I am in the process of working on an RFP for business cards and letterheads and would like to inject some "green" criteria into our purchase. I am doing a bit of research to find out what we should be looking for (recycled content, Green Guard inks, etc.) If anyone has done a similar task and is interested/able to share a their findings, I would appreciate the assistance.
Regards,
Tim Laprade
Tim Laprade
Environmental Initiatives Coordinator Strategy,
Environment & Communications City of Kingston
Tel: (613) 546-4291 ext.1154
Cell: (613) 328-8337
Fax: (613) 546-3180
www.cityofkingston.ca
Green Criteria for Print Material
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Go to http://www.conservatree.com/. Conservatree was one of the few companies distributing post-consumer recycled paper in the 1980s, when I was acquiring it to make it locally available through a recycling organization. Since major retail paper distributors have made it much more widely available, Conservatree has focused on providing good consumer information about recycled paper, its environmental impacts, and its availability.
Bill Carter
Water Quality Monitoring & Assessment MC
165 Texas Commission on Environmental Quality
P.O. Box 13087 Austin, TX 78711-3087
Phone: 512-239-6771
Fax: 512-239-4410
[email protected]
Tim:
I was glad to learn of your initiative to establish green criteria for print material. More municipalities should be doing what you are doing. Here is some more information that may be of interest to you. Corporate Knights (www.corporateknights.ca ) recently released their Forestry Issue. One of the sites in the Friends of the Forest Links, page 12, http:// www.environmentalpaper.org features a purchasers guide for environmentally responsible purchasing in the tools section of the site. Here at C2P2 we have made an effort to support only purchasing FSC stock paper from printing companies who have been recognized through various Canadian environmental award programs. The Canadian Council of Ministers of the Environment Pollution Prevention Awards Program have recognized several printers in the last few years include Warren's Waterless Printing (Toronto, ON)-www.warrenswaterless.com and Clean Choice Printers (McDonalds Corner, ON)-www.cleanchoiceprinters.com. The Canadian Printing Industry also recognizes environmental printers through an Awards program-visit www.printaction.com . Finally, the Environmental Choice program in Canada has established criteria for printers. They can be found at: http://www.environmentalchoice.com/English/ECP%20Home/Products%20
Check out www.rethinkpaper.org There are alternatives to paper from trees called tree-free paper. Seems like a good website. I also have websites on where to order tree-free, recycled, and certified paper.
Pat Rossi,
Akron, Ohio
Some criteria when looking at Green Printing contracts should include evaluations of processes for the following indicators: * operate so that all steps of the processes, including the disposal of waste products meet the requirements of all applicable governmental acts, laws and regulations; *meet or exceed all applicable federal, state and city governmental and industrial safety and performance standards; * minimize the solid waste burden, conserve resources, and reduce quantities and impacts of toxic substances and other pollutants associated with packaging; * meet at-source effluent standards; * restrict the use of materials containing phenols; * restrict the use of products formulated or manufactured with benzene; * restrict the use of products formulated or manufactured with halogenated solvents; * restrict the use blanket washes having a VOC content less than or equal to 30%, by weight, as tested in accordance with EPA Test Method 24; or * stipulate a VOC composite partial vapor pressure less than or equal to 10 mm Hg at 20oC, as tested in accordance with ASTM D5191-91 Test Method for Vapor Pressure of Petroleum Products (Mini Method); * use a system that reduces or recycles photo processing wash waters; * incorporate measures to reduce water consumption throughout the plant; * recover silver from spent photo processing chemicals and wash waters, either on- or off-site, such that the resulting level of silver does not exceed 5 mg/L after the terminal silver recovery unit; * treat on-site, the developer, proofing chemicals, and plate preparation, including developers and finishers, or collect for recycling where facilities exist, or for treatment and disposal at a licensed hazardous waste disposal facility; * utilize water-based plate development chemistry or employ a closed solvent-recovery system, if solvent-based development chemistry is utilized; * operate in a manner such that liquid chemical effluent is in compliance with applicable local sewer use by-laws or, in the absence of such by-laws, the following minimum criteria: * biochemical oxygen demand measurement of 300 mg\L; * total Kjeldahl Nitrogen measurement of 100 mg\L; * sulphate measurement of 1500 mg\L; * total phosphorus measurement of 10 mg\L; * sample effluent at the closest sewer access to your printing establishment; * treat on-site waste ink and fountain solution, or collection for recycling where facilities exist, or for treatment and disposal at a licensed hazardous waste disposal facility; * recycle all film materials, printing plates, fine paper, coated paper, colored paper, newsprint, newspaper, corrugated cardboard, web cores and plugs, and pallets where facilities exist; * recover of solvent from used press wipes for subsequent reuse or recycling