The printing industry is feeling the shock of the new. The very mainstays of the traditional printing operation - paper and ink - are subject to increasingly stringent environmental scrutiny and controls; while the underlying mechanics of the industry, virtually unchanged for centuries, have in the past 20 years or so been literally revolutionised by the advent of computer and digital technology.

Australia's fourth largest manufacturing sector, employing some 115,000, the $18 billion dollar-a-year printing industry is comprised almost entirely of small to medium sized enterprises. These small, often family-owned, businesses work in an environment of knife-edge competition, in which every new requirement - whether it's a regulation relating to environmental performance, or the adoption of yet another a new technology - contains the potential for disaster.

For some of them, however, the challenges posed in recent years have proven more opportunity than threat. Supported and encouraged by the pro-active Printing Industries Association of Australia (Printing Industries), these outfits have made it their business to embrace change - and are now reaping the rewards.

"We have been involved in various environmental initiatives in the broader context of developing an action agenda to carry the industry forward in the 21st century," said Hagop Tchamkertenian, Printing Industries Manager, Industry and Commercial Policy.

In addition to signatory status to major environmental initiatives such as the Packaging Covenant, a national agreement across industries, state and federal governments to take action to reduce packaging in all its forms, and the Greenhouse Challenge, environmental commitments remain an important element in Printing Industries work. Printing Industries has also recently released a second edition of its 'Printing Industry Environmental Management Manual,' which provides an overview of federal and state requirements along with guidelines and benchmarks to help move the industry toward greener practices.

"Printing Industries is committed to ensuring that the printing industry becomes a green industry in terms of its impact on the environment, and it is imperative that we take a leading role and foster the awareness that can make this impact a positive one, through reduced waste and resource usage, elimination or safer disposal of toxic or harmful by-products and so on," said Mr Tchamkertenian.

"We are trying to help industry members understand that as well as environmental and marketing advantages there are tangible bottom line benefits flowing from good environmental practices."

In the year ahead, the Printing Industries will be focusing on preparing more detailed industry-wide environmental information, drawn from a number of sources, including the internationally recognised ISO 14001 series of environmental management Standards.

"Certainly we will be looking at ISO 14001, which is an effective option to improve environmental performance, especially due to the external accreditation component."

A number of successful printing companies share this view of ISO 14001 and the benefits it offers.

"Without the benchmark provided by our ISO 14001 environmental management certification, it would be virtually impossible for a business to accurately assess whether or not they are being environmentally responsible or even to improve their standards in this area," explains David Fuller, Managing Director of Focus Press, a Sydney-based 35-person operation that is rapidly making its name as one of the greenest printers in the business.

Focus Press's environmental achievements are significant enough to have been recognised in several arenas. The company won the Endeavour Award for the Best Environmental Solution, a prestigious annual award presented by Manufacturer's Monthly magazine. It also received the PrintNSW Business Achievement Award for 'Best Environmental Initiatives'. The company is also recognised by the Department of Environment and Conservation NSW's Cleaner Industries Unit, in a Cleaner Production Case Study. This can be found at here and is one of a series featuring companies that participated in Department of Environment and Conservation (NSW) $5 million 'Profiting from Cleaner Production' Industry Partnership Program.

'Winners' were selected from a number of organisations, which demonstrated not only cleaner production practices, but also reduced waste and operating expenses as part of a Department-funded initiative to encourage cleaner industry.

Certainly, that has been the experience at Focus Press. "When we first set up our ISO 9000 quality management and ISO 14001 environmental management systems - both certified by SAI Global - I believe the general thought in the industry was, why bother?" explains Mr Fuller.

"Within only a few months, we had picked up over $5 million worth of work as a result of our certification and environmental credentials. And that does not take into account the various savings made," (see box headed: 'Achievement in Focus').

Mr Fuller is the first to stress that, far from leading to compromises in quality, the environmental management practices have enhanced it - as business growth.

