Being ‘Green’ Pays Dividends

It wasn’t too many years ago that the phrase “green printer” evoked comparison with oxymorons like “Microsoft Works,” “a little pregnant” or “living dead.” But, oh, what a difference there is between then and now.

Gone are the days when printing companies’ no-frills environmentalism meant doing only what was necessary to avoid inspections and fines. Historically a large-scale environmental offender with an outsize carbon footprint and a voracious appetite for fossil fuels, the printing industry has become increasingly aggressive when it comes to the environment, implementing voluntary programs that transcend basic compliance with environmental regulations, documenting and communicating their commitment to environmental quality to customers, employees, suppliers and the communities where they do business.

Commercial printers are also letting their money do a lot of the talking, modifying their presses, installing VOC oxidizers, solvent recovery systems and other equipment to collect, recycle and reuse the by-products of the printing process. These companies report that, in all cases, the return on their investment in the form of new and repeat business, community goodwill and regulatory compliance has more than offset the attendant cost.

Out with the Bad Air

To say that Cenveo Anderson Lithograph (Los Angeles) approaches the environmental quality of its operations with the same level of concern and commitment with which it serves its customers is something of an understatement.

Like the majority of heatset web offset printing operations, Anderson Lithograph employs an energy-efficient regenerative thermal oxidizer (RTO) to destroy the ink and varnish VOC emissions generated by the natural gas-fired hot air dryers installed on its web offset press lines. The pollution control device subsequently uses the fuel value of the VOCs entrained in the dryer exhaust as fuel to maintain the thermal destruction process.

What this means in practical terms, explains Frank Barnett, director, manufacturing systems, environmental, health and safety facilities, and cogen operations, is that “under normal operating conditions, no additional natural gas is required, and the device burns cleaner with less nitrogen and carbon oxide emissions than a gas-fired thermal incinerator pollution control device.”

To date and to its knowledge, Anderson Lithograph has the only printing facility in the United States with a “totally enclosed” facility and near zero emissions, a feat accomplished as part of Anderson Lithograph’s on-site cogeneration electrical and thermal power generation plant. As part of the installation of this cogeneration facility, the RTO captures all the “fugitive” VOC emissions generated by the printing operations and exhausts them into a gas-fired combustion turbine for destruction as part of the electrical power generation process.

According to Barnett, the combination of the RTO pollution control device for controlling the VOC ink emissions and the cogeneration power plant reduce Anderson’s actual VOC emissions released to the ambient atmosphere to 2.86 tons per year in 2005, an average of 16 lbs. per day, or 2.71 percent of the company’s permitted allowable emissions of 553 lbs. per day. It’s hard to argue with numbers like these.

“Anderson Lithograph still remains active in efforts to find alternative materials that reduce the impact of printing operations on the environment,” Barnett says, adding, however, “We do not need to find lower VOC solvents for our own press blanket and roller cleaning operations, since the fugitive emissions produced by these functions are captured in our cogeneration facility.”

For more than a decade, Anderson Lithograph has had in place an Environmental Management System (EMS) that contains the general facility and specific equipment environmental operating permit requirements for more than a dozen local, state and federal regulatory agencies. Curiously, ISO 14000 certification is not yet among Anderson’s long list of environmental accomplishments.

Barnett explains: “Anderson Lithograph expects to apply for ISO 14001 certification during the latter part of 2007. Given the enormous resources that we already allocate to our environmental sustainability, Anderson Lithograph has not placed as high a priority on attaining ISO 14000 certification as one might expect because our management does not foresee that the cost expended on certification will provide a significant improvement in either our EMS or the overall environmental sustainability of the company.”

‘Green Is Not a Fad’

The John Roberts Co. (Minneapolis) promotes its environmental efforts in a brochure that declares, “Green is not a fad color…It’s a corporate commitment.” In the late 1980s, John Roberts established an Environmental and Safety Committee in response to growing concerns about air emissions from petroleum-based inks, wetting agents and cleaning solvents, as well as water discharges from the processing of graphic arts films. The committee subsequently instituted procedures regarding the recovery and recycling of solvents, and the use of alcohol substitutes, as well as silver recovery and water wash recirculation.

