28 Mar 2024

DuPont Tyvek Provides Big Brands with Sustainable Signage Options

Historically, retailers’ obsolete visual merchandising signage has just been thrown into the landfill. But thanks to DuPont’s LifeCycle Based Solutions program, retailers can recycle entire Tyvek and Vivia displays with ease, enhancing the materials’ appeal to sustainability-minded big brands and their supply chain printing partners.

“The DuPont LifeCycle Based Solutions for Tyvek is part of our ongoing initiative to offer sustainable material options, which meet our corporate responsibility goals. It also aligns with the tenets of the Sustainable Green Printing Partnership (SGP), a certification body that DuPont has actively supported since its inception in 2008,” comments Annette Kim, North America Marketing Manager for Tyvek at DuPont Protection Technologies. SGP Certification requires that printing facilities undergo a thorough audit of their operations in order to satisfy its criteria for sustainability. “We support SGP Certified facilities by favoring them in our print procurement practice,” states Kim. “We are also proud to support their sustainability journey by developing innovative products to their use and to advocate to their clients.”

One SGP Certified print facility in particular, Portland-based Infinity Images, has received positive client feedback as a result of the recycling options of the Tyvek Vivia product line. Infinity Images constantly seeks ways to enrich its solutions to clients while embracing a sustainability-driven business model. Tyvek Vivia allows Infinity Images to accomplish just that for some of the world’s most recognizable brands, including adidas.

“Tyvek Vivia is an awesome product for window campaigns when we need two sided banners or when a customer is looking for something that is recyclable,” states Jason Mockley, Senior Project Manager, Infinity Images. “The clients are happy with the print quality of the banners and are excited to address waste concerns by using the Tyvek mailback program to extend the life of the banner material when the campaign ends, instead of just throwing them away. It’s a good, win-win product that is easier to sell because of that story,” notes Mockley.

By sourcing sustainable substrates and print manufacturing processes from an SGP Certified print facility like Infinity Images, adidas is realising its supply chain goals as part of its Environmental Strategy 2015. As a result, the sporting goods giant is reducing its carbon footprint while advancing its sustainability leadership.

“In addition to being a strong and versatile material, Tyvek Vivia has been designed with sustainability in mind. It’s PVC-free, which is of utmost importance to SGP Certified printers,” notes Kim. “It doesn’t contain any phthalates, binders, heavy metals, or compounds that are found on lists of toxic chemicals.” DuPont’s Tyvek is used as wide format material across the country; the high-density polyethylene is a popular choice for banners and signs due to its durability and lightweight strength, requiring less material than vinyl to accomplish the same task.

To complete the lifecycle of the Tyvek products, DuPont partnered with Waste Management to create a convenient recycling kit and program. Waste Management recycles the banners and reprocesses them into resin, which is then repurposed for a variety of uses.

Waste Management also gathers valuable data pertaining to the Tyvek recycling program by scanning a barcode on the recycling kit envelope. The material owner can then receive a certificate that details how much Tyvek® is recycled. “The recycled material tracking is a unique feature of the program and is valuable to SGP Certified printers. It provides documentation of their sustainability best practices and helps monitor their continuous improvement progress, which can easily be incorporated into their annual reports,” Kim notes.

Print facilities and their clients using Tyvek can sign up for the program at recycletyvek.wm.com to receive a recycling kit. The standard kit includes an expandable Tyvek envelope capable of holding 250 square feet of Tyvek material. Custom recycling kits are available upon request.

Mondi joins Verdigris environmental initiative

Mondi, the paper and packaging manufacturer, has become the latest company to join Verdigris, the environmental initiative from graphic arts research group Digital Dots. Mondi is the first representative of the paper industry to join the Verdigris project.

Verdigris helps all parts of the print chain evaluate the carbon footprint of print and electronic media, from the point of file creation via production to final distribution, use and disposal.  The project's goal is to raise awareness of print’s capabilities in reducing environmental impact, through cooperative content development shared with an international network of trade publishers.

