In January 2005, our Environmental Management System was independently certified to ISO 14001:1996 standards. ISO stands for International Organisation for Standardisation and it is this organisation that specifies the actual requirements for an environmental management system. It applies to those environmental aspects which the organisation has control over, and which it can be expected to have an influence on.
ISO 14001 is often seen as the cornerstone standard of the ISO 14000 series. However, it is not only the most well known, but is the only ISO 14000 standard against which it is currently possible to be certified by an external certification authority.
This standard is applicable to any organisation that wishes to:
- implement, maintain and improve an environmental management system
- assure itself of its conformance with its own stated environmental policy (those policy commitments of course must be made)
- demonstrate conformance
- ensure compliance with environmental laws and regulations
- seek certification of its environmental management system by an external third party organisation
- make a self-determination of conformance
On-going continuous improvement is part of this system. Our initiatives have been:
FSC® Chain of Custody Certification. Click on the FSC® menu button to find out more about this certification and how you can get involved.
Our company vehicles are carbon neutral through our membership with Greenfleet. Greenfleet plants native trees to offset motor vehicle carbon emissions.
We have invested in a state of the art, chemistry free computer to plate (CTP) system. This plate making system uses a benign gum and very little water. It is a far cry from the traditional film and plate processing methods of old.
Traditionally printing required film to be produced (similar to a piece of x-ray film) which would then be used to expose the printed image onto a printing plate. Both these processes would require chemistry and vast amounts of water to develop, process and clean the film and plates being produced.
The benefit of a CTP system is that it does away with one step in the process. That is, your artwork files are imaged directly onto the printing plate.
The benefit of our chemistry-free CTP system is that the nasty chemistry involved in developing the plates is no longer required. Disposal of spent developer was not only costly but a big environmental issue. As an added bonus of not having to use all this chemistry you also no longer require large amounts of water to clean the plates.
In the traditional plate processing system the processing unit is actually plumbed into the water supply. This means when the plate enters the unit, the taps are turned on and this water is continuously washing over the plate and out down the drain for the entire time the plates are in the processor. When you consider one plate spends approximately 2 minutes being processed you can imagine the water being poured down the drain on a four colour job involving 20, 30 plates or more. The chemistry-free CTP system has a closed loop system that involves a 20 litre bottle of water and gumming solution which lasts approximately 8-12 weeks. This is the only water / chemistry used in the system and once the solution needs to be changed the old mixture is so benign it can be disposed of down the drain.
A good question to ask your current print suppliers is what type of CTP system they use and how much water it uses. You may be surprised by the answer.
For more detailed information on our sustainable approach to business see the additional menu buttons within this section or contact us to arrange for one of our representatives to call on you.
