Environment

Across the UK, more and more people are taking responsibility for what they consume - and its resultant environmental impact - both at home and at work. Equally, as customers are demanding a greater choice of ‘green’ products, never has there been such an emphasis on businesses doing their part, finding ways to use ecologically-friendly and responsible materials and putting this into practice throughout the supply chain.

The Right Choice

Post-consumer waste, 100% recycled, responsibly produced… when it comes to choosing environmentally friendly paper, how do you know which is best? And with so many options available, how can you tell if it has true environmental qualities?

One of the major reasons customers tend to avoid environmentally friendly paper is the high cost. Yet, like the many myths that surrounded these products, it’s untrue – it is a lot more cost effective than you would imagine and, as environmentally friendly paper is being developed, so too is its quality, appearance and availability.

Furthermore, at Spellman Walker we are delighted to have been awarded both FSC^® and PEFC certificates, and we were early adopters of both schemes. This means that customers can be assured of our green credentials, from the source of the raw material right through to the final printed product. More than 98% of our total paper usage falls within these criteria.

Branching Out Beyond Accreditation

At Spellman Walker, we take our ecological and sustainable responsibilities seriously. Over the past year, we have been looking into every aspect of our business to find ways in which we can improve our working practices and bring them in line with ‘greener’ alternatives.

We have used vegetable-based inks and alcohol-free dampening as standard since 2003, and promote the use of FSC certified and recycled papers and bio-degradable laminates wherever possible. We even have automatic waste recycling processes in place.

When we need new machinery, we select more energy efficient models, and we recently invested in a colour management system that earned us an ISO 12647-2 standard. This system enables faster make-readies, which reduces energy and waste. What's more, we actively promote 'soft' proofing technologies to help eliminate wasteful hard copy versions.

A recent innovation that backs up our commitment to environmental causes is our adoption of a new type of postal tube for the distribution of posters and point-of-sale materials. Instead of the standard tubes which use plastic end caps, we now use as standard a specially designed, fully recyclable cardboard box. Our annual usage of over 50,000 of these tubes means that our consumption of oil-based plastics has been reduced dramatically.