The company implemented an Environmental Management System modified to conform to ISO 14000 requirements in 1993. Early on, the printer voluntarily sought environmental auditing, corrective action and public disclosure, efforts that led to a partnership with the Printing Industry of Minnesota and the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency. John Roberts became the model for Minnesota’s Green Star Program and was one of the first to earn Minnesota Green Star status in 1997, a designation it continually renews.

More recently, John Roberts Co. earned Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) chain-of-custody certification through SmartWood, an FSC-accredited body. For customers wishing to have their jobs run using electricity from wind power, John Roberts will purchase a corresponding amount of wind-powered energy through Windsource, Xcel Energy’s green pricing program.

According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, buying a 100-kWh block of Windsource for a year is equivalent to planting a one-third acre of trees or not driving a car 2,000 miles. In addition to formal, independent audits of its facility by the Printing Industry of Minnesota’s Environmental Services Corp., John Roberts also reports the results of regular internal inspections to the management at monthly meetings of the Environmental and Safety Committee.

According to John Roberts Co. President Michael Keene, the company’s web offset presses use a regenerative thermal oxidizer by Maratek that destroys VOCs and expends just 10 percent of the fuel consumed by the company’s previous system. A solvent recovery system in its alcohol-free sheetfed pressroom yields clean solvent, water and sludge, which is subsequently recycled for fuel blending. The company also uses soy-based ink manufactured from a mixture of vegetable oils (linseed, corn) by its in-house ink supplier, Ink Systems.

An Environmental Bellwether

When Pictorial Offset (Carlstadt, NJ) became the first commercial printing company in the world to earn both ISO 9001:2000 and ISO 14001:2004 certification in 1998, it forged a very public link between quality and environmental responsibility and became a bellwether for the industry. Pictorial’s involvement with environmental issues affecting commercial printing predates its ISO accreditation by several years, and continues in full swing today.

According to Lester Samuels, managing partner, “We have a long list of environmental initiatives here at Pictorial Offset. For example, in 2006, we reduced our VOC emissions by 12 percent and our hazardous waste by 37 percent. And, we reforested 10 acres of the Edwin B. Forsythe Wildlife Refuge to become the only commercial printer in the United States to become carbon-neutral via reforestation. Our efforts in 2006 included installing automatic blanket washers on our web presses and using low-VOC solvents in our manufacturing process. All materials printed at our facility are within the carbon-neutral footprint of Pictorial Offset.”

The company is both FSC and Sustainable Forestry Initiative (SFI) chain-of-custody certified, designations that enable it to provide customers with the assurance that the paper products used in their projects are produced and sourced responsibly. Pictorial Offset was also recently elected to the U.S. EPA National Environmental Performance Track Program and was honored with the EPA Environmental Quality Award.

And, the company is no slouch when it comes to recycling—and, we don’t mean just paper products. In 2006, according to a third-party audit, in addition to nearly six tons of printing, corrugated and office paper, the company recycled 12 tons of aluminum plates, 440 gallons of waste oil, 322 tons of wood scraps and pallets, 3.5 tons of aluminum cans and bottles, 605 gallons of waste solvent, 340 units of toner cartridges, 12 drums of waste absorbent socks, 600 lbs. of nickel tubing and nearly 14 tons of ink waste. The company employs a full-time compliance officer.

‘Doing Well by Doing Good’

Wisconsin-based Quad/Graphics pursues a comprehensive conservation-based strategy of material use in the belief that it makes good business sense to do so. The company’s environmental activism dates from 1989, with an ink segregation project that saved the company $500,000 the first year it was implemented and changed its thinking about traditional cost centers.

In 1989, at Quad’s Pewaukee, WI, facility, waste ink was being generated at a clip of nine drums a month, which it viewed as a cost of doing business. In 2006, Pewaukee generated nine drums for the entire year. What occurred between 1989 and 2006?

