The state of green printing - talks with green printers: Marilyn Jones of Consolidated Printing

Today we bring you another chapter in what we aim to make a monthly series - State of the green printing - talks with green printers. This series is part of our efforts to promote green printing and to get a better understanding where it stands and how it develops.

Last month we had the pleasure to talk with Livio Ciciotti of Monroe Litho (full list of interviews can be found on our green printing page), and today we are happy to have a special guest from Chicago, who is engaged in green printing for over three decades - Marilyn Jones of Consolidated Printing (Chicago, IL).

Consolidated Printing Company was established by Marilyn Jones in the basement of her Chicago home in 1973 with just $5,000. After more then 35 years Consolidated Printing is one of the leaders in the green printing market and an awarded printer. Marilyn is talking on the interview on the journey she made since the beginning at her home basement in 1973, the current trends and developments in green printing and the future of Consolidate Printing.

Hi Marilyn. Can you tell us what makes Consolidated Printing a green printer?

Consolidated has taken a holistic approach to sustainability, and has addressed everything involved in the process of printing and the facility that houses the plant and offices. Specifically, in the printing process we have zero petroleum, zero carcinogens, zero phthalates. Along with our printing processes being natural our office and plant has been built out with sustainable products and procedures. All of the processes at Consolidated Printing are non-toxic.

What motivated you in the first place to adopt green practices and offer green options to your customers?

Printing is a marvelous business and gives us the opportunity to work with people in many different businesses. One of my first clients was a vitamin manufacturer. He sold mega doses of vitamins to health care practitioners. In 1973 in the Midwest we were not as a society familiar with the benefits of vitamins as a source of healing. Learning from him about the many everyday items that affect your health positively and negatively made me look at the chemicals I was using in my business life.

As I adopted alternative medicine and a natural lifestyle personally the extension went to my business where I adopted the use of many household products to replace toxic chemicals.

Although there were clients I discussed natural healing and natural printing with, I did not do this on a large scale until I participated in our states Great Printers Project. We were inspected and awarded as Illinois First Great Printer in 1997. I found that clients I worked with wanted this award listed on the printing I was doing for them. Printed by Illinois First Great Printer”

What do you consider the most important green element in your green identity?

The most important green element in our green identity is transparency. If I am struggling with some aspect of my mission, I talk about it. We recently replaced a press with the newest model. This new generation press did not take to our natural wash up solution; it could not be weaned from its toxic habit. I would point it out on tours for clients and talk about our processes to find a solution. We did after many months adapt it to our all natural production method. Until we reach transparency we will not become a “green” industry.

As someone who is involved in green printing for many years, what’s the most important changes you see now in the industry?

The industry has changed and embraced the green movement. We have embraced recycled paper and soy ink and a multitude of bogus certifications but, I see only a handful of us across the nation pushing to delve deeper and clean up the industry. Unfortunately, through lack of awareness or lack of dedication I do not see the industry moving to be rid of the toxic and health damaging chemicals.

Every day I read the ads from printers who talk about citrus wash as a green alternative; do they know it has the potential to cause cancer? How is that green? Or a printer who is talking about a waterless press as an answer but not talking about the toxic wash up needed to remove the ink from the press or the plates that are not recyclable. Half truths and misleading. Chemicals can cause liver and kidney problems, cancer, coma, sudden death just to name a few.

What are the most popular green offers now at Consolidated Printing? Is there any particular reason for that?

The most popular green offer at Consolidated is our all natural printing process with the use of no toxic chemicals in our printing process. Our clients tell us our ink is vibrant, the colors deep and rich. We have recently won awards for print excellence from the Printing Industry of Illinois and Indiana, American Printer Magazine and a Gold Ink Award.

What is the most important part for your customers when it comes to buying green printing services?

The most important part for our clients when it comes to buying green printing services is the length of our participation in the greening of printing and the inspections and awards our company has participated in and received.

William D. Schaeffer Environmental Award
The Governor's Pollution Prevention Awards
Mayor Daley's Green Practices Market Transformation Award
Mayor Daley's Green Products Market Transformation Award
First Illinois Great Printer

Do you think we are already in the place where green printing is not only supporting the environment but also generating value for businesses?

