8 Tips for Greening Your Manufacturing Supply Chain

Despite ample evidence that consumers are demanding environmentally responsible practices from corporations, North American companies tend to lag behind their European and Asian counterparts. A BearingPoint study released this year indicates that while 71 percent of U.S. companies promote environmental sensitivity in their marketing, only 24 percent have implemented green supply chains. That compares to 38 percent of European companies and 100 percent of Japanese companies.

Here are substantive steps book publishers can take in conjunction with their manufacturing partners to minimize the carbon footprint of books:

• Establish an Environmental Policy. Create a sound environmental policy and then implement it diligently. While a Pollara online survey indicated that 95 percent of Canadian consumers feel that an environmental policy and clear progress are important for publishers, 78 percent of consumers feel that companies are marketing themselves to be greener than they actually are in practice.

  The price of misleading consumers can be high. For example, Markets Initiative reports that two top tier Japanese paper manufacturers admitted to misleading customers about the recycled content of several of their papers for more than a decade. The companies experienced stock value declines of 13 percent and 6 percent following the announcements.

  One company’s president resigned and may face prosecution under mislabeling laws. Many corporate customers also quickly switched paper sources to protect their own brands.

• Think Big Picture and Collaborate. It’s the whole supply chain that matters, not just paper, though paper is certainly an important component. What happens down the line starts at the design stage. Form a “green” team that thinks books through from beginning to end. Maybe a heavier weight paper or stronger binding means fewer reprints of a book that gets frequent use. Perhaps your order replenishment strategy could be improved to consolidate more shipments and save fuel.

  But don’t try to go it alone. Make your environmental efforts transparent and accountable across the entire supply chain. Collaborate with your print providers to improve your environmental performance and your brand’s market perception.  

• Choose Paper Wisely. Paper is obviously the main raw material in a book and the most visible environmental element. But choosing the stock involves more than specifying recycled content. It means considering weight and dimensional issues, evaluating papers made from fiber under a recognized sustainable forest management system. Whenever possible, use:

  • Environmentally preferable papers with maximized post consumer and de-inked recycled fiber
  • Pre-consumer recovered fiber or alternative fibres in preference to virgin wood fibers
  • Virgin tree fiber harvested from sustainable forests certified by recognized bodies for those
    instances requiring virgin paper

• Skip the Chlorine. Chlorine bleaching, or the process of whitening papers, produces dioxins, a carcinogen found by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to be 300,000 times more potent than DDT. Specify chlorine-free certified papers. Recycled papers will carry a Processed Chlorine Free (PCF) certification and virgin papers a Totally Chlorine Free (TCF) or Elementally Chlorine-Free (ECF) certification.

• Digitize the Front End. Work with print vendors that can provide 100 percent digital workflow from order entry through 3-D dummy creation, proofing and plating. You’ll save time and costs while eliminating important ecological negatives—chemicals, fuel and more.

• Get Demand Based. Incorporating digital printing into a demand-based strategy has many benefits. Digital printing requires no plates and uses more easily de-inked toners. It also helps avoid obsolescence while enabling rapid replenishment fulfillment scenarios.

• Pay Attention to Bindings. Specify 100 percent recyclable PUR glues that also provide the toughness for hard, continuous use books. Its application also requires less energy since gluing occurs at lower temperatures than standard hot-melt glue. You can further add eco-sensitivity to the binding process by specifying 100 percent post consumer recycled content binder board for hardcover books and end papers produced by solvent free processes.

• Tell the Story. Let customers know how well you’re doing with green manufacturing practices that promote sustainability. Ask questions about whether your target readers have respect and admiration for your environmental practices. Take a leadership position demonstrating that books do not have to be produced to the detriment of our forests, our climate or our planet. And be sure to add any applicable environmental logos to books.

Finally, it’s also important to know your printer. Materials are only part of the equation. Understand your printer’s emissions standards, paper purchasing policies, internal recycling programs and environmental certifications. Being a reliable partner is one of the reasons Transcontinental is constantly investing in newer equipment that tends to be more efficient and has a lower impact on the environment.

Contact your representative to find out how Transcontinental can help green your manufacturing supply chain, or click here to have one of our representatives contact you.