A few years ago at a PRINTING United Alliance’s Digital Packaging Summit, a panelist from Microsoft explained that the company vets every printer and converter it works with by looking for a statement of sustainability on the company’s website. What happens if there isn’t one? It doesn’t do business with that company.
While that might seem like an extreme example, Gary Jones, vice president of Environmental, Health, and Safety Affairs at PRINTING United Alliance, explains that with new regulations and legislation being passed on a regular basis, there has been a “transition from sustainability being a ‘nice thing to do’ to a ‘must thing to do.’” That’s why it’s important to have a sustainability plan in place and to be prepared to speak with your customers about it on a deeper level.
“Customers easily see through empty sustainability initiatives,” Jones says. “In addition, some of them are hiring sustainability professionals that will be asking the hard questions. To have a productive conversation with customers that have sustainability as a key initiative is to be prepared with a genuine and transparent message.”
He says this can be achieved by developing metrics that clearly illustrate a company’s environmental impact and the programs it has implemented to address environmental concerns. Some metrics include carbon emissions, solid waste generation and recycling, incorporation of recyclable substrates, and using sustainable ink systems, Jones notes.
“Being able to explain what the company has done and plans to do along with supporting metrics provides a powerful message to customers, employees, and the community,” he says.
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