The March 2008 National Environmental Health & Safety Conference, held at the Sheraton Indianapolis City Centre Hotel, reported a significant increase in attendance this year due to growing industry interest in sustainability.
Mark DiVito’s keynote presentation, “The State of Sustainability in Graphic Communications,” was based on a survey conducted by Reed Business Information, which identified how different printing stakeholders are addressing green issues. The survey showed that currently, leaders in sustainability also make equipment and consumable purchases with sustainability in mind, and typically represent publication printers, wide-web flexographers, prepress providers and screen printers.
In addition, 75 percent of respondents felt the emphasis on sustainability in printing had increased in the past year. When asked if they had created a formal, written policy on sustainability, 14 percent of printers responded they had such a policy; 25 percent said they had an informal, unwritten policy; 40 percent had no policy; and 21 percent had one under development.
Associate Director of Corporate Environmental, Health, Safety, and Security for H.J. Heinz, Brian Shuttleworth, discussed Heinz’s efforts around the globe to measure and reduce its “field to fork” carbon footprint and boost its sustainability by using less packaging materials, energy and water, as well as converting to renewable energy where possible. The company’s focus on initiating sustainability projects and determining environmental impacts was recognized in 2007—it was ranked by investment analysts as one of the most environmentally and socially responsible companies.
The conference was presented by the Printing Industries of America/Graphic Arts Technical Foundation (PIA/GATF), and its partners, the Foundation of Flexographic Technical Association, Newspaper Association of America and Specialty Graphic Imaging Association.
For more information, visit www.nehsconference.org or call PIA/GATF at (800) 910-4283.