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NZ’s first carbon-neutral corporate printer

by Garry Lambert*

Soar Printing, of Auckland. claims to have become the first carbon-neutral certified corporate printer in New Zealand after gaining certification in accordance with the carboNZero programme operated by Landcare Research, a Crown Research Institute owned by the New Zealand government.

The carboNZero Greenhouse Gas (GHG) certification scheme has been internationally accredited in conformity with ISO 14065:2007, Greenhouse gases — Requirements for greenhouse gas validation and verification bodies for use in accreditation or other forms of recognition, and provides tools and resources to help individuals, organizations and events to measure, manage and mitigate their GHG emissions.

“Understanding our impact”

To meet the certification requirements, Soar had to demonstrate to independent auditors its plans to reduce emissions by setting reduction targets, and by offsetting emissions it could not eliminate. Among measures taken, the company installed new lighting in its factory, which increased energy efficiency by 40 %, made environmental responsibility part of employee evaluation, and offered them incentives to switch to hybrid cars and become more fuel-efficient when driving.

Soar Printing, which has more than 70 staff, set a goal in 2007 to become New Zealand's most environmentally responsible printer. Jenny Carter, the company’s Financial Director, said that the first step in its quest for carbon-neutral certification involved measuring the organization’s carbon footprint, especially how much fuel and energy it uses.

“Now we understand our impact on the global climate, we can manage and reduce our GHG emissions at source through top management commitment, setting targets and reporting on emissions reduction performance

Helped by ISO 14001

Soar’s environmental management system was certified to ISO 14001 in 2008. ISO Focus+ asked Jenny Carter to comment on the influence the EMS standard has had on the company’s environmental and carbon-neutral performance.

“By having ISO 14001 in place we were already measuring many of the sources of our carbon emissions, including our three biggest – power, fuel, and waste to landfill. We had to provide some extra information relating to freight-in of raw materials, couriers for delivery to customers, as well as business travel, air conditioning system emissions, etc. However, because we already had a lot of the information from our ISO 14001-based system, it was not as time consuming as it could have been to meet the information requirements of carboNZero certification.

“We already had in place ways of reducing our power and fuel consumption, and had established better recycling procedures which has reduced our waste to landfill. This meant our carbon footprint as an organization had already been dropping over the past few years – hence less money spent in buying offsets. ISO 14001 has brought about cost savings to our business which have more than met the cost of certification.”

The next goal

Installing a Heidelberg Anicolor printing press last year also helped Soar enhance its green credentials by reducing make-ready paper waste from 400 to around 10 sheets per set-up – saving 40 tonnes of carbon dioxide and 32 tonnes of paper per year.

The company's next goal is to include some of its products under the scope of its carboNZero certification, and is in talks with Landcare Research about what this would involve.

"We are stewards of the resources we are using, and must think about our responsibility to the next generation. Being a carbon-neutral certified organization means we are doing our bit to help reduce climate change," Jenny Carter concluded.

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*Garry Lambert is a British freelance journalist based in Geneva, Switzerland.