Over the years we’ve worked with many print vendors but only one, Hemlock Printers, can call itself the Most Sustainable Printing Company in all of Canada! Not only that, they’re officially Carbon Neutral.
Recently, Rik Bjornson, principal at KADENZ, had the opportunity to talk with Richard Kouwenhoven, VP, Digital Solutions and Fulfillment Services at Hemlock, about printing, sustainability and why it should matter to you.
Hi Richard, congratulations on Hemlock’s recent award. Can you tell me about it and its significance?
We were the recipients of the Heidelberg HEI ECO Printing Award in the category of “Most Sustainable Printing Company”. This is an award offered by the largest press manufacturer in the world, based in Heidelberg Germany, which was open to its customer base of over 200,000 worldwide as well as non-customers in the sheetfed-offset sector. Companies large and small from all over the world submitted for this award program with winners being honored in two categories who were presented with an impressive award sculpture, award certificates and a share of a 50,000 Euro cash award. The HEI ECO Award program was created to enable Heidelberg and its customers to learn about best practices in the industry so for us to be honoured at this level is very exciting.
What is environmentally progressive printing?
To us, environmentally progressive printing comes down to evolving our business and acting responsibly. We are deeply concerned about the impacts our industry is having on the state of our worlds forests which was our primary motivation to really engage the issue of sustainability within our operation. From there, we started to see all kinds of opportunities to reduce our impacts, engage the staff and in many cases save money. Environmentally progressive printing is not limited to the printing process itself, it is about making a real commitment to reducing the impacts of your purchases and your operations at both the local and global level. It is quickly becoming recognized as a sound business strategy but to be successful the motivation needs to be driven by a sincere desire to address the impacts of the entire operation.
Is this corporate social responsibility (CSR) or sustainability according to Hemlock?
To us, we see this as part of the evolution of our business. We have always strived to be positive contributors to our community over our 40 year history and this is a continuation of that tradition and one that is at the core of basic business ethics. We do see that our industry can be sustainable in the true sense of the word and are excited by the multitude of opportunities we have to address our impacts which ultimately brings more value to our customers.
How does an offset printer achieve Carbon Neutrality and most sustainable printing company?
We have achieved carbon neutrality by first doing a Green House Gas Inventory to determine our total operational emissions which can also be broken down into various categories. This is where the bulk of the work takes place and it involves reviewing past invoices, courier and shipping records, interviewing staff, auditing all executive and customer flights among other things. Our internal audit was then reviewed by Offsetters to ensure that the data was complete and accurate. Offsetters then delivered to us a Green House Gas Report which detailed our emissions, outlined mutually agreed upon reduction targets and strategies. We then purchased carbon offsets through Offsetters which support green energy projects here in British Columbia that produce real reductions in carbon emissions. This summer we will be rolling out a program that will enable our customers to participate in printing Carbon Neutral Projects. With respects to what we have done in order to be recognized for the Heidelberg Award, it is a collection of initiatives from significant waste reductions, advanced recycling systems, manufacturing processes that reduce both power and water consumption, employee engagement and our role in advocating environmentally progressive practices with both customers and suppliers. I think that we have been recognized for the fact that sustainability principles have been embedded throughout the organization over the past 5 years with impressive results.
Why should Businesses care?
Businesses and organizations should care because their stakeholders care – employees, shareholders and customers. The perception that making an environmental choice somehow means that a sacrifice needs to be made elsewhere – jobs, economy, more cost, is being challenged. Still changing perceptions is part of the role that we can play through engagement of our customers.
Other than specifying “Green” paper how can we make our projects more sustainable?
Consider your run quantity and format to reduce waste in the process. Ensure you choose printing and post-press production methods that don’t reduce the recyclability of the substrate. Include dedicated content in an obvious area of the printed piece that communicates the environmental benefits of the paper choice. Produce a carbon neutral project by determining the GHG’s associated with your project and purchase high quality offsets accordingly. Additional design considerations for a greener print project can be found at Running Green www.runningreen.com (not currently active)
Tell me about your digital and on-demand print options and how they can be green solutions.
The primary environmental benefit of producing your project digitally would be a reduction in waste – i.e. only print what is needed and significantly reduce the amount of production “makeready” that is needed to produce the job. Digital presses are much more resource efficient and require less paper in order to achieve an acceptable product. We anticipate continued growth for our digital print offering including internet driven customizable on-demand production.
Have you worked with alternative fibre papers or synthetic papers?
We have worked with some alternative fibre papers but supply is limited at the moment. We are working with a local NGO, Markets Initiative to source a paper that is primarily comprised of agricultural residue (which they have coined “The Wheat Sheet”) but this kind of paper is not readily available for sheetfed offset printers like ourselves. We have printed on synthetic stocks such as YUPO which are recyclable. The availability of “tree-free” papers is an area that we hope to see significant growth in the coming years.
What about waterless printing and VOC emissions or VOC free ink sets.
The waterless printing process involves differently formulated printing plates and inks to enable a completely water-free printing process. There are a number of advantages and disadvantages to the waterless process and to date, we have opted not to modify our presses for waterless process. We have put in place a number of significant initiates to address the VOC’s associated with our printing processes and our overall water consumption. With respects to reduction of VOC’s in both our dampening solutions on press and our inks, we stopped using Isopropyl Alcohol in our fountain solution in the late 80′s, well ahead of the industry. In the past 2 years, we have adopted low VOC inks in our pressroom and have installed fountain solution filtration units on all of our offset presses resulting in a decrease in water use of 70%.
What do you see as the future of offset printing?
It is probably more important to look at the bigger picture of the future of the printed product. The role of the internet is clearly changing how people access and interact with information and there is no doubt that certain types of printing will see declines in the coming years but we are also seeing growth in more personalized, short run printing that is increasingly created and ordered online. We see a great deal of opportunity to use the strength of the internet to both help our clients create and manage their printed materials and to expand into emerging markets where print is driven purely from the internet itself. We are definitely in a period of significant transition (both economically and technologically) but we feel confident that print continue to play a significant role as a communications medium – we just need to stay quick on our feet to keep up with the changes (which we have done for the past 40 years!)
Thanks Richard!
Hemlock Printers offers Zero – a program that enables their customers to participate in printing Carbon Neutral Projects.
Richard Kouwenhoven
VP, Digital Solutions & Fulfillment Services
Richard has had a close association with Hemlock throughout his life, working for Hemlock on a part-time basis for more than 10 years and with the company full time since 1999. In 1996, he graduated from Ryerson University’s Graphic Communications Management program, then spent 3 years working outside the family firm in both a traditional and a digital printing environment. His many roles at Hemlock include Estimator, Production Coordinator, Production Planning Manager. In fall of 2006, he took on the role of VP, Digital Solutions and Fulfillment Services at Hemlock’s Digital Division that specializes in digital print production, fulfillment services and customized web services development.
Richard is Hemlock’s key lead on sustainability initiatives and is the Chair of the Sustainability Committee. Outside the company, Richard is the chair of the Sustainability Purchasing Network’s Steering Committee, a Vancouver-based network of organizations working to advance sustainability purchasing practices in the region.
Resource: Green Graphic Design by Brian Dougherty with Celery Design Collaborative
How are you being more environmentally friendly with your print projects?