According to Tom Estock, Quad/Graphics’ corporate environmental manager, “We challenged the pressmen to come up with alternative strategies to reduce the amount of waste ink. Ideas implemented included better ink estimating for specific print jobs, utilizing ink from one press to another press running similar jobs, and segregating ink by color in order to blend it into new ink.”

The waste ink program confirmed that environmental accountability could be a value-added component to the printer’s business and gave rise to what Estock terms “enlightened environmentalism” at Quad. “Reducing, reusing and recycling waste saves raw material expenses and disposal costs, and that is good for business and the environment,” he concludes.

Quad/Graphics takes a long view of the impact of its manufacturing processes on the environment and boasts an extensively integrated EMS that is focused as much on awareness and education as on resource efficiency. “We work to get these topics out to clients, prospective clients, employees and citizen stakeholder groups,” Estock says. “Whether it means using recyled paper or vegetable oil-based inks or paying attention to energy conservation, we believe in doing well by doing good.”

Quad’s three-legged stool approach to environmentalism relies on resource efficiency without compromising quality; strategic partnerships with local, state and national entities; and information sharing with its clients, suppliers and community. According to Estock, the company constantly fields requests from businesses and private citizens for environmental information and advice.

Internally at Quad/Graphics, recycling is combined with benchmarking, hazardous waste control and control of its offset, rotogravure and web finishing air emissions, to drive down waste and curb energy usage. In 2006, for example, 98.5 percent of all materials purchased and used by Quad in its manufacturing and office operations (more than 300,000 tons annually) was recycled for other uses, including 299,000 tons of paper and fiber, nine tons of fluorescent lamps, 18 tons of co-mingled containers, 1,800 tons of metal, 800 tons of plastic and 4,600 tons of wood, together with 1,700 tons of recovered energy.

The company utilizes the best practical pollution control technology from Goss, MEGTEC, Contiweb, L&E America and others to minimize emissions, as well as a widely acceptable and available carbon absorption solvent recovery system in its rotogravure pressrooms. Quad utilizes its own patented solvent recovery system in its finishing operations to capture and reuse fugitive emissions from ink-jet applications. Quad’s participation in the EPA’s Green Lights conservation effort led it to replace 14,000 high-intensity lamps with energy-efficient fluorescent fixtures, an investment that paid for itself in a very short period of time, Estock says. The company, which uses some wind power for two of its plants, plans to look at micro-turbines and solar opportunities in the near future.

Furthermore, Quad’s ink waste has declined 74 percent from 1989 to 2006, despite a 317 percent increase in production. (It should also be noted that Quad had four facilities in 1989, compared with nine facilities in 2006.) Company-wide, the average renewable resource oil content (soy, linseed, corn) of Quad’s proprietary Enviro/Tech heatset offset ink is currently around 7.9 percent. The typical industry average renewable resource content for heatset offset ink is said to be on the order of 3 percent to 4 percent.

In cooperation with the SmartWay Transport Partnership, Quad Transportation Services made aerodynamic modifications to its fleet cabs and trailers; replaced older, heavier trucks with newer, lightweight vehicles; and installed energy efficient anti-idling technology and roll-resistant tires to help reduce drag. The company also educates its drivers on how their driving habits affect fuel consumption and air emissions, and requires them to keep their driving speeds within the speed limit.

To facilitate the recycling, waste paper is sorted into 24 different grades. Quad operates the largest waste/scrap paper collection system of its kind in the country at its plant in Sussex, WI.

Over the years, Quad/Graphics’ multi-faceted, holistic approach to environmental accountability has cost the company money, but it’s money well spent, with a return on investment that has been gratifying on many levels. It stands to reason, says Estock, “You can’t pursue business practices that aren’t sustainable, so you have to pursue things that are good for business, too.”

Blown Away by Wind Power

One of the most proactive of a growing crop of “green” printers, Sandy Alexander (Clifton, NJ) believes in holding its own feet to the fire. The company has in place a formal EMS that focuses on waste reduction, pollution prevention and conservation, in addition to a full-time environmental compliance officer who deals with ISO 14000 and environmental issues.

