And it’s all important stuff. More and more clients these days expect their printer not only to be working to reduce their environmental impact, but also to be generally well-informed about issues of sustainability that might one day affect them, such as the potential of biomass as an energy source, for example.

So PrintWeek’s green glossary has two functions: one, to demystify those terms that are likely to crop up as printers work to reduce their own and their clients’ environmental impact, and two, to improve printers’ general understanding of the technologies and issues.

Biomass
While a fair few printers have started to explore solar and wind energy, biomass power may still be uncommon enough to provoke head-scratching from the man in the street. And yet the government estimates that biomass-derived power could contribute up to 21% of the UK’s renewable energy by 2020, with others saying it could play an even bigger role in the UK’s energy future.

Biomass power is generated by using organic matter, including animal waste, agricultural by-products and food waste, as fuel. One method, for example, involves burning alcohol derived from fermented sugarcane to generate power. In this instance, the cane is harvested and crushed, with the juice turned into sugar and pulp – or bagasse – burned as a fuel in a power station. However, the process of ‘bioconversion’ extracts biofuels, such as methanol, oil and natural gas, from all manner of animal or plant wastes, with rubbish, animal manure, woodchips, seaweed, corn stalks all also ripe for use as biomass fuels.

The key benefit of biomass is that power is generated from a material that would otherwise be discarded, rather than from limited fossil fuel stocks.

CRC Energy Efficiency Scheme
The Carbon Reduction Commitment Energy Efficiency Scheme (CRC) is a carbon emissions reduction scheme that applies to large non-energy-intensive organisations in the public and private sectors. It has been estimated that the scheme will reduce carbon emissions by 1.2m tonnes per year by 2020 and achieve an 80% reduction on 1990-level carbon emissions by 2050. The scheme was announced in 2007 in the Energy White Paper and came into force in 2010.

Organisations are eligible for the CRC if they (and their subsidiaries) have at least one half-hourly electricity meter (HHM) settled on the half-hourly market. Organisations that consumed more than 6,000 megawatt-hours (MWh) per year of half-hourly metered electricity during a qualification year are required to participate and must register with the Environment Agency, which administers the scheme.

If a business fails to comply with the obligations of the scheme it is likely to face financial and other penalties. All in all, the CRC applies to around 5,000 UK organisations. Participants must keep tabs on their energy consumption and buy allowances from the government to account for every tonne of carbon dioxide that they emit. In 2011, the government announced plans to improve the scheme by reducing complexity, reducing administrative costs and clarifying the rules. In 2016, the government is due to publish a review of the scheme.

Circular economy
A biggie, this one; it’s the economic model that more and more say we should be aiming for. And yet its rationale is quite simple: it’s a model that replaces the ‘linear’ economy we currently have in place (where material use is treated as a one-way street, with items being manufactured, used and then sent to landfill) with one where all aspects of the economy are geared towards reuse. So it is really a much more wholesale version of recycling.

The vision circular economists advocate is, however, much grander. What organisations campaigning to highlight the benefits of this model, such as The Ellen MacArthur Foundation, have in mind, is a complete overhaul of manufacturing, where products are designed so all parts can be reused. This would benefit business in insulating it from scarcity of resources and reducing production costs, and benefit consumers because products, with businesses no longer reliant on making money from selling totally ‘new’ products, wouldn’t have obsolescence designed in.

Environmental management system
"An environmental management system (EMS) is a set of processes and practices that enables an organisation to reduce its environmental impacts and increase its operating efficiency," according to the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). Such a system should be used to monitor your company’s operations consistently and actively in order to meet the environmental targets you have set. These goals will be specific to your firm; there is no one universal EMS that will suit all.

‘Systematic’ and ‘cost-effective’ are key words, according to the EPA. The organisation provides a five-step guide to drawing up an effective EMS. One, establish your firm’s level of commitment and its environmental policy. Two, plan around the specific issues you need to address – for example, disposing of inks or hazardous chemicals. And finally, implement your plan, which could be anything from staff training to filing documents of your progress. Four, evaluate the results and, five, review the process to ensure it is working. A more detailed rundown is available at www.epa.gov/ems/.

Gold Standard
Established in 2003, The Gold Standard was put together by a collective of NGOs, including the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) and energy think tank HELIO International.

The Gold Standard is intended to keep an eye on purportedly energy efficient and energy-renewing projects. Many experts feel it’s necessary to have this independent benchmark in place to ensure carbon offset projects are as environmentally friendly as they claim to be and actually do reduce carbon dioxide emissions.

The WWF describes it as "the most widely respected certification standard globally for carbon offset projects".

The carbon offset industry, which consists of emissions reduction projects funded by businesses and consumers in return for carbon certificates, is constantly growing and there are fears that some organisations could be using it to "greenwash" their reputation. So the Gold Standard assesses the credibility of emissions reduction projects, which means it’s well-worth keeping an eye out for this when your company is considering signing up to an offsetting scheme.

A number of criteria must be met before a project can be awarded the Standard. Among them, proof that the project helps the conservation of biodiversity and proof that it involves the local population. You can find the full criteria on the WWF’s website.

Life cycle assessment
At its simplest, this does exactly what it says on the tin: it assesses the total environmental implications of a product or process from inception to execution. Of course, this is far from simple in practice.

According to a 1994 report from the International Organization for Standardization, a life cycle assessment (LCA) is achieved by "compiling an inventory of relevant inputs and outputs; evaluating the potential environmental impacts associated with those inputs and outputs; and interpreting the results of the inventory and impact phases in relation to the study’s objectives."

