What does Harry Potter have to do with green printing?

Before I tell you, I want to tell you about how we recently we established a relationship with a “green” eco-friendly printer. In technical terms, our new trade print supplier holds ISO14001 (environmental management) accreditation — the environmental standard.

In Australia, according to industry publications, there are 5,500 commercial printers. Only 14 of them have the ISO14001 accreditation.

Our new green printer is one of the 14. And they are the first (and currently only one) to have a carbon netural operation. The certification covers their entire operation — from raw material to finished product, waste disposal, recycling, packaging … areas that you’d probably not even dream about!

This demonstrates that true green-friendly printing extends beyond just choosing a recycled paper stock.

Actually, in terms of paper stocks, there are a range of factors that come into play, but one of the important “buzzwords” to keep in mind is “FSC” — which is the acronym for the Forest Stewardship Council. The FSC certifies the chain of custody of a paper product from the forest (raw material) through to the end user consumer paper product, and is an eco-friendly label.

The FSC was founded in 1993, and is endorsed and supported by environmental groups such as the World Wide Fund for Nature, Greenpeace, the Sierra Club and The Nature Conservancy. Presently 6,000 companies around the world participate in the FSC scheme. FSC operates through its network of National Initiatives in 45 countries. The latest country to join the initiative is China.

The FSC label is a benchmark for using sustainable paper in commercial printing.

Our chosen green printer is FSC certified, and buys FSC certified paper from FSC certified suppliers (paper merchants)… ensuring the Chain of Custody is maintained right through to the consumer.

Using this process allows end users/consumers to include the FSC logo/trademark (shown below) on their printed material — which allows the end user to publicly demonstrate their commitment to sustainable practices.

In terms of paper stocks, there are a number of relevant FSC labels.

• FSC 100% products come from forests certified as meeting the environmental and social standards of the FSC
• FSC Recycled products support re-use of forest resources and use only post-consumer reclaimed material (wood and wood fibre) in accordance with FSC standards
• FSC Mixed Source products, with wood from FSC certified well-managed forests, company controlled* sources and/or post-consumer reclaimed material. At least 70 per cent of the material must be FSC certified and recycled, although other variations are included in FSC Mixed Source labelling and will be labelled according to their breakdown.

*Company controlled sources means avoiding wood from forest areas where civil or traditional rights are violated or high conservation values are threatened, avoiding genetically modified trees and illegally harvested wood, and avoiding wood from natual forests.

Our printer has supplied us with a “green paper guide” to rate the stocks available from most commercial merchants, so we can evaluate in advance the most suitable stocks to use for a project.

Labelling and Accreditation

FSC isn’t the only environmentally friendly eco-label for printing. Other environmental accreditations inlcude the Bue Angel (a German certification in use since 1977 for products and services that have environmentally friendly aspects) and the Nordic Swan (a Nordic — Norway, Sweden, Finland, Iceland, and Denmark — ecolabel in use since 1989). There are also other ecolabelling programs — Japan (Eco Mark) and Taiwan (Green Mark) both have environmentally friendly labelling programs. There are other ecolabels in place as well, which cover many types of products, from food through to tourism and even buildings, and labels such as Energy Star ratings for home whitegood appliances.

Other sustainable forestry labels include the PEFC: Pan European Forestry Certificate and SFI, the Sustainable Forestry Initiative. And as well as ISO14001, there is also EMAS accreditation — Eco Management Audit Scheme.

On top of that, there are printing papers which are labelled ECF (Elemental Chlorine Free — no chlorine gases are used in the bleaching process) and TCF — Totally Chlorine Free, with no chlorine gases or compounds used in the bleaching process.

As eco-friendly practices grow, so will the range of labelled and accredited products. Announcements are made regularly about stocks or companies that have received accreditation, so what may be the case today may be different tomorrow.

Green Printing Issues

One production issue relates to the performance of the stock. As with all printing, some stocks are better suited to projects than others. Some stocks don’t offer the fibre strength to meet the demands of what is being produced — I’ve seen some printed samples, for example, where the sheet wasn’t rigid enough to not “flop” and poorly present the finished result.

Other performance issues include factors such as the suitability of the surface for areas of heavy ink coverage or where good photographic imagery needs to be included. There are issues to watch out for, so it’s best to plan and talk to an expert in advance.

Price can also seem to be an issue. With only 14 certified Australian printers, you’d think they have the market cornered and can charge an “arm and a leg” for their product. Afterall, certification can cost upwards of $100,000.

However, we recently priced a newsletter project and found the pricing to be very competitive. Whilst the price didn’t match our best trade printer, it wasn’t that far off, and certainly came in better than a number of commercial printers who don’t offer any green-friendly benefits at all. Our printer is very keen to ensure us they are aware of the need to remain competitive, and that economics plays a big factor in how quickly accredited printers become part of mainstream printing.

So, the process and stocks are in place for eco-friendly sustainable green printing. And the economics make sense as much as the sustainability arguments.

Another issue is that certain printing processes, such as the use of metallic inks, remain non eco-friendly. So even choosing the right stock, and the right printer, but wanting something such as metallic inks, may mean your printing is not truly “green”. Something else to check in advance.

A Fast-Growing Demand

My prediction is that within 4 or 5 years, the growth in ISO14001 accredited printers, and the growth in demand for green-friendly printing, will be significant. Not only is business moving to colour printing for more printed communication projects, it will also start moving more to eco labels (and promoting that to its audience) and accredited suppliers. Carbon trading will also have an impact on the choices some businesses make for their printing.