"Our clients are getting many benefits from our environmental practices. This includes better quality work through use of highly pigmented, non-toxic, soy-based inks and microdot technology, as well as the speed and convenience of digital workflow with our customers, which allows files to be transferred via ftp and remote proofing," he said.

He also identifies various internal benefits flowing from the environmental management system. "It gives a focus point to all the staff and is a project in which they can all be involved as equal partners. No one has a monopoly on good ideas and the framework of the 14001 management system allows for these ideas to be heard and incorporated into the system for the benefit of all."

Another rapidly growing printing company to have found significant benefits from its certified ISO 14001 management system is Colourtrue Labels Pty. Ltd. Colourtrue's specialty is printing adhesive labels on an enormous variety of products, from wine through to pharmaceuticals, cosmetics, food packages, hardware products and more.

A family business that has been running for close to 20 years, the company employs more than 40 people at its purpose-built Sydney plant. According to Aiden Lyons, Quality Assurance Manager at Colourtrue, there were a number of motivations for choosing an ISO 14001 certified environmental management system.

"There is a growing push for better environmental performance both from within the industry, driven and supported by the Printing Industry Association, and from outside it, particularly from our customers," explains Mr Lyons.

"Many were asking if we'd signed the Packaging Covenant, for example, so in early 2003 we began investigating the various options for environmental management." As Mr Lyons explained, the company already had a long-term commitment to, and familiarity with, quality management principles as articulated in the ISO 9000 quality management Standards, to which Colourtrue has been certified since 1994.

"Our experience with ISO 9000, especially the flexible approach of the more easily tailored ISO 9000:2000 series naturally led us toward ISO 14001, especially after we'd looked into the alternatives, which we felt were too broad and general for our specific needs. It enabled us to develop a more structured, tailored system that focused on areas of need. The fact that that we could integrate with our existing ISO 9000 system so easily was also a plus."

Mr Lyons said that, some months after achieving ISO 14001 certification with SAI Global, the benefits are being felt.

"We physically wanted to get something out of it and certainly the structure of the Standard and the requirement that we break down all our activities and look at them one by one has been very conducive to this."

Mr Lyons cites a number of areas in which great gains have been made at Colourtrue, from safer disposal of solvent-impregnated rags, which are now recycled and the solvents re-used, to baling waste rolls for use as fuel and maintaining stricter controls on print cartridge disposal.

"We have also adjusted work processes, resulting in measurable improvements in efficiency across the board, which means everyone is a winner: our customers, the environment and our company."

The 'everyone's a winner' refrain is one for which David Fuller is a firm advocate.

"If every printing company achieved the same level of environmental responsibility as Focus Press, toxic printing waste would be almost eliminated, waste to landfill would be reduced by hundreds of thousands of tonnes every year, water consumption equal to that used by 60,000 homes every year would be saved and strain on the electricity grid would reduce. Any one of these aspects would seriously assist the environment to recover after centuries of neglect.

The best thing about this is that any printing company can do it and every printing company and client will benefit."

Achievement in Focus

Some of the environmental achievements of Focus Press include:

• water savings 62.5%
• 60% reduction in alcohol used for processing
• Waste sent to landfill reduced by 67%
• 30% reduction of ink use through use of soy inks, which are also non-toxic
• more efficient print process through development of micro-dot technology
• reduced use of hazardous materials
• use of paper for setting up and running print jobs reduced by 58%
• annual savings of $65,000

Sudden impact

According to Printing Industries:

• Based on data from the 2002-2003 financial year, total paper usage in newsprint, printing and writing papers and packaging was 3,752 Kilotonnes or more than 3.7 billion kilograms.
• On a per capita basis each person in Australia consumes the equivalent of 187.6 kg of newsprint, printing and writing papers and packaging papers annually.
• It is estimated that the printing industry uses more than 36,000 tonnes (36 million kgs) of inks annually.