Big Picture - October 2016 - 24

THE ROAD TO Why more and more print shops are making the move to green in 2016. SUSTAINABILITY BY JOE HOLT REAP THE REWARDS W BIG PICTURE October 2016 675 solar panels were installed on the roof of Digital Color Concepts' building in New Jersey. Together, they generate 187,569 kilowatt hours of renewable, clean energy each year. 24 herever you are in the world, you are most likely keeping an eye on the weather. Is it going to be windy today, or is the meteorologist forecasting heavy rain? Maybe it's finally time to break out that scarf you've had in storage all summer. Or, maybe it's a scorcher, and you need an extra layer of sunblock. These days, it's typically the latter. If you've been paying attention to annual weather reports the last few years, you probably have noticed an alarming trend: Things are getting hotter. Much hotter. "Why do we choose to run a sustainable print business?" asks Michael Hecht, VP of sales and marketing at Premier Press in Portland, Oregon. "Two words: global warming." In 2016, the US sweated through its fifth-hottest summer on record, according to data recently released by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. As global climate reports indicate, last year was the hottest ever recorded, thus a variety of efforts are taking place worldwide to reduce environmental impacts - from renewable power sources and carbon taxes at the office to more energy-efficient appliances and electric cars at home. A hotter planet affects everyone, and our own wide-format print industry has been taking notice for quite some time. So, just what is "sustainability?" According to Printing Industries of America (PIA), it's the ability of your company to operate in a way that meets present needs while providing for the needs of the future and future generations. It's the paper your shop uses - can it be recycled or reused? It's the ink in your machines - are you using vegetable- or soy-based? (If so, it can be recycled.) It's the energy powering your shop - are you turning off equipment when not in use or shutting off lights in unoccupied rooms? And it doesn't stop there. "For our team, it wasn't a question of if we should get on board," says Christine Grant, VP of business development and marketing at Digital Color Concepts. "It was how do we get on board better?" With retouching and creative services based in Manhattan, New York, and their print manufacturing facilities based in Mountainside, New Jersey, Digital Color Concepts (DCC) produces award-winning print pieces for some of the most respected brands and businesses in the world, including Coach, Ann Inc., David Yurman, Harry Winston, Aéropostale, and more, and has been leading the metropolitan New York printing community in sustainability and social responsibility for years. In 2007, the company became a Forest Stewardship Council-certified printer, meeting the global standard for responsible forestry. In 2010, they became the first printing facility in New Jersey to go solar, installing 675 rooftop solar panels that generate 187,569 kilowatt hours of renewable, clean energy every year. That's the equivalent of taking 25 cars off the road, or conserving 15,290 gallons of gasoline each year. That same year, they made the switch to vegetable-based inks, and in 2014, began recycling waste materials like solvents, inks, resins, and all chemicals used in the process of printing ink on paper. Far from being the only printer to "go green" in the last decade, DCC and a number of other shops across the country have taken it a giant step further by becoming SGP-certified. The Sustainable Green Printing Partnership (SGP) is a comprehensive sustainability certifier of print facilities. It encourages printers to reduce their environmental impact and increase social awareness of their best practices in order to provide print buyers a more sustainable supply chain. Grant has been on the SGP Marketing Committee since 2014, and recently became an SGP board member in January. Getting SGP-certified is a bit like training for the Olympics. It takes an enormous amount of dedication, months - if not years - of preparation, and an even longer commitment to

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Big Picture - October 2016