Business
Is carbon reduction an achievable goal for printing companies?
Mike Lammas, managing director of packaging and greetings cards printing company, Herbert Walkers, discusses the challenges of carbon reduction for the sector and the steps the company is taking to make it achievable.
‘S
ustainability’ has become such an over- used buzzword across so many business sectors that it has almost lost its meaning. And, let’s face it, the term was always a little vague and open to interpretation. For many printing companies, it has been a tick in a box; clients need and expect their supply chain partners to mirror their own values and customer commitments so the industry has stepped up to consider print solutions that offer improved environmental credentials on a cradle-to-cradle basis. But, like so many other areas of business improvement, the real catalyst for change is proving to be commercial rather than ideological. At Herbert Walkers, we were always committed to doing the right thing and supporting our clients with sustainable solutions, which has helped us build client loyalty and win new business. However, our drive towards sustainability was focused on outputs and the product we sell, rather than operational savings – be they financial or environmental. The perfect storm that has been brewing with pandemic-related supply chain challenges, price volatility, and rising energy costs means that there is now a compelling reason to take a 360 approach to sustainability, and we have been surprised and inspired by what that deep dive is revealing.
Firstly, let’s be clear, sustainability has been a long-term commitment and a process of continuous improvement for us, aligned to our ISO 14001 certification. We’ve worked with material suppliers to offer a greater range of sustainable substrates and finishes, we’ve switched to a renewables only energy supplier and installed LED lighting throughout our factory and offices, determined to be accountable on sustainability rather than simply greenwashing. But, until recently we were not benchmarking, setting goals or putting measures in place to monitor and measure progress. Now, we are embarking on that data-informed, target driven carbon reduction journey, and it begins with identifying where we are and the routes we need to take to get us to where we – and our clients – want us to be.
The journey starts by letting go of some of the old assumptions; namely that printing is inherently a heavy energy usage sector and we must just accept it. While that’s a fact, it is not a fact that we should accept without question. By understanding more about where and how we’re using energy, we can identify areas where we can improve efficiency and reduce waste so that both energy saving measures and staff behaviour change are targeted in ways that will have most impact in terms of reducing both our bills and our carbon footprint. Every little helps, but it’s both the quick wins and the big wins that have the most value for our business and the planet.
So where is the best place to start? At Herbert Walkers, we are starting by improving our knowledge of how much energy we’re using, when we’re using it and how we’re using it. To do that, we are working with a specialist consultancy that has placed monitoring equipment on our machines to identify the kWh for each of them and track it hour by hour through each week. By doing this over a period of time, we can see where the peaks and troughs lie, and consider strategies for evolving our operational practices to improve energy efficiency.
One of the most immediate areas for action is the evidence of energy consumption during non-operational hours. The energy used when machines are on standby is considerable when viewed across our entire operation and, while there are good reasons for keeping machines on standby in some cases, there are also measures we can put in place to work around these, which
will help us manage costs and enable us to reduce our carbon footprint.
Carbon reduction is inextricably linked to efficiency, so the commercial benefits of this strategy not only include mitigating energy cost increases and demonstrating our environmental commitment to clients, but productivity gains too.
It is early days on our journey to carbon reduction. Even as we carry out the benchmarking process to establish a baseline for our current energy use, however, developing a strategy to reduce it and prevent waste, it is already clear that we can achieve a substantial improvement. Moreover, the process will also deliver, financial, operational and productivity benefits, highlighting the importance of sustainability as a valuable facet of business management.
Xwww.herbertwalkers.co.uk
22
September 2022
www.convertermag.com
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