Printing Doesn't Need to Cost the Earth
Date: 17th Apr 2009
These days, most business people are interested in knowing what they can do to reduce the environmental impact of their buying decisions.
This is particularly important when choosing a printing company, as printing is thought to be one of the UK’s most polluting industries.
So how can you tell if your printer is environmentally friendly?
Of course a printer with ‘green’ credentials will always ensure that all its paper and cardboard is compacted and sent for recycling.
But the environmental issue isn’t all about recycled paper.
Printers who promote the use of ancient forest-friendly papers are recognised by the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC). These papers are sourced from FSC certified forests managed to ensure long term timber supplies while protecting the environment and the lives of forest-dependent people.
So an environmentally friendly printer will display the FSC Award and will also have considered the wider impact of all its business processes.
To ensure our activities don’t ‘cost the earth’, Kingfisher Print & Design uses environmentally friendly press-cleaning chemistry, vegetable soya-based inks and a chemical-free plate-making process.
We also work to a strict energy-saving programme that has helped towards dramatically reducing our carbon footprint.
Being greener doesn’t just help the environment, it also makes great business sense. We have recently announced ambitious plans to double our turnover over the next five years and realise that in the current economic climate the way to achieve that is to become more efficient.
Working with industry specialists Vision in Print, we follow lean manufacturing techniques – a completely different way of running manufacturing processes, focusing on the removal of all waste so that products are manufactured at a rate determined by the customer with minimal inventory.
We have also introduced our Just in Time processes – lead times have shrunk, artwork and proofs are ready ‘just in time’ so we are well placed to respond to our customers’ needs.
We are determined that our expansion plans won’t be at the expense of the environment.
