Sterling scores with FSC move

First Sterling Press moved to an environmentally friendly building; it then achieved ISO 14001 and has now received its FSC and PEFC certification and says the achievements have been a major contributor to the company winning new business.

When Sterling Press moved to new premises in Kettering in October 2005, it decided to use the opportunity to join those printers committed to environmentally friendly print. This was in keeping with the new factory which had been designed for minimal environmental impact. The lighting throughput scores highly for energy efficiency and the inch thick glass panels that front the premises are equally eco-friendly.

Today the company is glad that it made the commitment as customers are increasingly looking for the assurances that Sterling can provide. Less than a year after moving in the company received its ISO 14001 and can now say that its first audit was passed with flying colours and that it has added FSC and PEFC chain of custody certification to the environmental management standard.

However the gains are more than just about the outside world, though the stance has helped it on to the government print framework and has also won it business with Jewsons (see panel). The process of getting to ISO 14001 has brought with it financial benefits that were untapped and which it was unaware of before the company became part of the ‘club’.

The 60,000sq ft building houses three long perfecting B1 presses as well as full prepress and finishing. It also houses a sophisticated waste extraction system which sucks up any paper waste and dust from the presses, guillotines, folders and stitching lines and transports it to two compactors. The system is also fitted with microchips which fire SMS messages and emails when the compactors are filling up, which triggers a vehicle to pick up the waste. This alone has environmental benefits as journeys take place as necessary, not according to a predecided schedule. Sterling’s quality and systems manager Jay Worsfield says: “It’s something which cuts down on journeys and where we can definitely measure the impact in terms of fuel saved and reduced carbon emissions.”

Worsfield has managed the path to ISO 14001 since that initial meeting. Having previously achieved ISO 9001 definitely helped, he says, as the concept of recording everything lies at the core of the environmental standard. “It’s equivalent to a good head start,” he says. The ISO certification was granted by BSI in November last year.

Since then the company has identified minimising the amount of landfill waste generated, which thanks to its own efforts and those of the waste handling companies it uses, is down to less than 3%. The compacted paper is taken by Casepak, J&G Environmental handles the secure waste that needs treatment and Corners the material that cannot be processed. Through awareness the company has saved significantly says Worsfield. “We have taken away the bins that used to sit by every desk. Now there is a central bin and all paper is shredded. This saves us paying cleaners to empty bins and then take black sacks to the skips. Where once we filled two skips a week, we now have one a fortnight. That is saving us £6,000 a year,” he says.

The company is achieving a £7,000 saving through a commitment to energy efficiency targets as part of a climate change levy agreement. It has agreed to save 7% in 2008 over current levels and 14% by 2010. This clears the way for an 80% rebate on the levy.

Its drive to bring landfill down has generated a revenue of £15,000 through the supply of good quality waste to the contractors it works with. These elements impressed the assessors on their second recent visit as did the promotion of a Ride2work scheme under which Sterling will provide subsidised bicycles for those willing to pedal to work. So far 12 members of staff have taken up the scheme.

It’s an indication of how the workforce has come behind the idea of environmental improvement. Worsfield explains: “When we mention ISO9001 on the shop floor, everyone responds as if something is wrong and needs fixing, while everyone is much more supportive of ISO 14001. There is much more buy-in. We are also getting a lot of ideas proposed; someone mentioned the possibility of a grass roof, another suggested putting in solar panels.

“Someone else suggested we make telephone note pads out of our waste for the haulage company that is next to us. They would then recycle the paper having got another use from it. The response has been really positive.”

This will be the case as the company seeks to reduce the concentrations of IPA it uses in the fount. It already runs a no-VOC blanket wash and has considered no-VOC inks. “We could print with this type of ink on recycled paper with a green laminating foil for a customer and have the FSC logo and printed by an ISO 14001 printer lines printed on the job rather than print the FSC logo and ruin it by using conventional lamination,” he says.

Recycled or part recycled papers such as 9-Lives and Revive are increasingly popular while having FSC certification will add another dimension to the proposition. The first FSC jobs are being lined up for September.

Marketing director Chris Timms believes that the combination of FSC and ISO14001 will be a powerful sales tool. “We will be able to do more with companies like Jewson,” he says. Sterling has also worked with the Department of Transport, the government department which has taken a lead in green procurement. “It has certainly helped consolidate what we are doing and provided the potential to grow the business,” says Timm, “while at the same time saving us a lot of money as well.”

Jewson matches FSC timber with FSC paper

Jewson is one of the country’s largest timber merchants serving 250,000 customers in the building trade. Many are single man operations but the larger companies are increasingly environmentally aware, something that Jewson is serving through a growing supply of FSC timber. And to support the use of wood for construction coming from properly managed forests, it is looking to do the same for the paper it buys.

Currently the company ensures that marketing material in support of the FSC timber and other environmental initiatives is properly qualified, with the idea that eventually all its paper will be FSC, (providing this proves cost-effective).

Environmental director Steve Millwood says: “We are focusing on doing it right and feel that this is the right thing to do. At the moment though it’s only the large customers that are bothered about buying FSC product. Smaller companies do not yet understand.”

He aims to use the FSC grades on products that have an environmental message, whether promoting FSC timbers, the company’s corporate social responsibility report or other print where it would be wrong not to have the FSC logo. “We don’t want to be sending mixed messages,” he says.

For Millwood the availability of the paper and the FSC-accredited supply chain take precedence over a printer with just ISO 14001. “Making sure we have the FSC paper to go with the FSC timber was the biggest concern,” he says.