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Green Printing
GOING GREEN
What is Green all about?
Green is about taking care of our planet by making the most of our resources here on Earth. By that we seek the renew-ability of these resources at the front and back end of our use. While many manufactured products cannot be easily renewed, XL Graphics is in the forefront of this issue, being a printer and user of the number one planet’s resource – its trees. Our desire, like yours, is to see that our resources are used wisely and if possible, renewed.
Green Defined:
There are various NGO (non-governmental organizations) responsible for reviewing and encouraging the sustainability of our forests, the manufacturing of forest products – mostly paper stuff - and other processes that help our environment. The first one is called FSC. This is the de-facto organization that has a comprehensive outlook in sustaining our forests and showing the best use of forest resources. The acronym stands for Forest Stewardship Council and it is their certification that helps us to stay focused on using the resources of the forest wisely, from harvesting trees for paper use to paper’s end-use. A sister organization is SFI – that’s Sustainable Forestry Initiative which encourages and details management practices that also helps in preserving and using our same forests. You have to ask, why didn’t someone think of this sooner?
FSC Certification is a means of showing one’s stewardship in the use of forest products and the manufacture of paper through processes that preserve the forest and of course doesn’t hurt it either. It would be incredibly dull to maintain a forest yet kill it with paper-manufacturing processes. When it comes to printing, small to mid-size printing companies are capable of buying FSC certified products and services, but the economics of being completely certified is only cost effective to the printer and the purchaser of print if the entire plant comes under this dominion. XL Graphics is a purchaser of FSC certified paper products and a tenant in a FSC Certified plant. If you need FSC products and product renewal information, please ask us.
ESM – “environmentally sound manufacturing”. That’s the process whereby every step of the way in getting your product printed and produced causes no harm to the environment. XL Graphics print processes today are environmentally sound. From our recyclable proofing techniques, to plating and printing with low or no VOC inks - that’s volatile organic compounds – to an intensive recycling effort of pre-user paper – called “waste” – we keep the sustainability of our resources a priority.
One portion of ESM is to use recycled paper for your printing needs. Most paper already contains recycled content, with the uncoated grades having a much higher percentage than the coated. Recycled, however does not necessarily mean the paper has left the mill; much recycled content is “pre-consumer”, that is, it is paper that has not gone through the ringer - it hasn’t reached the consumer yet. Paper that has reached the consumer and which winds up back at the mill for re-use is called “post-consumer” or “pc” waste. Some paper will have this, but if you want a fully recycled sheet you must ask for 100PC, and that would only be of the uncoated version. Coated sheets with post-consumer waste will have no more than 30% - 50% recycled content. Please call for samples.
Chain of custody is one more issue in the green debate. This issue is defined as “a systematic procedure for tracking a material or product from it’s origin to its final use.” Of course we took this off our paper supplier’s website. Chain of custody, for the printer, ends when the end-user receives his order. No printer can be held responsible for its disposal after that. We encourage our clients to request users of their printed material to recycle the paper wherever possible.
XL Graphics is going green. Our print processes are at the top of the field in producing products that affect the enviroment in a positive and helpful manner. We are all part of planet Earth. Our association with certified paper-manufacturers and our printing techniques makes us, like you, green-conscious. We would like to remind you that our first priority is taking care of your needs. If you wish to receive additional information on going green, and to make sure it’s in accordance with your company’s print and imaging purchasing policies, please call us or email us at the information located on the brochure.
Green is about taking care of our planet by making the most of our resources here on Earth. By that we seek the renew-ability of these resources at the front and back end of our use. While many manufactured products cannot be easily renewed, XL Graphics is in the forefront of this issue, being a printer and user of the number one planet’s resource – its trees. Our desire, like yours, is to see that our resources are used wisely and if possible, renewed.
Green Defined:
There are various NGO (non-governmental organizations) responsible for reviewing and encouraging the sustainability of our forests, the manufacturing of forest products – mostly paper stuff - and other processes that help our environment. The first one is called FSC. This is the de-facto organization that has a comprehensive outlook in sustaining our forests and showing the best use of forest resources. The acronym stands for Forest Stewardship Council and it is their certification that helps us to stay focused on using the resources of the forest wisely, from harvesting trees for paper use to paper’s end-use. A sister organization is SFI – that’s Sustainable Forestry Initiative which encourages and details management practices that also helps in preserving and using our same forests. You have to ask, why didn’t someone think of this sooner?
FSC Certification is a means of showing one’s stewardship in the use of forest products and the manufacture of paper through processes that preserve the forest and of course doesn’t hurt it either. It would be incredibly dull to maintain a forest yet kill it with paper-manufacturing processes. When it comes to printing, small to mid-size printing companies are capable of buying FSC certified products and services, but the economics of being completely certified is only cost effective to the printer and the purchaser of print if the entire plant comes under this dominion. XL Graphics is a purchaser of FSC certified paper products and a tenant in a FSC Certified plant. If you need FSC products and product renewal information, please ask us.
ESM – “environmentally sound manufacturing”. That’s the process whereby every step of the way in getting your product printed and produced causes no harm to the environment. XL Graphics print processes today are environmentally sound. From our recyclable proofing techniques, to plating and printing with low or no VOC inks - that’s volatile organic compounds – to an intensive recycling effort of pre-user paper – called “waste” – we keep the sustainability of our resources a priority.
One portion of ESM is to use recycled paper for your printing needs. Most paper already contains recycled content, with the uncoated grades having a much higher percentage than the coated. Recycled, however does not necessarily mean the paper has left the mill; much recycled content is “pre-consumer”, that is, it is paper that has not gone through the ringer - it hasn’t reached the consumer yet. Paper that has reached the consumer and which winds up back at the mill for re-use is called “post-consumer” or “pc” waste. Some paper will have this, but if you want a fully recycled sheet you must ask for 100PC, and that would only be of the uncoated version. Coated sheets with post-consumer waste will have no more than 30% - 50% recycled content. Please call for samples.
Chain of custody is one more issue in the green debate. This issue is defined as “a systematic procedure for tracking a material or product from it’s origin to its final use.” Of course we took this off our paper supplier’s website. Chain of custody, for the printer, ends when the end-user receives his order. No printer can be held responsible for its disposal after that. We encourage our clients to request users of their printed material to recycle the paper wherever possible.
XL Graphics is going green. Our print processes are at the top of the field in producing products that affect the enviroment in a positive and helpful manner. We are all part of planet Earth. Our association with certified paper-manufacturers and our printing techniques makes us, like you, green-conscious. We would like to remind you that our first priority is taking care of your needs. If you wish to receive additional information on going green, and to make sure it’s in accordance with your company’s print and imaging purchasing policies, please call us or email us at the information located on the brochure.