The US Environment Protection Agency (EPA) advises anyone planning to undertake an LCA to break it down into four steps. First, draw up a flow diagram outlining what goes into the product or process in question (such as transportation or components). Then implement a ‘data collection plan’ (tricky, because you need to isolate each source of data and safeguard its accuracy). Then collect your data, using an LCA software package or through firsthand site visits, research and consultations with experts. And finally, evaluate the results and compile a report, remembering to cite your methodology. An LCA, then, involves a lot of work, but also helps you acquire a broad overview of your company’s environmental impact.

Open- and closed-loop recycling  
Put simply, a recycling loop is where one company hires another to recycle its waste and hand it back for reuse. In addition to the obvious environmental benefits, there are huge economic savings to be made here. For this reason, ‘recycling loop’ has become an increasingly popular buzz phrase in recent years. There are two types of recycling loop: open and closed. Open-loop recycling is the process of sending waste to be reconfigured into products that your company can use for other purposes. So, leftover bits of plastic packaging, say, are converted into furniture or drinks containers. Meanwhile closed-loop recycling is where existing products, which have become damaged in some way, are remade in the same shape. Instead of throwing that product away and beginning the environmentally unsound and cost-ineffective process of remanufacturing it from scratch, you just pay for the process of reshaping the material.

Ozone-depleting substances
Ozone-depleting substances (ODSs) are found in fridges, fire extinguishers, air conditioners and cleaning solvents. Damaging to the ozone layer, they are compiled in a United Nation’s Environment Programme called the ‘Inventory of Trade Names of Chemical Products Containing Ozone Depleting Substances and their Alternatives’. They have complicated names, such as chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) and bromochloromethane, but all you need to know is they’re bad news. That’s why, in 1987, The Montreal Protocol was set up. Under this initiative, developed countries (including the UK) contribute to the Multilateral Fund for the Implementation of the Montreal Protocol, which uses the money for sourcing alternatives to ODSs. In addition, The Ozone Depleting Substances (Qualifications) Regulations 2009 apply across the UK. According to Defra, it provides qualifications for workers striving towards "the recovery, recycling, reclamations and destruction of ODSs and the prevention and minimising of leakages of ODSs". Defra also says that "there are legal obligations for companies and qualification requirements for personnel working in the industry sectors as well as other requirements relating to" the recovery, labelling and reporting of uses of ODSs. This affects any business that handles ODSs, including those that simply trade in or even destroy them.

Responsible sourcing  
This brings us to responsible sourcing. Its popularity began in the early 1990s, when the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) was set up to ensure that timber products came from well-managed forests. Since then, the FSC has provided a global certification for ‘a chain of custody’ – or a paper trail – from forests to consumer.

Over the past 20 years, such schemes have grown exponentially. Businesses are increasingly under pressure to account for the environmentally friendly interaction of all aspects of their supply chain. Nestlé, which announced its commitment to responsible sourcing in 2010, says: "[Our scheme] implements our commitments on deforestation and forest stewardship and on child labour in agricultural supply chains, enacts our guidelines on the responsible use of water in agriculture and addresses other social and environmental aspects specific to individual supply chains".

A vast number of big brands have made similar pledges. Companies that ensure a rigorous supplier code include Walkers Snack Foods, Coca-Cola, Unliever, Tesco and banks such as HSBC. Of course, ensuring responsible sourcing is a tricky task if you’re a big brand with a huge supply chain. That’s a lot of suppliers to extract detailed information from and to work with for the development of greener products. For smaller businesses, though, this information should be slightly more accessible.

Sustainable development
‘Sustainable development’ refers to the need to maintain the standards of our current lifestyles while protecting the planet for future generations.

Straightforward in theory, but what’s not so obvious is how to achieve this in practice. According to the International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD), it all comes down to understanding the world as a system. "When you think of the world as a system over space," it says, "you grow to understand that air pollution from North America affects air quality in Asia, and that pesticides sprayed in Argentina could harm fish stocks off the coast of Australia". A printer might add to this definition: when chemicals are accidentally spilled down your drains, a river several miles away suffers.

The mission for sustainable development is driven by The Brundtland Commission, named after a 1987 report on sustainable development by the then Prime Minister of Norway, Gro Harlem Brundtland. The Commission encourages consumers and businesses around the world to help achieve sustainable development by using waste management methods that minimise environmental pollution, in addition to reusing waste materials as often and as energy-efficiently as possible.

In terms of sustainable development, says the IISD, this means "responsible supply chain practices and social investment by multinational oil and gas companies, to commercial biofuel production, to decentralised energy provision for low-income communities". In other words, your small contribution will have a knock-on effect that benefits the greater cause.

Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) Directive
The Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment Regulations 2006 set this up in the UK at the start of 2007. The WEEE Directive sets out to cut the amount of electrical and electronic kit we produce, emphasising the importance of reusing and recycling such machines. Those who must comply with WEEE Directive regulations include importers or manufacturers of new electronic or electronic equipment. However, businesses who dispose of this kind of kit may also be obliged to comply.

So, how does the WEEE Directive seek to achieve this? Firstly, it encourages manufacturers to make their products with waste disposal in mind, so that dismantling machines for recycling is much easier. In addition, according to the website of product safety consultancy Conformance, "producers must join a producer compliance scheme which provides a link between producers and environment agencies" in order to comply with WEEE Directive regulations.

Waste electrical and electronic equipment has been identified as the fastest growing waste stream in Europe; it is increasing "at three times the rate of other wastes", according says Conformance. The company has compiled a list of the types of businesses or organisations who are obliged to meet WEEE Directive regulations, but the good news is that "large-scale industrial tools" are exempt. Still, it might be worth making sure your company is compliant.