CONSULTANTMark Line, executive chairman, Two Tomorrows
"Any company that is serious about its environmental credentials has to have an independently certified management system. In manufacturing generally, this is accepted wisdom and any larger company that does not have such a certification loses business as a result. The same is true of print, although there remains a long tail of smaller companies without certification. Although some small printers will continue to fly under the radar, there is a continuing trend towards vendor approval systems that include environmental controls. In other words, buyers won’t do business with companies that cannot prove they are environmentally kosher."
COMMERCIAL PRINTERMark Williams, managing director, Cardiff Printing Company
"You have to have an environmental ethos within the business, especially when you consider what is happening with the planet. We have quite a few blue-chip clients and having environmental accreditations such as ISO 14001 is a given if you are expecting to trade with them. It took us time to get it and cost quite a lot of money, too, but I am very glad that we do have these green credentials. While more businesses may have them now, it still gives us an edge compared to if we didn’t have them. You only have to consider pitching for tender work – 99% require these credentials and if you don’t have them, that work will go elsewhere."
DIGITAL PRINTERSteve Hallett, managing director, Repropoint
"Environmental accreditations are not unique anymore, but I think that they are still just as important. As an FSC-certified company, when we went for ISO 14001, we did it off our own back. It instills good practice within the business and, further down the line, it would give us another selling point. For some customers, having environmental accreditations is a prerequisite before any work can go ahead so then it is only a good thing. In addition to that, it has allowed us to go out there and take on new clients as a result of our green approach."
PRINT BUYERMark Cruise, head of print management, BskyB
"I would expect everybody to have accreditation. The CSR team at Sky goes to great lengths to ensure it uses FSC and PEFC paper and does incredible amounts of research to make sure everybody used has the correct accreditations. So if somebody came along and said we don’t have FSC, PEFC or ISO, but we can do it cheaper than everybody else, I would say thanks but good luck. With the amount of paper a company of our size puts out we can’t afford not to ensure everything is monitored because people hear tonnages and they instantly think we aren’t environmentally friendly. It is only when you look beneath the service that you realise how much we do."