No, I do not think we are in the place where green printing is supporting the environment or generating value for business. I don’t feel buying wind power is the answer to the energy debate. Supporting renewable energy is great but how can we do it more directly? Is that money really ADDING to the amount of renewable energy used or just subsidizing it? We need to be cutting down our energy use and demanding energy-saving features from our suppliers. As for the pollution printing generates, the technology is there to support the environment but it is not being used by the industry as a whole so printing remains a leading polluter worldwide.

Who is the typical customer that buys green printing services from you?

There is no typical customer who is buying green. All clients are looking for the three original qualifications -price, quality, on time delivery - with the added benefit of being green. Not necessarily in that order. For each client the priority changes but those four requirements remain pretty steady.

How does the recession influence green printing? Is cost becoming more of an issue?

The recession has influenced printing as in every other industry. Cost is an issue. Our system in areas is much more expensive. Our biggest expense is in the past. It was in the research and development, the hours, weeks and months, years put into testing new products and the cost of wasted paper and in overtime hours, products that did not live up to their claims, or new generations of products that were improved and again needed testing.

As a company our employees spend a considerable amount of time working on greening the printing industry and working in the green community. The working hours we all spend on this community involvement to further the green initiative is another area that increases our costs. Time is money.

What is your vision of Consolidated Printing 5 years from now?

My vision for Consolidated 5 years from now……hmmm I didn’t have this vision 5 years ago. I would like to see our Printedgreen^TM become the standard for the industry. Meanwhile, we will just keep doing what is right for our workers and the planet. We will continue to partner with our industry to make it a safer place to work and live and make the air we breathe and the water we drink safer.

Thank you Marilyn! You can learn more about Consolidated Printing at their website - www.consolidatedprinting.net

You are also invited to watch this video, which shows an interview conducted with Marilyn last year:

More links:

The State of Green Printing - Part 1 - an interview with Greg Barber of Greg Barber Company (January 15, 2009)

The State of Green Printing - Part 2 - an interview with Deb Bruner of Pinnacle Press (March 18, 2009)

The State of Green Printing - Part 3 - an interview with Livio Ciciotti of Monroe Litho (July 20, 2009)

Green printing tools and resources - http://www.ecolibris.net/greenprinting.asp

Yours,
Raz @ Eco-Libris
www.ecolibris. net

The state of green printing: An interview with Livio Ciciotti of Monroe Litho

As part of our efforts to promote green printing, we continue to closely follow the printing industry, keep you posted with printers who have already adopted eco-friendly practices in their business and speak with them on the state of green printing, the trends, the challenges in the present and their plans for the future.

We posted already two interviews with green printers (Greg Barber and Deb Bruner) and today we are happy to have another green printer on our blog: Livio Ciciotti of Monroe Litho (Rochester, NY).

Livio Ciciotti is an Account Executive with Monroe Litho based in Rochester, NY. He is a graduate of the Rochester Institute of Technology's School of Print Media. He has been invloved in printing since high school. Livio is also in the Marine Corps Reserve, an honor graduate from the School of Infantry he now serves with 3rd Battalion 25th Marines out of Buffalo, NY and is preparing for a deployment to Afghanistan.

Hi Livio. Can you tell us please what makes Monroe Litho a green printer?

Monroe Litho is sustainable through many different ways. Since 2006 we have been 100% wind powered; we hold certifications from the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC), the Sustainable Forestry Initiative (SFI) and the Sustainable Green Printing Partnership (SGP) in addition to having over 52 internal sustainability initiatives.

Press operator Dave Ames looks over a press sheet. Dave has over 25 years experience in the printing industry (Photo courtesy of Monroe Litho)

What's the current state of green printing? what's the impact of the economic environment on both your efforts and on the customers' willingness to go green?

Green printing is on the move, and in an upward direction. At this current time people want green initiatives but are seeking education on what is available to them and how they can make a difference in the environment.

The economy has slowed the printing industry as a whole, which in turns poses a challenge in marketing sustainable options in any arena. More and more customers are looking for ways to become more green but are shying away due to the misconception that it costs more; and with companies cutting back budgets we find ourselves educating a lot of the time on sustainability and how it doesn’t necessarily have to cost more and a lot of times can actually cost less.

What's the most common sustainable practice/s you're using?

