Sustainability

We’re using vegetable-based inks in all of our printing. Not only are they better for the environment, they’re better quality too. It’s a win-win, as far as we’re concerned—removing the chemical and replacing with the natural, and to even better effect.

We’ve also worked hard to source 100% sustainable, recycled or repurposed papers, using suppliers who are tireless in their quest to find new and interesting materials to create papers from, containing lower percentages of wood pulp. Who use less, or more renewable, energy in their production processes and who share in our views on environmental responsibility.

As well as our paper and ink considerations, we’ve also invested in chemistry-free platemaking. The likes of Heidelberg’s Saphira Thermal Plate go through different developing processes which negate the need for old-school chemical techniques.

And finally, waste reductive systems in our workshop and studio ensure that the little waste we do produce is thoroughly sorted and given a second life wherever humanly possible.

We’ve reduced both our plastic and general consumption in a number of ways when it comes to packaging. We’ve replaced vinyl box tape with paper tape, our boxes contain a high percentage of recycled materials and/or are recyclable, and our shrink-wrapping is completely biodegradable. It’s not enough to say that we rest easy but we rest ‘comfortable’ in the knowledge that our print jobs leave here in the most ethical way we can find. Currently.

As part of our ongoing effort to improve our sustainability, we’re now committed to the Carbon Capture scheme, which offers us and our clients a chance to mitigate the CO2 emissions caused by our paper purchases and processes. By investing in this scheme, The Woodland Trust are able to continue with their sterling work to quite literally grow the UK’s woodland cover. The benefits of joining this initiative when you’re in a business like ours cannot be ignored.

Recognising that there is a wealth of skill and knowledge to be tapped locally, we have always been keen to recruit from Bishop’s Stortford and its environs. From an environmental perspective this ensures home-to-office journeys are kept to a minimum and also means our team are truly invested in the business and its success, in turn supporting the local infrastructure. As well as our longstanding stalwarts, we’ve also taken some more recent opportunities to recruit local people who’ve had a hiatus from the industry, either to raise a family or after a career change, and the benefits of this ‘fresh eyes’ approach have been tenfold as our business evolves and adapts to the changing design and print landscape.

And we look to use local suppliers wherever we can, too—much of our paper, for instance, comes from another fourth generation family-run business just a stone’s throw away in the next town over—an environmental and economic plus if ever there was one. And it goes without saying, although we will anyway, that all the paper we use is FSC accredited, giving us peace-of-mind that our resources always come from well-managed forests.