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Green Business Is Big Business

Can the printing industry lead the way?

A startling statistic for those who buy and sell ink on paper: More than 40 percent of all harvested timber goes into making paper, according to a study by the Resource Conservation Alliance. In the United States, nearly 500 million acres are devoted to growing wood for paper—an area almost three times the size of Texas.
It doesn’t sound particularly eco-friendly, nor something you’d tell an end user, but Tony Harris, VP of sales and marketing at Rochester-based Monroe Litho Inc., sees the opposite scenario.

“I think the printing industry has really emerged as a leader for other businesses,” he says. “The ecological impact that the printing industry has is really a call to action. The effect has trickled into the environmental business, and I’ve seen ad agencies start green divisions to focus on marketing.”

He might be right. According to Scientific Certification Services, which conducts third-party audits and certifications for the Forest Stewardship Council and other eco-organizations, more than half of the companies FSC-certified last year were printers.

“When a company, an end user, is looking to become ‘eco-friendly,’ printing is a natural fit,” Harris says. “It’s a way they can make a big impact up front.”

But making an ecological impact doesn’t stop with soy inks. “That’s one of the really frustrating things about this kind of work. There are some people who couldn’t care less about the environment, the people who are skeptics about how the process works. They are the ones who think this is all about recycling.”

In fact, Monroe Litho is brimming with eco-friendly enthusiasm that was, in large part, sparked by the printer’s customers, many of whom are environmental organizations and associations. “Working with them started us thinking about what we could do and what ‘sustainability’ means,” he says.

The list of credentials is impressive: Monroe was the seventh printing company to be FSC-certified and the fourth in the graphic communications world to run on 100 percent wind power, an inspiration that came from a supplier. The company reduced annual VOC emissions by nearly one-third in the past five years by updating its processes.

Monroe recycles nearly everything: approximately 220 tons of press waste per year, as well as toner cartridges, computers, process ink color containers, all packaging, fluorescent bulbs, used batteries, wooden pallets, steel banding, printing plates, and the cans, bottles and cups in the break room. They’re considering accepting employees’ old paint cans, too. Recently, the company took back the lease on a parking lot it was renting in downtown Rochester, and (after recycling the asphalt, of course), turned the space into an 8,400 sq.-ft. public park.

“We didn’t get any municipal assistance for the project, although we probably should have,” Harris laughs. “We did it because it was the right thing to do, and that’s who we are as a company.” The employees are very involved in the greening efforts at Monroe, and are often the impetus for many of the company’s initiatives.

“There’s a buzz; there’s just a lot of energy around here for this sort of thing.”

Harris’s wife, who is a graphic designer, styled Monroe’s trademarked wind power insignia, which clients may use on their projects. She put a wind power decal on the couple’s home, which is also powered with wind energy. A lot of the excitement, he says, overlaps between work and personal life for many employees.

After Monroe Litho was FSC-certified, Harris says, it took about a year and a half to show sales results. “We literally had no paper,” he remembers. “There weren’t enough places making FSC-certified pulp, which is not the issue today. I’ve gotten two solicitations by email already, and it’s not yet lunch.”

The excited air may ebb and flow, Harris admits, especially from end users. But it will never go away, he maintains. “A lot of people, especially younger people, have begun to figure out that sustainability is serious business.” And some have even learned to profit from the efforts and use recycling to offset costs.

“Printing has, historically, been a physically dirty industry,” Harris says. While in the Washington, D.C. area last week, he passed a “green” drycleaner, which was inspirational. “If we can do this, and the dry cleaning industry can do this green thing, imagine what other businesses could accomplish.”

––Rebecca Trela

Source: The Green Business Program and the Printing Industries of Northern California