The franchise group is the first business to achieve level two Sustainable Green Print (SGP) accreditation at multiple sites after Toowong, Fortitude Valley, Elizabeth Street and Ann Street passed an independent audit. They will have to pass annual audits to retain their status.

Ashley Petfield, managing director of Kwik Kopy’s Brisbane operations, told ProPrint the sites would soon start work on level three certification and hoped to secure this in 12-15 months. That would allow them to apply for ISO 14001 certification.

He described SGP as a competitive edge, as clients were increasingly demanding green credentials from their suppliers.

Petfield said it had taken the Brisbane sites six to nine months to reach level two and that they had been guided through the process by the Printing Industries Association of Australia (PIAA).

“SGP level two sets us up with an ISO-based environmental policy, management structure, procedures to address our legal requirements, measurement and benchmarking procedures for waste management across all of our sites, energy management and incident response procedures,” he said.

Level one focuses on waste, storage and handling and recycling. Level two adds further levels of management and control including the tracking of waste streams. Level three involves controlling environmental impacts to a standard compliant with ISO 14001.

SGP can be a challenging process but makes printers more efficient and saves them money, said Joe Kowalewski, PIAA national director of communications and marketing.

Coleman’s Printing in Darwin also recently scored an SGP first, becoming the first printer in the Northern Territory to attain level two.

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