The Sydney firm became the 41st member of Two Sides Australia – and El Gabaili said all printers should join the lobby group and help defeat the environmental myths that harm the industry.
“It’s fighting for our cause. It’s always been a conversation that has been one-sided,” he told ProPrint.
“It’s time printers started to argue some of the issues that have been raised rather than accept a one-sided conversation.”
El Gabaili said it wasn’t enough for the industry to rebut misinformation; it also needed to appoint “print ambassadors” to engage with corporations and stop false claims being made in the first place.
[Opinion: It’s time to choose which side you’re on]
Two Sides’ member base includes a diverse range of companies. Other companies to join this year include Melbourne catalogue printer Franklin Web and Melbourne sheetfed and digital firm Bambra Press.
Other recent members include Mercedes Waratah, On Demand, Gippsland Trade Printers, AIW Printing and One Print Management from Victoria; Digitalpress, Look Print and Absolute Colour Printing from New South Wales; and Crystal Printing Solutions from Western Australia.
Two Sides national manager Kellie Northwood said the association needed as many members as possible so it could fund more research to help defeat anti-print greenwashing.
“Our industry is being challenged by digital channels saying that it is not environmental, but that’s incorrect,” she told ProPrint.
“We’re also being challenged by people saying we’re not effective – we’re highly effective and Two Sides is out there raising awareness with corporates and marketing managers and people making their decisions on where to spend their marketing budgets.”
Northwood said print could learn from the mining industry, which had united to fight the mining tax.
She said membership was affordable, with prices starting at $250.
[Related: More news about Two Sides]
This article first appeared in the JULY 2013 issue of ProPrint Magazine
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