where facilities exist, or for disposal of both solvent and wipes by a registered waste hauler; * restrict the use of printing inks in which the sum or incidental concentration levels of lead, cadmium, mercury, or hexavalent chromium exceeds 100 parts per million by weight; * restrict the use of products formulated or manufactured with isopropyl alcohol in press dampening systems; * use a fountain solution having a VOC content that does not exceed 1.6% by weight of formulation (as used) as calculated from records of the amounts of constituents used to make the product; or that does not exceed 3.0% by weight of formulation (as used) as calculated from records of the amounts of constituents used to make the product, and refrigerate the fountain solution to 60oF or less; or that does not exceed 5.0% by weight of formulation (as used) as calculated from records of the amounts of constituents used to make the product, and * restrict the use of alcohol in the fountain solution; * operate and maintain pollution control equipment to control VOC emissions from dryers at a minimum efficiency of 90%; * employ non-heatset web lithographic printing services that restrict the use of products formulated or manufactured with isopropyl alcohol in press dampening systems; * operate a non-heatset web lithographic printing press or newspaper offset lithographic printing press that uses a fountain solution having a VOC content that does not exceed 5.0% by weight of the formulation (as used) as calculated from records of the amounts of constituents used to make the product, and that uses no alcohol in the fountain solution. * employ sheetfed lithographic printing services that restrict the use of products formulated or manufactured with isopropyl alcohol in press dampening systems; and use a fountain solution having a VOC content at or below 5.0% by weight of the formulation (as used) as calculated from records of the amounts of constituents used to make the product; or at or below 8.5% by weight of formulation (as used) as calculated from records of the amounts of constituents used to make the product, and refrigerate the fountain solution to 60oF or less; * use no alcohol in the fountain solution. * allow for verification of your environmental performance through the use of third party independent inspection and reporting; and finally, * does your Chief Executive Officer or the equivalent officer attest to the firm's environmental objectives, standards, and environmental performance through a signed statement?
Analise Saely
Green Citizenship Coordinator/Coordonnatrice d'cocivisme
Environmental Affairs Division/Division des affaires environnementales Environment Canada/Environnement Canada
1040 St. Joseph Gatineau, QC K1A 0H3
T: (819) 997-9807
F: (819) 994-5068
E: [email protected]
Dear Tim:
One of the interesting opportunities and challenges with green purchasing to be truly effective is that it requires a consideration of the true cost versus just a decision based on price. This is probably not news to you. We did an assessment for a client on the printing process for two books we wrote for them, one a Handbook on Green Productivity and a complementary help book, Greening on the Go: A Pocket Guide to Green Productivity. The assessment included a range of 'green options' - product-based and process: - process issues related to the mill - it operated under ISO 14001 (we did not stipulate certification as a requirement, we inquired about the disclosure options that the standard enables and sought their cooperation on some of the more critical system points) - it also happened that the wood procurement was in line with PEFC/FCS - chlorine free pulp (we opted for one where there was an average of 70%TCF and 30% ECF) - recycled content and source of fibre ( in this case our client chose 100% post consumer content, that had the Environmental Choice logo) we did not again specific this, we allowed the printer to work with us to give us the best array of options at the best price - at the same time we also evaluated how the paper quality would match image quality - ink quality (for which there were two major option categories - soya/vegetable inks or Warren's Waterless Printing) - quality of service of printer - service performance of the printer - ability to meet our timelines (and international shipping requirements) -operation and safety issues We also conducted a plant tour of the two finalists in our assessment process. Ultimately this is a subjective, judgemental call. Significance determination is not an absolute science. The problem with many calls made under the title of 'green procurement' is ultimately many tenders/agreements are still based on price - not on real sustainable value or true life cycle costing. A final note, when we have the opportunity to open the door with a new supplier, we use it as a awareness and education opportunity. We learn more about their business process and we make it an opportunity to firmly but gently send a message about our sincerity in working with the right supplier ( a culture issue). We made it clear to the printer we used and their competitors about the level of concern we had - and that the environmental assessment was equally important to our economic assessment.
Good luck
L. E. Johannson B.E.S., (Hons) M.Sc.
FRSA President E2 Management Corporation (E2M)
113 Mountainview Road South
Georgetown, Ontario CANADA L7G 4K2
Tel: 905-873-9484
Fax: 905-873-3054
Email: [email protected]
Email: [email protected] www.14000registry.com www.e2management.com www.glassworks.org