Projects in 2011
The interest for climate neutral products grows every year, and although this is particularly true in Germany and Sweden where Elanders offers climate neutral products Elanders in Great Britain and China also calculate their carbon-dioxide emissions. This development parallels the number of companies that have become active in CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility).
On the Swedish market companies can be part of Climate Neutral Companies (Klimatneutrala företag). This is a program that incorporates much more than just a product or printed matter. It takes into consideration how all the operations in the company affect the environment. All of Elanders’ Swedish printing plants have been climate neutral since 2010.
Reports are also coming in from other markets in the Group on a growing interest from customers about how Elanders works with environmental and quality issues. ISO 9001 and 14001 certification is a common requirement and on many markets so is an ecolabel. One example is in the production of manuals where customers demand active quality and environmental work. This is particularly true for the customers in the automotive industry where Elanders works with many of the leading manufacturers.
FSC® certified Elanders companies report an increasing demand for products with this global ecolabel. These demands also exist in the production of Annual Reports and when the assignments come from customers in the public sector or from political parties.
- Operations in Poland were FSC® certified in 2011. In the first quarter 2012 the company will also be certified for the Swedish ecolabel the Swan in order to handle the growing amount of Swedish assignments.
- Paper waste and hazardous waste are decreasing on almost every market Elanders is represented in.
- Several companies have worked actively to reduce the use of solvents by increasing recirculation.
- Greater product and quality demands as well as smaller editions have resulted in a slightly higher use of solvents. In 2011 the Brazilian operations focused on ISO 9001 and count on being certified in the beginning of 2012.
- Elanders in Great Britain has worked on handling chemicals and hazardous waste through education and investing in filtering. This has reduced the use of solvents and hazardous waste.
- For a number of years Elanders has closely monitored costs from quality defects and despite fluctuations in the business cycle they remain stable on low levels.
- All companies work more or less with quality improvement methods such as 5 S or lean production and this is work will continue.
- The climate calculator that Elanders developed together with Chalmers University of Technology was updated in 2011 and has become even more user friendly. Further information about the calculator can be found on Elanders’ website.
- Elanders sponsored and printed the brochure “How it works, a guide for more climate smart media choices” for Grafiska Företagens Förbund. The guide includes a report from IVL, the Swedish environment institute on the effect of printed and digital media on the environment from a lifecycle perspective. The entire study can be found on www.powerofprint.se (in Swedish only). Naturally the brochure is climate neutral and was produced with as little environmental impact as possible.
- Some hundred climate neutral productions were made on the Swedish market and the largest was the course catalogue for The Faculty of Engineering at Lund University in an edition of 300,000. Just under 50 climate neutral productions were made in Germany.
- Elanders has intensified cooperation with paper wholesalers in our efforts to get precisely the right amount of paper delivered and to improve the options for returns without increasing transportation.
Last updated:
4/30/2012
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