Your Options in 'Green' Printers

Regarding the book manufacturing industry’s commitment to “green” principles, it could be said that a page has truly turned. Over the past decade, consideration of climate impacts and paper sourcing has become central to the industry’s approach, and, along the way, many manufacturers have discovered ways to balance the need to economize, invest in infrastructure and reduce environmental impacts—often through innovative policies and practices that manage to do all three.

“I feel there’s been a shift on the manufacturing side and also on the paper side,” says Kevin Spall, president of Dexter, Mich.-based book manufacturer Thomson-Shore. “When we make business decisions … there is an environmental piece associated with that acquisition or that improvement in process, a component that in the past was not part of the discussion, and now is part of every discussion.”

In the past few years, many manufacturers have gone from cursory efforts at conservation to instituting targeted, comprehensive “green” initiatives—truly a move from the margins to the center of corporate consciousness. Thomson-Shore, for instance, has incorporated major cost- and resource-saving projects into its overall strategic plan.

Much of this progress, Spall says, is driven by increased demand from publishers for “green” products. “The more aware publishers and the reading community at large are about these issues, the more demand that will create,” he notes. “As the shift occurred with printers and publishers, I think [environmental groups] are clearly in a much better position, where now they can say, ‘OK, the initial phase of ‘Do you believe us?’ is past. What’s the next important step for us to take as an industry?’”

Tyson Miller, executive director of the Green Press Initiative, agrees there has been a shift in consciousness. “Consumer awareness and concern for this issue has only increased in recent years, and I think this has a ripple effect that will continue to make this issue relevant for years to come,” he says. Attention to “green” initiatives offers more than just good publicity; research shows that companies committed to environmental leadership are performing better in this economy than those that are not, while steps to increase lighting efficiency—an important component of many efficiency efforts—can cut energy consumption as much as 20 percent, Miller reports.