"We are very pleased to have signed on as an Associate Member of the Verdigris Project,” says Johannes Klumpp, Marketing and Sales Director for Mondi Uncoated Fine Paper. “Print does have a positive story to tell: Paper is a recyclable material that comes from a renewable resource. As a leading producer of office and professional printing papers, we are reliant on forests as the primary raw material for our products and we have a responsibility to maintain the healthy functioning of the forest ecosystems we own and manage. Sustainability is vital to Mondi’s business and our license to operate and we are happy to use the synergies between the paper and printing industries to tell this story."

Mondi's manufacturing process looks at the issue of carbon footprint from the ground up, starting with the development of a sustainable forestry programme. In 2012 Mondi Group sustainably managed around 2.1 million hectares of boreal forest in Komi Russia and 306,000 hectares of plantation forests in South Africa. Mondi Group planted some 31 million new trees.

The latest development from Mondi has been the Green Range of products. As of January 2012 all Mondi branded papers now meet the company's Green Range criteria. The Green Range consists entirely of FSC™ / PEFC™ certified paper from responsibly managed forests, totally chlorine-free paper or 100% recycled paper.

Welcoming Mondi’s support, Verdigris founder Laurel Brunner says,  “It is wonderful to have a paper company add its support to the Verdigris project. Mondi is one of the few paper companies which really appreciate what we are trying to achieve with the project. Mondi is certainly practicing what it preaches with its sustainable forestry programme and the development of its 'Green Range' of paper products.”

Favini renews support for community-based project in Madagascar

Italian paper company Favini is underlining its commitment to protecting the environment by renewing its support for a community based project in Madagascar, off the African coast.  The company is working to help improve the quality of life for the community of Sahavondronina by teaching more innovative farming techniques that make it possible to respect the local ecosystem while helping to develop a more ecological tourism industry.

The project is named “Voiala” and is a microcosm of community actions aimed at protecting and recreating natural resources that have been heavily exploited.  The main goal of the project is to use the experience at Sahavondronina to develop a model for other local communities to follow. At present, the inhabitants of this village in the east Madagascar, are protecting 2,077 hectares of virgin forest and in reforestatiion around the village, which has been stripped bare by decades of exploitation. 

For the first three years, Project Voiala focused on protecting 2,077 hectares of virgin forest from further destruction, exploitation and poaching, as well as on related education efforts. At the same time, infrastructure was created in order to help with reforestation.    Between December and March, a period that coincides with the rainy season, the project has planted more than 12,500 plants donated by Favini, involving 300 people and 2 schools, covering 6 hectares. Quarterly reports are posted to the Favini website to highlight the progress being made.

Andrea Nappa, CEO  of Favini, comments, "We are proud to be partners of a project that has a great social value that provides a real support to the people to preserve their own environmental heritage.  We strongly believe in the need to protect and reforest valuable forest, which fully represents our philosophy and our commitment to protect the environment , this is an important 7 year project from 2009.”

Favini was the first Italian paper company to adopt the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) Standard as a guarantee to respect rigorous environmental, social and economic standards in the raw materials used to manufacture paper.

For more information on the project, please visit www.favini.com/madagascar/en/

Royal Mail joins Two Sides and Print Power campaigns

Royal Mail has joined the Two Sides and Print Power campaigns, describing the groups' actions to promote print as a sustainable medium as 'completely complementary' to its own work in the area. Royal Mail has emphasised 'the important role mail plays in the fabric of our daily lives' as well as the impact of printed marketing material in a digitised industry.

The goal of the Two Sides and Print Power campaigns is to promote the responsible production and use of print and paper, and dispel common environmental misconceptions by providing users with verifiable information on why print and paper is an attractive, practical and sustainable communications medium.

Royal Mail is an essential part of the UK’s economic and social infrastructure, serving companies, customers and communities six days a week; delivering 59 million items every working day to businesses and households.