Most requests we receive are to use FSC certified paper or paper that contains recycled content. Everyday we utilize wind power and recycling efforts throughout the company as well as strategic workflow processes throughout the manufacturing plant to make producing a project more efficient. The Sustainable Green Printing Partnership is quickly becoming more popular through our education to customers as well.

A sheet is pulled from the Heidelberg 6-color 28” x 40” Series CD 102 w/aqueous coater and extended delivery which uses spectrophotometry to analyze press sheets (photo courtesy of Monroe Litho)

Who are the customers that are asking for green printing? can you characterize them?

Customers who most commonly ask for green printing would have to be colleges, environmental groups and Fortune 500 companies will sustainability initiatives. We have had companies contact us from as far away as London inquiring about our sustainable practices. That’s the great thing about sustainability; anyone can be a part of it, it’s for the global community and here at Monroe Litho we strive to make a difference everyday.

FSC or SFI - What certification is more popular now?

FSC I would say is more popular. FSC is not only used on paper, you see it on doors in Lowe’s Home Centers; you see it on lumber for building houses. FSC is more popular but I think that more people are learning more about both and be able to recognize them and what they stand for.

Jose Garcia transports waste paper to an area to be collected and later taken to a recycling center. Recycling waste paper was one of the first initiatives adopted by Monroe Litho (photo courtesy of Monroe Litho)

What's the most significant value your customers are looking for in integrating sustainable practices in the products they buy from you?

Our customers want the value of sustainable printing but do not want to sacrifice in the area of quality and here at Monroe Litho we have been doing both for a lot of customers. We have changed processes and workflows to better accommodate jobs that maybe print on a paper that contains 30% post consumer waste recycled content or 100%pcw. The higher you go with recycled content the more difficult it becomes to maintain that high level of quality.

Our staff here at Monroe Litho has worked very diligently not to sacrifice that quality, especially in the pressroom; our press operators not only are highly experienced but are great when it comes to having a customer in for a press check.

How expensive it is now for your customers to go green? what have changed in the premiums they need to pay for using FSC or recycled paper?

Going green doesn’t necessarily have to be any more expensive; and in fact, here at Monroe Litho we have looked down many avenues to try and make printing green less expensive. For instance, we introduced a house sheet program where we buy paper in bulk at a discounted rate and then pass that savings on to our customers. This sheet is named Sustineo, meaning to sustain in Latin and is both FSC and SFI certified also boasting 10% post consumer wasted recycled content.

What is the most significant obstacle for your customers to go green?

The most significant obstacle is getting past that common misconception that it costs more, that they will lose quality and that it won’t look as nice on uncoated or recycled paper. We find ourselves sometimes being the educator, letting people in on what they can do for the environment and for generations to come; and that it doesn’t cost them any more money.

What is the feedback you're receiving from customers who go green? do they see any benefits from it from their customers in terms of branding, marketing or sales?

Our customers are raving over the finished projects. They love the fact that they too can do something for the environment and they don’t sacrifice quality, service or price. Everyone is seeing the value in going green; we print for many large companies like, Bausch & Lomb and Mercedes-Benz; both take advantage of the sustainability benefits of printing with Monroe Litho.

If you could send a message to other printers that consider becoming green printers, what that message would be?

Remember that there isn’t one singular solution to becoming green. It is a journey that takes time, you cannot become green or sustainable over night. I would suggest starting with smaller steps first, make them success stories, and then move onto larger ones. This all started for Monroe Litho many years ago, we didn’t get to where we are now over night.

We have a sustainability committee that meets every month to discuss new projects. We have a Vice President of Quality Assurance and Sustainability Initiatives who spearheads all of our projects. But none of the things we do today to be sustainable who have happened if we didn’t take those first small steps in the beginning.

I would also offer to any printers looking to do this to get all of your employees involved. Make all of them a part of the effort. Its contagious, sustainability is a culture within our walls and we are all proud to be a part of it.

Thank you Livio and good luck with your upcoming service! You can learn more about Monroe Litho at their website - www.monroelitho.com

More links:

The State of Green Printing - Part 1 - an interview with Greg Barber of Greg Barber Company (January 15, 2009)

The State of Green Printing - Part 2 - an interview with Deb Bruner of Pinnacle Press (March 18, 2009)

Green printing tools and resources - http://www.ecolibris.net/greenprinting.asp

Yours,
Raz @ Eco-Libris
www.ecolibris. net