The company initiated its greenhouse gas reduction effort in 2005, and in 2006 pledged to further reduce its total U.S. greenhouse gas emissions by 100 percent per dollar of revenue through 2012, as part of its membership in the EPA’s Climate Leaders Program. Also in 2006, Sandy Alexander announced a seven-year commitment to use 100 percent wind power for all of the company’s electrical needs. The company initially spent more than $100,000 a year to convert to wind power.

Sandy Alexander is also active in EPA’s Green Power Partnership, which recognized the company as the largest purchaser of renewable energy in the printing and publishing sector, and was recognized by New Jersey as the state’s Clean Power Purchaser of the Year for 2006. The company’s reliance on wind power is just one facet of Sandy Alexander’s broader environmental agenda, which also includes the use of vegetable oil-based inks and recycled paper, and FSC chain-of-custody certification, as well as certification to ISO 9001 quality and ISO 14001 environmental standards.

Sandy Alexander’s commitment to wind-generated electricity coincides with the company’s decrease in dependence on natural gas. In 2006, at a cost of more than $500,000, the printer replaced two existing afterburners with a highly efficient MEGTEC CleanSwitch regenerative thermal oxidizer, which destroys the emissions generated by its web presses and reuses them as fuel. The RTO is said to achieve an annual reduction of more than 10 million cubic feet of natural gas and save nearly 164,000 kilowatts of electricity per year. According to Chip Stine, senior vice president, as a service for environmentally minded customers, the company can measure and report by job the total VOC output based on the type of ink used, and cite the environmental benefit of using vegetable oil-based inks.

Stine explains that the company has three broad environmental objectives: energy use reduction; reduction in the volume of material it sends to landfill; and outreach to customers, suppliers and the community, including support for nongovernmental organizations like the Rainforest Alliance and Nature Conservancy. Each year, Sandy Alexander establishes corporate goals for clean energy use, recycling and overall reduction of material directed to landfills.

“We try to be as transparent as possible,” he says. “We currently are writing a sustainability report using 2005—before we made our first wind power purchase—as a baseline. We’ll be evaluating electric, natural gas, propane usage, water use and VOC emissions, and will come out with a document before the end of this quarter.”

Each in His Own Way

Environmental activism is not just for the big boys, nor does it require deep pockets and a complex infrastructure to think and act “green.” Murray Print Shop (St. Louis) is a third-generation, family owned printing business with an abiding commitment to the environment that ranges from its use, whenever possible, of recycled-content papers manufactured in North America and vegetable oil-based inks.

“Except for fluorescents and metallics, we try to stay as far away from petroleum-based inks as possible,” says owner Tim Alton, adding that Murray’s pressroom is largely alcohol-free. The company’s environmental mandate received a big boost in 2004 with the installation of a chemistry-free and waterless 52DI press from Presstek. In addition to eliminating the hazardous imaging chemicals and dampening solutions of conventional offset processes, Alton points out, Murray Print Shop has seen a significant decrease in the volume of its makeready waste since the DI press was installed.

Elsewhere in the shop, Murray operates a number of conventional two-color offset presses, whose blanket/roller washes and ink waste the company pays to have removed and recycled (as fuel) in concrete kilns designed to destroy hazardous waste. “Our emissions are pretty low overall,” Alton adds, “and, we constantly work with our pressroom suppliers to find effective alcohol substitutes and no/low VOC products.” The printer currently is testing chemistry-free Fuji plates and plans to triple its complement of DI presses (further reducing its dependence on conventional offset) by the end of the year.

Murray has garnered awards for its environmental practices and support of environmental organizations, earning it business from like-minded clients including the Missouri Botanical Garden, EarthShare of Missouri, Gateway Greening and the Missouri Recycling Association.

As models like these proliferate, excuses dwindle. Technological advancements in the printing process have resulted in the use of fewer chemicals or in the substitution of safer chemicals, as well as in fewer toxins being discharged into our air and water.

There is ample evidence that more printers have become interested in launching environmental management plans not just to avoid fines, but to win, retain and grow the business of their environmentally oriented customers. There’s nothing paradoxical or oxmoronic about it: The printing industry is proving that it can clean up its own act. PI