With the launching of the Sustainable Green Printing Partnership in August 2008, the printing industry has begun the journey of establishing a system for benchmarking sustainable business practices. The mission of the SGP Partnership is to encourage and promote participation in the worldwide movement to reduce environmental impact and increase social responsibility of the print and graphic communications industry through sustainable green printing practices. The Specialty Graphic Imaging Association (SGIA) is a key partner in the development of the partnership program and now is working to both educate and encourage wide format-digital operations to embrace the SGP program. The industry’s customer base continues to embrace sustainability within their operations, and is pushing that movement to their supply chain–their print providers.

To aid print facilities, the SGP program helps to establish sustainable business practices as guiding principles to ensure continued viability and growth for both individual facilities as well as the entire industry. First, the partnership program encourages the industry to employ, wherever and whenever possible, materials derived from renewable resources, or those with low environmental impact, maximizing recycling and recovery efforts with efficient utilization of renewable energy. To facilitate this, the program encourages the adoption of changes within the supply chain by strongly recommending the use of raw materials that do not threaten or harm future generations. And, finally, an ultimate goal is to educate the customer and ultimate consumer regarding the benefits of a restorative economy. Wide format facilities begin to adopt sustainable practices by implementing the criteria for becoming a certified Sustainable Green Printer.

DISTINCTIONS AND DEFINITIONS
At this juncture, it is important to make the distinction between sustainable printing operations and “green” printing products. The only government agency with policies for green marketing is the Federal Trade Commission (FTC). The FTC, through its Environmental Guides — often referred to as The Green Guides — provides information that manufacturers can use when making green marketing claims. The Environmental Guides apply to all forms of marketing for products and services advertisements, labels, package inserts, promotional materials, words, symbols, logos, product brand names, and marketing through digital or electronic media. The FTC’s guides also apply to any claim about the environmental attributes of a product.

Rather than focusing on technical or scientific definitions of terms, the current Environmental Guides focuses more on how consumers interpret the environmental marketing claims. Further, these guides do not establish standards for environmental performance or prescribe testing protocols. Over the past twelve months, the FTC has held public workshops on a variety of topics related to environmental marketing issues with the intent of revising the guidelines.

Currently, the guides address terms such as biodegradable, compostable, recyclable and recycled content. But, remember, the information is presented from the consumer’s perspective, on what message the advertising conveys to consumers. The workshops have focused on the need to provide more concrete direction to the manufacturers of the products offered. And while no drafts have yet been released, it is hoped that the guides will contain more explicit scientific methods that can be used to substantiate claims that are made.

SGP FOCUS IS ON PROCESS
The SGP program opted to not focus on the product produced by an imaging facility, but rather on the print process itself. By focusing on elements under the direct control of the facility, changes that make a difference can be made. Requiring printers to open discussions with suppliers regarding transportation logistics; reduction of obsolete materials; the reuse of packaging and shipping materials encourages a productive dialogue that will result in real change. True, print facilities need to be aware of substrate characteristics, just not as the defining characteristic of sustainability. There is so much more to consider than just whether or not the substrate can be recycled.

The SGP program encompasses the entire facility and asks that the print provider institute best practices in the areas of product, process and envelope.

The product category includes the design aspects and input material management needed to create a product. This area focuses on elements of design and responsible sourcing.

The process category includes all manufacturing steps involved with converting the raw materials into a finished product. It is at this point that many wide format facilities question the validity of the SGP program for their particular print process. The SGP program was developed to apply to all print platforms including digital, screen, lithographic and flexographic.

It so happens that the first printer to be certified under the SGP program is a wide format operation, Pictura Graphics in Minneapolis. When reviewing the practices in this section, there may be elements that simply do not apply to the wide format operation. However, the majority do, such as establishment of operating procedures to minimize waste during production runs as well as establishment of proper management practices to ensure that chemicals are properly handled and disposed.

The final category, envelope, includes all support activities, including the building, grounds and employees. The social aspect of sustainability is probably the most overlooked. In addition to the social criteria, practices in this section include shipping operations, and the implementation of office programs that encourage recycling.

This is a short overview of the SGP program. When developing the criteria, the partner organizations used the sustainability model of people, profit and planet. The 1987 Brundtland Report offers the most often quoted definition of sustainable businesses: development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs. The goal of the SGP program is to provide that pathway for the specialty imaging industry.