ÖKONOMIE 2010

Reduce, reuse, recycle — employing state-of-the-art technologies and involving both employees and suppliers.
These are the pillars on which the successful environmental philosophy of Print Bound in Melbourne, Australia is based.

Mark Tomasini can be rightfully described as a “real green”. As far back as the 1990s, he built his house on the outskirts of Melbourne according to ecological principles. It brought him the 1995 “House of the Year”  award of a local real estate organization for its “sustainable, energy-efficient design”. He and his family recycle and compost, collect rainwater in tanks, and grow much of their food in their own vegetable garden. Tomasini regularly seeks and cultivates contacts with environmentalist groups.

“Both of my daughters have grown up with a basically pro-environment attitude,” he days. “For them, it’s totally normal to try to limit the burdens on our planet.”

How could someone like this simply ignore his environmental convictions when he goes to work? Of course he can’t. When Mark Tomasini and his partner, Mauro Mattarucco, founded Print Bound in 1991, they immediately began trawling for ways to save energy and reduce waste. To speed up this process, they hired a consultant to help them develop a sustainability plan.

The medium-sized print shop also collaborated with Sustainability Victoria, an organisation for promoting sustainable action that is affiliated with the government of the state of Victoria.

Print Bound is now serving there as a case study and benchmark for other companies.

Reducing instead of neutralizing

Print Bound’s environmental philosophy is based on three principles: reduce, reuse and recycle. “Nothing comes into our company which doesn’t meet at least one of these three criteria,” stresses Tomasini. “We also consistently strive to avoid producing any landfi ll waste,” he adds. “We prefer to work systematically to reduce our impact on theenvironment instead of trying to neutralize impacts afterwards.” Which is why they usually decline to invest in CO2 compensation projects. “We’d rather invest in things that reduce our daily energy consumption,” he says.

For example, advanced printing presses. Print Bound’s press fleet includes a 12-color Speedmaster SM 102 perfector and a six-color CD 102. Of both, Tomasini says that they “are extremely energy-efficient and cut down on waste.” The print shop boss also wants to reduce the use of chemicals and emissions. Recently, for example, he switched to inks that do not release any volatile hydrocarbons whatsoever into the air.

Suppliers and Employees Actively Involved

Tomasini, 50, knows that he could never achieve his environmental goals on his own. Both his employees and his suppliers play important roles in implementing his concept. “We work closely with them to make sure that we use the best, most environmentally friendly products available in the marketplace,” explains Tomasini, who is of Swiss extraction. A great deal is now happening in these areas, he adds; a steady stream of new products are entering the market. He also knows that he can rely on his roughly 40 employees to support his environmental aims.

Even back in the early days, it was standard practice at Print Bound for staff to also develop “green” ideas and discuss them both among themselves and with management. “Everyone working in production has to think ecologically,” says Tomasini with conviction. After all, the printing industry is “very material-and waste-intensive.” He works to save resources not only in the printing process itself, but also in all other respects.

In August 2008 Print Bound moved into a new building equipped, among other things, with energy-conserving lamps and subdivided into zones to save even more energy where lighting is concerned. The staff toilets are supplied with water from rainwater tanks, and a modern air-conditioning system is installed that consumes less energy than comparable systems of similar size.

Tomasini is convinced that “environmentally friendly printing doesn’t have to come at the cost of business success. On the contrary, we see our ecological commitment as a win-win situation: it’s good for business when we acquire the reputation of a successful eco-friendly operation. The environment also benefits.”

Many of his customers have already recognized this, he adds. Especially customers that place large print orders — insurance companies, for instance, or banks — are now making sure to use print shops with an ecological orientation. Among other things, they can enhance their own image with the cleangreen-print.com logo initiated by Print

Bound, which stresses their commitment to environmental awareness and sustainable action. So far the logo has been printed on over 50 million print items produced by Print Bound. “Many firms, organizations and even private individuals want to broadcast their commitment to the environment,” explains Tomasini. “Our cleangreenprint.com logo helps them do that.”

More than just the printing industry is now talking about Print Bound and its devotion to ecological aims: in 2006 the FSC-certified company was chosen to receive the sustainability award of the State of Victoria. “In the printing industry as well, we need to think ecologically and gear our decisions toward long-term environmental and economic sustainability instead of stressing short term profits,” stresses Tomasini. In five years, he states, there will no longer be any debate over whether or not to protect the environment: “It’s going to become an obligation. And unless you take steps in the direction of sustainability, you’ll find yourself out of business.”