Environmental sustainability was the key talking point for the vast majority of visitors to the Printing Industries stand during PacPrint and the theme which has helped nine companies to win prizes.  

Visitors were invited to ‘plant’ their business cards at Printing Industries stand for the opportunity to reap an award as part of a promotion of the association’s services and for its new Sustainable Green Print (SGP) environmental management certification system.  

Printing Industries National Communication and Technical Services Manager, Joe Kowalewski, said interest in SGP was “enormous” and in the first two and a half days more than 4,000 SGP Seeds of Sustainability cards were handed out.  

“The cards quickly became a collector’s item. Not only did they provide recipients with a planting guide for a sustainable Green Print business in five steps, once the information had been digested by the user the card, which was impregnated with Callistemon citrinus seeds (Lemon scented Bottlebrush), could be recycled by planting to grow into an Australian native tree,” he said.  

“Just about every second person wanted to talk about SGP, even people from outside of the industry were keen to learn more about the industry’s environmental credentials.  

“PacPrint certainly proved a catalyst for new ideas and for generating industry confidence. It also demonstrated the willingness of a great many people to look outside of the square for business products that can value-ad to their existing print based communications solutions.”  

The winners in the Printing Industries ‘planting’ project are: 

• Brad Kind of Clifton Productions Pty Ltd, Preston Victoria (Intuos4 graphics tablet sponsored by Scholastic/Wacom)
• James Holden of Jaemek Printing Pty Ltd of Mooroolbark, Victoria ($500 Myer shopping voucher sponsored by Marsh Pty Ltd (insurance).
• Greg Eaton of Solutions Digital Printing, Preston Victoria (Adobe Photoshop Elements 7 sponsored by Adobe).
• The new Pocket pal editions (5) sponsored by Printing Industries were awarded to Richard Mesden of Colour Chiefs printing and colour management, Windsor Queensland; Mal Nicholls of Couta Industries, Whittington, Victoria; Clare McAlaney of Creatavision, Parksdale Victoria; Neil Evans of MH Queensland Pty Ltd, Coopers Plains, Queensland; and Deane Sproule of DS Labels Pty Ltd, Marrickville NSW.