processes, from the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC), which tracks paper-based products from the tree to the end piece, to the International Standards Organization (ISO), which has several types of green certification.

To make matters more complicated, many of the various certifications use the same language, but different definitions, so comparing them can be tough. Shops who want to cover themselves are forced to go to multiple organizations, and go through the process several times. It can be time-consuming, not to mention costly, if changes must be made to processes and machines.

The Sustainable Green Printing Partnership is hoping to streamline things more than just a bit. Formed by the Printing Industries of America/Graphic Arts Technical Foundation (PIA/GATF), Specialty Graphic Imaging Association (SGIA), and Flexographic Technical Association (FTA), the new group has a stated goal of defining sustainable green printing, and identifying a standard set of manufacturing processes and products.

While the will and desire to establish one streamlined set of standards is admirable, they have gone a step further—the groups plan to create a registry of print shops that have gone through the certification process, that will be searchable by end users. The organization hopes that by creating a single, unified database of both standards that will be applicable industry-wide, across all platforms and technologies, and printers who conform to those standards. It hopes that this will help to make the graphic arts industry lead the way in sustainable manufacturing.

Corporate Help
To encourage printers to learn more about sustainability, and implement it in their own shops, there are quite a few corporate initiatives from a variety of sectors in the industry.

Your Get Started Kit
Kodak's "Begin Your Passage to Sustainability" kit was introduced at Graph Expo last month. Featuring information and resources to assist printers in understanding how sustainability effects business, the kit also provides an overview of trends and best practices, as well as details business and operational implications of developing a sustainability program.

"Kodak's Graphic Communications Group identified a need to condense the wealth of information about sustainability into relevant, usable content that spurs a dialogue with customers as they begin their passage to sustainability," said Rick Mazur, vice president, commercial segment marketing, worldwide marketing, Kodak.

The kit includes a white paper that defines sustainability and summarizes consumer and business behaviors impacting decisions on how print will be designed, manufactured, and used.

It also features articles on sustainability, a case study of a printer at the forefront of environmentally responsible practices, a glossary of terms, and a guide to industry and government resources.

Helping You Along
Xpedx is helping printers facilitate chain-of-custody certification at no charge. "When a printer obtains chain-of-custody certification, he or she is prepared to compete for and win the highest value print jobs today," said Jeff Higgins, corporate director of marketing services for Xpedx. "Companies and other organizations are now incorporating social responsibility into their business strategies, and this places a premium on readily available access to SFI- and FSC-certified papers."

In addition to its full line of environmentally friendly papers, Mohawk Papers also released several educational booklets to help printers both learn about what sustainability is and how they can help, as well as what products the company offers to help them achieve a greener operation.

The "Eco*Guide" and "Sense and Sustainability" both offer definitions, statistics, product specs, and information on the various logos used by organizations to denote sustainable practices, and what each one means.

Doing Their Part
Manufacturers are not just talking the talk either. They are finding ways to make their own businesses more environmentally friendly.

Fujifilm was one such company, announcing that its primary U.S. manufacturing complex in Greenwood, S.C., will begin using methane gas from a local community landfill to power approximately 40 percent of the facility's operations. Through an arrangement with Greenwood County and Methane Credit LLC, methane gas will be extracted from the landfill and piped into the Fujifilm complex, where it will then be used in two of the facility's four boilers. The facility will use approximately 197 billion BTUs of methane-generated energy from the landfill per year—the equivalent of the amount of energy used to heat more than 5,000 homes.

"This is a situation where we have come up with a solution that is both good for our business, good for the community, and very good for the environment—and that is something that's always been inherent in Fujifilm's culture globally," said Johnny Udo, director of environmental, health and safety for Fujifilm in South Carolina.

"This landfill gas-to-energy project will help us reduce our greenhouse gas emissions by 10 percent, will significantly reduce our energy costs, and will reduce our dependence on fossil fuels," he added.

Presstek promotes going green with its chemistry-free printing system. A brochure, "Environmentally Friendly Digital Offset Printing," features environmental statistics and information on their products that fit the bill.

These examples show how the industry is stepping up and taking responsibility for preservation. From all sides of the equation—printers, manufacturers, and distributors—all are demonstrating that it is easy, profitable, and necessary to make positive business and environmental changes.