Making good choices for our environment is one way that We Put Print to Work.
At Westmoreland Printers we are conscious of the choices we make, so We Put Print to Work for our environment as well. Here are a few examples of how we do so:
Our standard house sheet is FSC certified, and contains 10% post-consumer waste, and is produced by a mill that utilizes environmentally friendly Elemental Chlorine Free process
According to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, 90% of deforestatioin is caused by unsustainable agricultural practices. That's why we have started utilizing a sheet of paper that is made from eucalytus rather than produced from traditional pulp. Because eucalyptus is harvested in only 4 years, it is far more sustainable than traditional pulp woods.
We recycle nearly 100% of our waste paper. In fact, over the past year, we have recycled over 14 tons of waste paper, enough to save 238 trees.
We recommend sheets that are FSC Certified and contain recycled content. In fact, we recommended the 100% post-consumer content paper used to print Gardner-Webb University's envelopes in 2009.
We use printing ink that typically contains a higher typical content of vegetable oil than of petroleum oil... but our inks contain no soybean oil. The explosive growth of the bio-diesel industry has dramatically increased the demand for soybean and palm oil. This has resulted in acceleration in the destruction of tropical rain forests as these and other environmentally-critical regions are converted into soy plantations.
There are environmental tradeoffs in every choice we make, and there is no simple "right answer". Effective stewardship requires a careful examination of the larger picture that compares the entire life-cycle from raw materials to energy use and end of life, to fully understand the impact and performance of both electronic media and paper. The link below covers a wealth of information about the sustainability of print, and it's advantages over electronic media. Take a look, and see how print can work for you... and the environment.


