Hillary Clinton famously said it takes a village to raise a child. Paraphrasing her, it can be said it takes the whole ‘village’ – or an entire industry – to create sustainable printing. Keeping the print and paper supply chain green is made a confusing proposition because each stakeholder – paper maker, merchant, printer, buyer – makes its own impact on the lifecycle of a printed product. Throw into that the fact that there are myriad ways to improve the green credentials of paper, and it’s a tricky topic. From FSC and PEFC to recycled versus carbon neutral, all participants in printing need to get to grips with what makes a sustainable paper grade.
A UK study into the Trinity Mirror newspaper group by climate business analyst Carbon Trust made some interesting findings that support a holistic approach to sustainable paper use.
The study was commissioned by the UK’s largest newspaper publisher, with some 240 local and regional mastheads, five national newspapers and four sports titles, as well as more than 100 websites and various magazines, directories and exhibitions. It measured overall emissions from the whole supply chain and from individual steps and processes.
The key finding was that emissions from Trinity Mirror’s operations made up less than one-fifth of the total carbon footprint of the Daily Mirror. Some 80% was added by processes and raw materials used by other companies in the supply chain. This shows the value to be gained from a collaborative supply chain approach.
Paper industry consultant Tim Woods says new media has a place in the communications mix, but “it just is not sustainable”. He cites massive energy use, non-renewable resources, lack of recycling and re-use. “They all add up to a less than ‘green’ story for electronic communications. We work to get that story out, whenever and wherever we have to.”
Woods is principal of Fitzpatrick Woods Consulting, which runs the Australian Paper Industry Association awareness campaign on sustainability. He says most environmentally certified paper that merchants provide to printer is accredited by either the Programme for the Endorsement of Forest Certification (PEFC), which has endorsed the Australian Forest Standard, or to the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC). Merchants aim to be very clear with printers about these certifications because in some respects, they represent a market distinction.
“Demand drives specifications, so generally, merchants respond to the printers and their clients. For some clients, having independent certification of paper is important and they want their products to be as sensitive to the environment as possible. But others – and anecdotally at least, it is the majority – are focused on quality meeting a standard and cost lower than their competitor.
“Some clients just want a certification logo or an indication of carbon neutrality for their own market differentiation and product positioning reasons. But our obligation is to assist the client to think beyond that to ensure that their client gets what they actually need,” adds Woods.
At News Ltd division News Magazines, which publishes titles such as Vogue Australia, Gardening Australia and Masterchef, production director Mark Moes says quality and price are still the main criteria for stock choices, but paper’s environmental credentials play a part.
Paper is sourced direct by News Mags or via its various printers. When News Mags buys direct, it relies on the reputation of mills with which it has longstanding relations to supply papers certified to FSC or PEFC.
“We look at buying from mills that have integrity and are working on environmental issues,” says Moes. “News Magazines expects green credentials from the major paper companies will be there. It’s a given – a bit like expectations of us to supply quality print.”
Moes says for run-of-press printing, News Magazines generally chooses stocks in a 55-75gsm band, selected according to readership. “The Australian market has a very high expectation of quality,” he says. Australia uses heavier stock grammages that are typical in more subscription-driven overseas markets.
With promotional inserts, where an agency brief specifies use of a recycled stock, usually to reflect a client’s environmental priorities, News Mags will source accordingly.
“It depends on the brief. In most cases, agencies leave it up to us, unless they have a product they specifically want. It comes in two ways. An agency might come to us with a very specific brief, in selling a green product, for instance, and they want the insert to have that integrity.”
In Moes’ experience, corporates and agencies have not yet fully engaged with the specifics of FSC, PEFC and other certifications, because sustainability is a PR exercise to some extent, and perceptions are still vague. “People understand if something is recyclable, but they don’t immediately relate to FSC.”
A printer’s take
Rodney Wade, national environmental and technical manager at Finsbury Green wants to bust the myth that sustainable paper costs more and offers inferior quality. In 2004, the company launched samplers featuring environmentally friendly stocks. And while the binders themselves were not “sustainable”, they were the forerunner of the company’s well-known Green Paper Guide, which has circulated 55,000 copies in four years.
The 37-year-old operation, which has 200 staff across facilities in Sydney, Melbourne and Adelaide, was judged Large Chain of Custody (CoC) Operation of the Year in the 2009 FSC Responsible Forest Management Awards.
In an Australian first, Finsbury gained parallel accreditation of ISO 14001 and ISO 9001 and was the first commercial printer in Australia to volunteer for the Federal Government’s Greenhouse Challenge to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and the first to release an audited environmental report. But recycled is not the only product rolling off Finsbury’s fleet, led by Akiyama Jprint 10- and 12-colour perfectors along with a various other machines. “Recycled paper isn’t always the best choice, so there has been an emphasis in recent years on overall sustainability,” says Wade.
His team wants the industry to see the broader picture. Corporates are extremely keen to send out aesthetically designed and printed annual reports that voice the correct ‘green’ messages. But quality and price remain the key drivers when these same corporates and their agencies buy print, and when printers buy paper and other consumables.
But Wade sees a positive future – with much of the demand for sustainable print now driven down from corporates. Is it just PR? For some of the big league, of course it is. But does that matter? If a large-brand manufacturer specifies sustainable paper for just some of its promotions budget, he believes that is a win.
