Monthly Archives: September 2009

Making the environment personal

By , Wednesday, 30 September 2009, Be the first to comment

Make it personal and set environmental standards based on usage levels per person, says Mark Gough, Reed Elsevier global environmental manager.

“To achieve reductions, employees need to engage in the process. We have launched environmental standards that are based on usage levels per person to help focus staff.

“This includes: energy usage of 5,400kWh per person, per year; two tonnes of CO2 per person, per year; and 11m3 per person, per year.

“The kWh covers energy usage, while the CO2 covers emissions from work. We also collect travel data and report upon it.

“This has created healthy competition between teams and has led to further investment as divisional chief executives compete to have the most locations with completed standards.”

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Baling out the environment

By , Wednesday, 23 September 2009, Be the first to comment

Put in place an environmental management system that can reduce waste going to landfill by 79% in nine months, says Priority Mailing and Digital Print managing director Terry Turner.

“It is easy to be unaware of the savings to be made by recycling waste paper, cardboard and polythene. We have reduced waste going to landfill by 79% over the past nine months simply by putting card and paper into half tonne bales and polythene in 75kg bales for recycling.

“The weekly cost of buying a suitable size baler is small when compared with the landfill tax paid for disposing of these items. Add to this the payment received for recycled items and the cost is covered.”

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Watching your figures

By , Wednesday, 16 September 2009, Be the first to comment

Managing your carbon footprint by showing improvements, even small ones, can prove beneficial when submitting applications to the various environmental award schemes, says Oliver Thomas, head of tendering at Cloc.

“Despite the majority of printers striving to reduce their carbon footprint, very few actually know the exact figure they are trying to reduce.

“One of the best and most user-friendly carbon footprint calculators can be found at the Carbon Trust website. Use this calculator to discover the areas in which you need to improve.

“For the majority of companies, simple and inexpensive alterations to current set-ups can swiftly lessen your carbon footprint, gearing you towards a greener future.” 

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The worm has turned… green

By , Wednesday, 9 September 2009, 1 Comment

Think laterally and ask your staff for ideas and if you can engage a consultancy, says Rob Kelly, St Ives Group marketing director.

“Ideas from staff are actively sought and we employ a specialist consultancy to help improve our environmental performance. Clays, the book printing division of St Ives, discovered a new kind of recycling for one of its largest by-products – paper dust – at a worm farm in Norfolk.

“Clays previously disposed of their paper dust in local landfill sites, handling approximately 40 tonnes per year. The new process has eliminated this time-consuming activity and the worm farm is utilising the paper dust as a valuable resource.

“Clays incinerates the dust to burn away elements that cannot be recycled and the waste management company, ORM North Norfolk, takes the resulting paper ash away. Paper dust is an excellent source of potash, a natural fertiliser.

“The worms don’t digest the ash – they simply mix it into the other bedding materials to create a very high-quality soil conditioner.”

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Work out ‘overs’ and cut costs

By , Wednesday, 2 September 2009, Be the first to comment

Reduce paper usage and wastage by accurately calculating ‘overs’ for new machinery, says Mel Brooks, the Charlesworth Group quality and environmental manager

“Lower volumes are now required, which means there is less set up and therefore less waste paper,” he said.

“Batch similar jobs together so that there less time in set-up. This planning is economical, and they can be implemented through lean manufacturing with assistance from Vision in Print.”

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