Like virtually anything, what seems “pioneering” today will be mainstream within a decade. For example, look how technology such as the internet, and business use of websites, has changed between 1997 and 2007. It’s an enormous difference. The same goes for the environmental example of water tank usage in residential households. Drought factors and growing awareness has meant a big change in attitudes. And so it will be with eco-friendly green printing.

Early adapters will have the advantage of being able to claim their green commitment is stronger, as they were quick to see the benefits of green printing and introduce it into their own operations.

Still wondering about Harry Potter? Well, did you know that the seventh and final book in the Harry Potter series was printed on FSC paper? According to the FSC, with a total of 22 million pounds, this is the largest purchase of FSC-certified paper in a single book printing to date.

If you want to enjoy this advantage yourself, and not just leave it to a wizard like Harry Potter, we can assist.

There’s a story in today’s Age about Melbourne’s worrying water storage levels. However, the opening “claim” is little more than low-level sensationalism.

It starts off with these words:

MELBOURNE’S water storages are now 151 billion litres — or almost 10 per cent below where they were at the end of last winter, and householders should prepare for even tougher restrictions this summer.

While that’s true — it doesn’t reveal the whole story. Yes, the water issue remains as strong as ever. But making the claim above in the opening paragraph would have you believe we’ve been doing nothing as a community to save water, nor does it recognise this year’s good rains until much later in the article. You have to get to page two of the online article to find this:

Melbourne’s water storages had recorded levels either around or above their respective 30-year average winter totals already, (Melbourne Water spokesman Ben Pratt) said.

Melbourne’s water storages, at the start of 2007, were about 20 per cent below the January 2006 recordings. And they remained that way until mid-June, when our storages have picked up quite a bit. So — as of late August 2007 we are “almost 10 per cent below” — this means in fact we’ve closed the gap on 2006 levels by more than half.

(Compare the last 10 years of data on this Melbourne water storage graph page).

In other words, Melbourne’s rainfall and water usage patterns have resulted in us being at a better position than we would have been, had the 2006 trend continued after mid-June. In that case, our storage levels would presently be in the high 20 per cent range (around 28 per cent, not 38.5 per cent as they are as of 26 August 2007).

Of course, this doesn’t reveal the whole story either, as it’s only comparing the last two years of data. But it does reveal that this year’s trend is better than is being reported in this story in The Age.

At my sister’s birthday party yesterday, we watched the last quarter of the Port Adelaide v Hawthorn AFL game, which, in the end, was won on the last kick of the match to put Port Adelaide ahead for the first time since early in the second quarter, and give them second place on the ladder.

With a minute to go, Port Adelaide was still 7 points behind: 2 goals required to win. A goal with 47 seconds to go by Daniel Motlop (a story in itself: as in this story in the Age, “In similar circumstances only a year ago on the same ground, Motlop had taken a spectacular mark and missed his easy chance to kick the winning goal.”)

Motlop attributed his goal partly to having a little less pressure on him: it wasn’t to win the match, only to get to within 1 point of doing so. Opposing Hawthorn players of course saw fit to remind him of last year’s miss before he took the kick.

So much so was the incident last year an issue that Motlop and the club coach, Mark Williams, returned to the spot the night before the game and did a rerun: Motlop kicked the goal.

A great example of the power of mental and, in this case, physical, “rehearsal” to trigger the same successful action later. Same for finding a way to create thoughts to make the kick feel like it had less pressure on the outcome.

Then came the last kick of the match — only a goal would ensure victory — and Port Adelaide player Brett Ebert faced a tough angle. With 3 seconds to go, he kicked the goal.

Here’s the focus and thinking that ensured he would succeed. He says in the story:

“We looked at that during the week as a group, anybody in that situation, if you get one chance to do it, well obviously Mots missed and obviously he was disappointed, but it was good today to kick the goal. I never thought about missing it so that was good.“ (highlighing mine).

That’s the mental power of the right focus!

Speaking of Scriptlance, where I was today…

I had an issue that needed resolving. A small, tiny piece of code (3 lines) that I needed for a website. But, as it involved the Apache operating system, that’s not my background.

I had 4 choices.

1. Abandon my project and use another way. Not ideal for my objectives.
2. Spend HOURS online sifting through page after page of documentation looking for either guidance or examples
3. Find an online forum (I am a member of several, but none that deal with Apache) to ask for free advice. Will anyone reply? When?
4. Spend a few bucks on Scriptlance and leverage the knowledge of an expert to complete the job in no time flat. Someone eager to do the work within my deadline

Twelve bucks and about 10 minutes of time later, a programmer on Scriptlance solved my problem. Within a couple of hours, from posting the project, getting 8 bids, choosing the winner, and using the code, and then paying ($5 to Scriptlance, $7 to winning programmer), it was all done. Within that couple of hours, I spent about 10 minutes of time on this. So simple!

In all honesty, I don’t want to learn or understand Apache code. I don’t want to stubbornly search online, sometimes in vain, for fruitless hours, not finding an answer. I just want the job done, without too much time or effort. And I know that even if it took an hour, it’s not worth the $150-plus of my time to get it done.

Leverage. Perfect!

What are you doing that you could be leveraging through others?