By Ed Avis
Nearly 15 years ago, all IRgA members received a booklet about how they could be “green.” The booklet, sponsored by Océ, included advice on using recycled paper, reducing waste, tapping the LEED market, and more.
But soon after, the green reprographics movement faded. The 2008 recession made mere survival a much higher priority than being green. When the dust cleared from that rough time, the green stuff just didn’t seem that exciting.
Now, however, green issues are almost unavoidable. Sky-high gas prices and giant storms powered by climate change are in the headlines every day, and more specifically to reprographics, paper prices seem to be on a never-ending increase. Being green could, at least to a small degree, help all of these issues.
If those reasons aren’t enough, consider the marketing value of being green. When I interviewed Mark Langdon and Tony Dargo of Eastern Engineering for a profile of their firm a couple of weeks ago, one of the topics they raised – which I didn’t have room for in the profile – was how important environmental stewardship is for them. They noted that some of their large clients expect service providers to be green. Eastern Engineering has created an major program to distribute boxes to their clients so they can collect ink and toner cartridges and end caps from paper rolls. They pick up the boxes and take advantage of the HP Planet Partners program to get the stuff recycled.
I think Langdon and Dargo have the right idea. They’re helping the environment while also pleasing their clients. Other APDSP members have interest in the topic, too, based on a survey we did asking about which webinars people would like to attend. Green reprographics scored lower than most business-related webinars that the survey suggested, but 43 percent of respondents said they “might” or “probably would” attend a webinar on green issues.
Is your repro firm doing something to help the environment? If so, please click here to tell us about it. We’d love to gather information about repro shops that are being green so that we can share ideas with others.
In the meantime, here are three excerpts from that 2008 Green Reprographics booklet that still matter today: