Digital and litho print house Crossprint is the first in the UK to sign up to Ricoh’s Carbon Balanced Production Printing Programme.
Managing director Tim Sell, has overseen a period of change at the Newport, Isle of Wight-based company. The environmental initiatives introduced since 2004 include building an energy efficiency factory for its headquarters and switching 90% of its energy supply to solar power.
During that time, Mr Sell has also established a short run digital print operation, first through the acquisition of a competitor on the island and then with the installation of a Ricoh Pro C751 digital press. As of August, every sheet printed on the Ricoh press has been carbon neutral thanks to the Carbon Balanced Printing Programme’s three step process to Analyse, Optimise and Neutralise the carbon resulting from output.
The programme applies Ricoh’s sustainability expertise to the commercial print environment to provide advice, policies and methodologies to help calculate the carbon footprint of each print job, reduce or optimise it, and then offset any unavoidable emissions.
Mr Sell says: ‘Sustainability has slowly crept up the agenda of our customers and, as early adopters we have been able to respond quickly. Indeed, our approach to the environment has gained us a lot of recognition from potential customers and the industry. Making our digital work carbon neutral with the Ricoh Carbon Balanced Printing Programme is the icing on the cake of our environmental efforts. We know from experience that today’s customers are increasingly more demanding about the type and flexibility of print work they want produced. The fact that Ricoh was able to offer us a way to make such a clear distinction from the competition was a major part of our decision to work with them.
‘Our factory has an A rating for energy performance, which I believe is unique for a UK commercial printer. We really do everything we can to limit our impact on the environment, even the inks we use are environmentally friendly, and when we show the benefits of this approach to customers the response is very positive.
‘Ricoh’s technology, the Carbon Balanced Printing Programme and its own thorough sustainability strategy supports our own environmental goals, which is both refreshing and also helpful to the business. The Ricoh solution completes the sustainability picture for Crossprint, making it possible for us to provide one of the country’s most comprehensive sustainable printing service within the parameters of the latest best practice and standards.’
The equipment portfolio includes the Ricoh Pro C751 press, a Xerox 260, Ryobi B2 and B3 presses and a full range of finishing equipment. Crossprint offers an integrated print, web design, mailing and data capture service. In 2004, it made the strategic decision to place the environment at the forefront of almost everything it did.
The company chose offset presses that use 43% less power and no alcohol as well as switching to printing exclusively with vegetable-based inks. It has held a carbon balanced certification from the World Trust Fund for around six months through its use of Hello and Revive papers from Robert Horne.
In total, around 30% of the paper it uses is recycled; it has moved its local authority onto exclusively recycled stocks and also prints a long-standing customers catalogues using more than a million recycled sheets each year.
To make its sustainable print services as accessible as possible Crossprint has also begun using its economies of scale to lower the cost of environmentally friendly consumables and pass those savings on to the customer.
The company is also a founding member of the Isle of Wight’s Ecoisland initiative, which is a co-operative of businesses and residents dedicated to building a sustainable community on the island.
Stephen Palmer, production print director or Ricoh UK said: ‘Print buyers are increasingly seeking services that make a positive contribution to reducing their organisations’ carbon emissions. The print industry has already taken plenty of steps in the right direction toward becoming more sustainable, through recycled paper stocks, plant-based inks and reduced waste thanks to digital printing on demand.
‘At a time when print service providers are differentiating their businesses to offer a wider range of services to their clients, Ricoh is pleased to provide customers such as Crossprint a carbon balanced printing solution that offers a unique way to reduce environmental impact, attract new customers and to add more value to existing ones.’
Contact: www.crossprint.co.uk and www.ricoh.co.uk
