Waste not: how going green can prove profitable
The cost benefits angle is an interesting one – as the old adage goes, where there’s muck, there’s brass. It might be stretching the point a little to suggest printers are sitting on potential gold mines, but not being aware of what your waste is worth could mean you’re losing out.
Plenty of firms will provide you with a skip free of charge, and then come and collect the waste to trade on themselves for profit. At face value, it might make sense. But it’s worth thinking twice before taking up an offer like this. “A printer may think that’s a good deal, unless they’re following the recycling market prices closely,” says Matthew Botfield of Leicestershire-based paper merchant Antalis McNaughton. That waste management firm could be making a lot of money from that skip and you are not getting a share.
Other waste removal outfits might even offer a tempting cash-in-hand deal, particularly for plates. But the feeling from the print trade is that these are to be avoided. “It might seem tempting, but avoid it at all costs. People are particularly interested in aluminium at the moment – but you have no idea where that might end up,” says Pensord’s Gater. Paul Winfield, production manager at Northamptonshire-based Eclipse Colour Print, agrees. “It is these firms that are usually the ones who’ll be disposing of your waste badly,” he says.
Disposing of your waste badly is a real issue – a printer cannot just stand at the gate and wave the waste away without a second thought. Where it ends up is still part of the printer’s responsibility.
To make sure that your waste disposal arrangements are as transparent and open to scrutiny as possible, it’s vital to keep your paper trail in order – this means clear invoices and records, plus an open and honest relationship with your waste removal company. When auditioning potential new suppliers, it’s worth asking a few basic questions.
“Ask if they’ve got a waste carriers’ licence, a waste management licence, and do they have the appropriate accreditations?” advises Pensord’s Gater. “Check if the company you’re dealing with has any legislative failures.” There’s no harm in picking up the phone and calling some reputable users of the company’s services, or dropping them a polite and friendly email in order to get a bit of inside information. “If a waste management company doesn’t want you to speak with its customers, then walk away,” says Gater.
