Being an environmental leader means more than just talking about it, it's doing something about it.

We are in the process of pre-auditing our internal operations so that we can be SGP (Sustainable Green Printing Partnership) Certified — the most stringent environmental certification for our industry. This would make us the only independent printer in Western Canada with this distinction and designation. The SGP program develops rigorous and scientifically relevant criteria, and awards the designation to those who meet or exceed the standard through a thorough evaluation and auditing process. The SGP program was developed to help move the entire marketplace toward sustainability.

1) Reducing VOC Emissions

Note on VOCs: Many solvents and inks used in the printing industry emit a volatile organic compound (VOC) as atmospheric vapour. Emissions can be direct through stacks and vents, or fugitive. VOCs are photo-reactive and when they combine with nitrous oxide emissions and particulate from cars, trucks and industry and are synthesized by ultra violet rays in sunlight, they produce low-level ozone. That is why “smog”, as a dirty yellow pollutant, is most noticeable in summer. It is a serious health concern.

All our presses are isopropyl alcohol (IPA)-free and run on an environmentally friendly substitute. IPA is a 100% VOC substance.

Our major reduction in VOCs comes from solvent recycling. We are able to recapture and repeatedly re-use our blanket wash, with both the cost savings and environmental benefits.

2) Eliminate Subject Pollutants From Process Effluent

We now monitor our effluent on an annual basis. Moving to a complete CTP (computer-to-plate) operation has eliminated all film and the attendant chemicals from our pre-press process waste stream. All pressroom liquid waste, including fountain solutions, is either collected for safe disposal or treated on-site.

The typical CTP developer found in other print companies is highly corrosive with high pH levels and should be avoided.

3) Saving Trees & Protecting Forests

We now understand the impact each individual company can have on the environment. None is more evident for our printing industry than the relationship between our paper purchasing decisions, minimization of paper waste, and maximization of recycling programs.

Paper does grow on trees: 900 million of them every year become pulp and paper. Paper manufactured with recycled fibre uses 60% less energy and 7000 gallons less water per tonne. 

ION Print Solutions is both FSC and Rainforest Alliance certified. We promote the usage of FSC certified papers from well-managed forests and ensure that paper with post-consumer recycled content paper is used whenever possible.

Through this program we have saved:

910	Trees Saved
2628	Water-borne waste eliminated (kg)
386,509	Wastewater flow saved (litre)
42,715	Solid waste not generated (kg)
84,200	New Greenhouse Gases Prevented (kg)
188,884	Energy Not Consumed (kWh)
24	# Alberta Homes Powered from Energy Saved (1yr)

We have established an operating procedure for capturing waste paper, cardboard and Aluminum which is collected and picked up by our recycling service. It takes 24 trees to manufacture 2200lbs (one metric tonne) of paper and 90 cubic feet of landfill space to dispose of this paper; it takes 5500 gallons of water to make 1 tonne of paper and 6600 kW-hours of energy.

Results:  Our paper recycling operations have yielded the following savings:

4538	Trees Saved
1,039,500	Water Saved (gal)
17,010	Landfil space (cu/ft.)
1,247,000	Energy Saved (kWh)

Results:  Our aluminum recycling operations have yielded the following savings:

312,000	Bauxite Saved (kg)
208,000	Chemical products avoided (kg)
728,000	Energy Saved (kWh)

So if we combine all of the above data, over 2009, ION Print Solutions accrued the results posted in our summary section.

We think it important to mention that for ION’s normal energy consumption, we use only 100% green energy using Bullfrog Power.

Bullfrog Power™ is a leading Canadian green power provider. Bullfrog Power injects the same amount of power back into the Alberta electricity grid that ION uses for its location. Bullfrog sources power in Alberta exclusively from emissions-free sources such as wind power generators that meet or exceed the federal government’s Environmental Choice Program EcoLogo™ standard for renewable electricity. Bullfrog provides businesses, organizations and homes with a new way to support renewable power.

Why is being bullfrogpowered important?
Choosing green power is a practical and meaningful way for an organization to reduce its environmental impact. Electricity generation is a leading industrial source of carbon dioxide, a primary greenhouse gas linked to climate change, as well as other emissions that contribute to poor air quality. By choosing clean, renewable power, ION Print Solutions will reduce its carbon footprint, help clean up our air quality, and support the development of renewable energy.

Can I switch my home to Bullfrog Power?
Yes. You can make the choice to support green power too, simply by signing up online for Bullfrog Power at www.bullfrogpower.com. ION Print Solutions’ employees are entitled to receive their first month free* up to $25 from Bullfrog Power. Just visit www.bullfrogpower.com and use the following promotional code IONPRINT09 when you sign up.

4) Minimizing waste (i.e. paper, water, electricity, and consumables) throughout our operations;

"Meeting the needs of today, without sacrificing the needs of future generations.”. This one concept means so much to ION because family is important to us. Because of this we try to continually look at the way we work to make it as safe and environmentally responsible as possible, for our family and families to come.