David Gold, Head of Public Affairs at Royal Mail comments: “It is important that we recognise and focus upon the importance of mail for all UK citizens; ensuring that companies and consumers alike not only recognise the important role mail plays in the fabric of our daily lives but also how mail can deliver corporate marketing messages that really stand out an increasingly digital and media cluttered world”

Gold continues, “The mission of Two Sides, to promote the attractiveness and sustainability of mail, is completely complementary to our own activities and we are looking forward to working with the organisation to assist the development of their campaigns and strengthen our own relationships with information that will benefit all our stakeholders”.

Martyn Eustace, Director of Two Sides responds; “It’s great to see Royal Mail, an organisation very much at the forefront of print and mailing technology, supporting our campaigns. We’re currently having great success, supported by magazine and newspaper publishers, with our £2.5 million ‘No Wonder You Love Paper’ campaign, aimed at changing consumer perceptions about print and paper’s sustainability. The Print Power magazine, which promotes print’s unique effectiveness as part of multi-media campaigns, is now established as a must-have magazine for Brand Owners and Media Decision Makers. Royal Mail’s support for these campaigns, and our ability to collaborate with them, will be invaluable.”

Google's 'Go Paperless' campaign is 'nothing more than clumsy advertising'

Knud Wassermann, Editor in Chief of Austrian magazine Graphische Revue, has joined Verdigris and others in opposing Google's Go Paperless 2013 campaign, describing the initiative to urge business to go paper-free as 'nothing more than a clumsy attempt to market its services' which 'conveniently ignores the environmental impact of its own activities'.

He says:

"The “Two Sides Initiative” has compiled a list of facts designed to infuse the discussion with greater objectivity and demonstrate that internet communication is not necessarily the great boon to the environment it is often made out to be. Basically, it is no simple matter to compare the environmental impact of paper-based communication with the internet. A closer look at figures from the USA shows that the country’s over 2000 computer centres were already consuming more electricity than the entire paper industry back in 2010 and three per cent of the 76 billion kilowatt-hours required to run these centres were attributable to Google. The constantly growing volume of data is, in turn, causing the amount of energy consumed by the IT industry to increase and there is no end in sight. Furthermore, millions of energy-hungry laptops, PCs and tablets are all connected to the internet, most of which are produced in China under highly questionable social and ecological conditions.

Obviously enough, energy is needed to manufacture paper too, but much of it is generated from renewable sources and hence 65 per cent of the energy used to produce paper and cellulose in the USA and 54 per cent of that consumed in Europe originates from renewable sources. According to its own statistics, Google cites a figure of only 30 per cent. Of course, paper also needs to be printed and transported to its recipient. However, despite this fact, it is hard to imagine that more energy is used for this purpose than that expended to manufacture and operate the many millions of digital gadgets with which we meanwhile find ourselves surrounded – particularly in view of the rule of thumb that 80 per cent of the carbon footprint made in printing is caused by paper manufacture.

Paper and printing industry under pressure to justify itself

However, this is not an attempt to convey the impression that all is well in the global paper industry. There are still black sheep among paper manufacturers in the emerging economies of Asia and South America that use raw materials from non-certified sources. For instance, just before Christmas the WWF released a study proving that fibres originating from tropical timber had been found in the children’s books of German publishers. In order to present a complete picture, it should be mentioned that the production of children’s books has been largely relocated to Asia in recent years. Examples of this nature are frequently used to give the impression that tropical rain forests are being ruthlessly felled to produce newspapers, magazines and books, putting the entire value-added chain of paper-based communication under pressure to justify itself and causing its long-term environmental protection endeavours to disappear in a cloud of smoke.

Up to 50 million tonnes of electronic waste

One fact currently being ignored in the ongoing discussion on the environmental compatibility of digital communication is the amount of waste it causes. According to Greenpeace, electronic waste is currently the fastest-growing category of municipal waste. In Europe, the volume of e-waste is rising by 3 to 5 per cent per year – almost three times faster than the amount of waste overall. The number of electronic products being thrown away has significantly increased in recent years and meanwhile accounts for up to 50 million tonnes per year. Although in the EU, at least, there are regulations in place obliging manufacturers to take back their used electronic devices, the IT industry can only dream of the 70 per cent recycling rate that the paper and printing industry has been achieving for many years. No more than an estimated one third of electronic waste is currently being recycled. To make matters worse, some of this waste is being exported as hazardous waste that ends up on the landfill sites of developing countries. By contrast, paper is subjected to a number of recycling procedures and decomposes at the end of its life cycle.

In the meantime Google and similar companies have begun to compensate for their CO2 emissions by purchasing carbon certificates. Google even claims to have become carbon-neutral since 2007, due to the mixture of greater efficiency in its computer centres and the use of renewable sources of energy combined with carbon emission compensation. However, in this regard the paper and printing industry goes one step further, meanwhile offering carbon-neutral types of paper as well as printing machines and an increasing number of printing companies are offering their customers the option of compensating for the CO2 emissions generated during production by means of a small donation. As far as I know, there is still no such thing as a carbon-neutrally manufactured iPad.

Solidarity throughout the entire value-added chain

However we look at it, both electronic and paper-based communication have an impact on the environment and it is simply untenable for Google to claim that paperless communication is fundamentally better, no matter how green they try to picture themselves. It is therefore even more difficult to comprehend that the paper and printing industry has been unable to rid itself of the image that continues to stick from the past as environmental bad guys. One would think that Europe’s 100-billion-euro paper and printing industry is capable of representing its interests both at national and EU levels. Hence solidarity is urgently called for throughout the entire value-added chain for printed communication – to set the record straight once and for all on the subject of environmental compatibility."

About the author: Knud Wassermann has been Editor in Chief of Graphische Revue since 1998, during which time he has transformed the journal into a leading title for media design and production.  A graduate of the Vienna College of Graphic Design (HGBLVA), he has been a close observer of the industry from a variety of perspectives for more than 20 years.  Knud Wassermann is constantly in touch with the latest developments from his intensive daily contacts with producers and users. He assesses, presents and analytically documents current trends, facts and backgrounds covering all aspects of the printing industry.

Sun Chemical releases 2012 Sustainability Report

Sun Chemical has released its 2012 Sustainability Report which it says 'showcases the company’s leadership in eco-efficiency through established data-driven metrics', as well as detailing examples of how raw material suppliers are contributing to the company’s environmental footprint.

The report describes a balanced scorecard approach that Sun Chemical uses to assess suppliers’ environmental performance and provides details about questionnaires that were sent to suppliers asking about their sustainability policies, carbon footprint emissions, the potential impact on deforestation, etc.

The report cites two case study examples of raw material suppliers who published sustainability reports and described their contributions and practices to eco-efficiency.

“We’re going beyond providing meaningful data that will help meet customer goals,” said Gary Andrzejewski, Sun Chemical’s Corporate Vice President of Environmental Affairs. “We are showing concrete examples of things our raw material suppliers are doing to help Sun Chemical meet and improve upon its eco-efficiency goals. It is our goal to manufacture products that help our customers better meet their environmental goals and we can only do that by ensuring our suppliers are also doing their part to contribute to sustainable practices.”

The report shows data collected every year since 2005 from approximately 170 Sun Chemical sites in over 25 countries. The key sustainability metrics measured in the data include: energy consumption/conservation at production and non-production sites, the energy carbon footprint at the production sites, process waste reduction, water consumption, materials safety, and employee safety.

Providing a report that shows the ongoing management and monitoring of key sustainability metrics is an important part of Sun Chemical’s sustainability policy.

“Our sustainability policy pushes us as a company to improve the eco-efficiency of our processes and products,” Andrzejewski said. “Our R&D efforts are a pivotal part of this process as we provide our customers with solutions that will be both eco-friendly and save them money. These data-driven sustainability reports have played a key role in helping our customers achieve many of their eco-efficiency goals.”

All of Sun Chemical’s sustainability reports, along with the “Carbon Footprint Report 2010,” which outlines the results from nine independent environmental analyses focused on quantifying the carbon footprint of its product lines, are available to customers and can be requested online at www.sunchemical.com/sustainability.

Customers in the U.S. can also calculate the initial carbon footprint for their facility operations by visiting www.sunchemical.com/suncare.