Manark Printing of Noble Park, Victoria has close relations with national paper suppliers – it prints for paper merchants, trialling products and producing swatches. Managing director Tony Knight says Manark makes it a practice to open a three-way dialogue with any client organisation that has mandatory requirements for sustainability. This way, the Manark rep can brief the customer on printing and a merchant’s “spec rep” can do so for paper characteristics. Together, they can help meet the demands of quality, the environment – and cost, with a top-quality recycled coated running a client around $2,100 per tonne, some $700 above a cheap option.
If, for example, a client specifies 100% recycled paper, the merchant’s rep might be Albon Gomes of Focus Paper, which supplies Re-Art or Re-Print recycleds from Japan’s ‘green-friendly’ Oji mill. Or it might be someone from Doggetts (Impact, Mega-Art), or Raleigh (EcoStar).
“Not all recycled papers are easy to print on. For example, they don’t like traditional varnishes,” says Knight, so for recycled papers, Manark uses aqueous coating from a tower on one of its two six-colour Akiyama Bestechs.
Manark is not FSC-certified; Knight is sceptical about this standard. He sees it as more about paperwork than paper, and is wary of box ticking. “A chain of custody is only as strong as its weakest link, but when you have FSC-certified printers selling to uncertified ad agencies or designers and they’re on-selling, the chain is broken. We do quite a bit of government work, but since FSC has been around, we have never been asked by a customer whether we have it.” When required, Manark has the authority to issue a label with wording that, while not officially FSC, will assure clients.
Knight argues FSC was designed to track sustainability of timber for furniture making, but the process becomes unreliable in paper production. “With, say, 400 tonnes of pulp, there might be 200 tonnes of FSC or 50 tonnes, but then at the other end they’ll just say half is FSC.” He has greater confidence in PEFC, which is more ‘paper/print-centric’ and affordable.
Greening up in wide-format printing lags behind the pace of sheetfed. An Adelaide business, which did not want to be named, told ProPrint it uses some recyclable CoreFlute and Colorbond stocks, but says options for green alternatives are limited.
Market demand
A Melbourne business similarly said it uses recyclables, and takes advantage of its paper merchant’s bin pick-up scheme to recycle its CoreFlute, but the lightest-gauge board would typically be 130-140gsm, and as such, not suited to recycling. Moreover, only 30-40% of wide-format printing is done on paper-based stock, the rest printed on synthetics such as polypropylenes.
“Only a small segment of our mainly private-sector customers would ask for green standards in printing POS material,” the printer told ProPrint.
Australian Paper has published a Sustainable Paper Guide for merchants and printers. Its advice is to buy either FSC or PEFC paper, but it warns only 10% of the world’s forests are certified.
Australian Paper urges printers to use recycled grades where practicable. Papermaking is an energy-intensive process, and, to limit a paper’s carbon footprint, printers are asked to look for carbon neutral paper certified under the Federal Government’s National Carbon Offset initiative.
The guide also looks at the role of water in papermaking, the global ISO 14001 standard for environmental management systems and ‘processed’ and ‘total’ chlorine-free pulp bleaching, It covers economic sustainability, with a paper manufacturer’s contribution to Australian GDP and flow-ons to retail trade, and social sustainability, including local jobs provision, all taken into account.
There’s a checklist with 18 questions about the originating mill, covering its impact on climate change, and on local communities and economies. Questions include whether the mill produces a sustainability report, has ISO 14001, whether it re-invests in its operations, its dollar contribution to Australian GDP, its workplace safety provisions, and whether it uses renewable energy in processing.
Samantha Pudney, Australian Paper’s product & business development manager, says the initial response to the guide has been positive. “Paper users are now a lot more aware of sustainability and are hungry for information, especially from a local manufacturer who has a duty of care to what happens in our own back yard.”
She advises printers to look for independent certifications such as carbon neutral, FSC, PEFC and ISO 14001.
“If the paper has been third-party certified then you can be sure that its credential holds weight. Also consider other factors such as how far the paper has travelled to reach the press, the mill’s environmental record and does it have an EMS (environmental management system). If in doubt, ask the questions.”
But Pudney reinforces Mark Moes’ comments about public recognition. “Only 2-5% of the Australian population recognises chain-of-custody forestry logos, but if you look at the greenhouse friendly programme for carbon-neutral products and services, it has an awareness of 18%.”
Paperlinx division Spicers Paper launched the first FSC-certified grade into the Australian market in 2005. Paperlinx was first to be CoC-certified within the paper and print industry. Now well over 200 companies are certified, says group strategic sourcing manager Rohan Dean. “Today it’s fairly well accepted. Back in 2005 is was a very different story.”
KW Doggett’s managing director Catherine Doggett says it’s a matter of close collaboration with a printer on individual projects. The merchant “works closely with our print customers to determine what they want to achieve and what’s important. Many recycled paper manufacturers now offer bright white, clean paper for use at an affordable price. We supply clear and transparent environmental information on coated and uncoated paper stocks, and the printer decides individually or collectively with the designer, on what they prefer – based on the information we have provided.”
Client perceptions of what is ‘green’ are the biggest hurdle, says CPI national environmental affairs manager Peter Cottam. “Most printers’ clients have only a basic knowledge of FSC, PEFC, recycled, ISO 14001, EMAS and carbon neutral. They have some idea about the labels, but don’t truly understand them.”
But things are changing, and the market is gradually getting its head around the different approaches to increasing paper’s green credentials. In the three years Cottam has been involved with CPI’s ‘Clear the Air’ presentation programme, he has seen a significant uptake of FSC, PEFC and ISO certifications by Australian printers.
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