We have replaced all the lighting within our facility to LED lights. LED lights use considerably less energy to run and are far more efficient than conventional bulbs — 5 year lifespan. With the switch ION has lessened its energy consumption by 30%.

We have also installed low-flush toilets to lower our water consumption and waste paper, bottle and can recycling receptacles are scattered throughout ION.

We have tried to eliminate the usage plastic water bottles by supplying all our staff with aluminum water bottles and installing a filtration system on the refrigerator in our staff lounge.

5) Externalizing our results, commitments and successes.

a) Quantifying the results: This section is a testament to our resolve. We knew we were practicing our philosophy of sustainability, but we weren’t sharing all of the minute details with all of you. Every supplier you choose should be able to quantify the difference they are making in helping to reduce their environmental impact. If they can’t, or don’t wish to, they are greenwashing.

This section of our website will continually serve to quantify our results on an ongoing basis. Every year we will show the change in our baseline and use it as a means to improve ourselves.

b) Teaching our customers: An integral part to being truly environmentally responsible and sustainable as a company is sharing what you have learned with the people around you. On January 14th, 2009, ION hosted an environmental education event for its customers called “Going Green”.  We invited Anne Vick, a polar climate expert and volunteer with Al Gore's Climate Project and Professor Ken Macro of CalPoly University to speak on how companies can transform their organizations to be more green, lean, and yet still improve their bottom-line.

We spoke about the "big picture," the macro view of sustainability, global warming, carbon footprints, and related topics. We also looked at the micro view focused on graphic communication—printing, publishing, packaging, and non-print digital imaging, including Internet applications, web sites, and related media. We also spoke about forest sustainability and what being FSC certified means. To learn more about FSC, click the link below to watch our movie “FSC 101”

Windows Media Version: http://www.ionprintsolutions.com/assets/video/FSC101.wmv           

Quicktime Version: http://www.ionprintsolutions.com/assets/video/FSC101.m4v           

c) Sustainday 2011: The presentation and the message that “Going Green” sent was well received, so much so that we received several requests to hold another event. It is for that reason that this year, in partnership with the University of Alberta, ION will be hosting Sustainday 2011. Further details will follow as they become available.

6) Aligning our company to a sustainability philosophy

Last February, we sent our management team to Norquest College to attend a “Lean” training seminar put on by CalPoly University. Lean philosophy, in its most simplistic form, teaches the idea that if you reduce a process or series of processes to its simplest, most elemental form, that process becomes more efficient.  It teaches to eliminate waste in terms of time, materials used, unnecessary steps, actions required, touchpoints, and transform that action into as fluid a form, as efficient, as possible. It taught our staff to see things differently in their departments and gave them to tools to act and improve efficiency at ION. But more importantly, they learned that by adopting a “lean” philosophy, they are progressing down a road of being more sustainable. A lightbulb went off for them and they began to understand better ION’s vision, its purpose and its brand.

7) Anciliary Services

As environmentally responsible as we all want to be today, the need still exists to generate profitable revenue. You need to connect and communicate effectively with your customers. At ION, we've created a solution set that does just that, and yet, still allows us all to be responsible to the global environmental crisis. Our print solutions will allow you to improve your bottom-line, and give you peace of mind. We have introduced a myriad of services that align to our vision of lean, sustainable development. These specifically are:

1. Targeted Communication
2. Web-to-print
3. JDF / PDF
4. “Living” Electronic Forms
5. Digital Asset Management / Fulfillment Services

These ancillary services have really allowed our customers to succeed, both financially and environmentally.
Case in point, a large Alberta crown corporation approached ION with a dilemma. They wanted to find new ways to be more sustainable as an organization, and yet needed to print thousands of copies of hundreds of forms. Although ION could have made significant revenue on the printing of these forms, we thought it more important to discover a 21st century alternative. We introduced them to our “living” electronic forms. PDF based forms that reside on their infrastructure, yet still allowed them to edit, save, distribute and print them, only when they needed to. Easily accessible forms that allowed them to electronically populate data in all of the field areas as easily as if they were filling it in with a pen. This constituted a powerful savings in terms of print cost, fulfillment, distribution and logistics, not to mention the environmental impact. This one suggestion set ION apart from its peers and secured a long standing relationship. If we are to save the world, we need to work together, help each other. At ION we want to see all of our clients become partners in this sense and it’s this kind of “print solutions” that makes ION different.

8) Continually find new ways in which we can improve

The road to sustainability is paved with knowledge. We have learned this. You never truly achieve it, you simply get better, closer. You always have to challenge what you do and how you do it, it is this reason that we are asking for your help.

We have already learned some lessons about this that we’ve chronicled in our “What we’ve learned about being green” and “Environmental Tools” sections.

Please send us the lessons you learn so that we can improve as well. Please email us at: info@ionprintsolutions.com.

If you would like to know how to quantify measurements like this for your organization, please email us at: info@ionprintsolutions.com.