More Top Honours for Worldwide’s Green Machine
News Release
Worldwide Online Printing has launched plans for a national roll-out of its voluntary waste management program following news that all 21 of its WA Centres have been granted Green Stamp certification for their crusade to protect the environment.
The announcement comes after yet another night of triumph for the group during Saturday’s (August 18th) Printing Industry Craftsmanship Awards (PICA) annual ceremony at the Perth Convention Centre, at which Worldwide’s WA Factory and O’Conner retail Centres both scooped gold Environment awards. Also among the total of five PICAs won by Worldwide were a bronze and silver for the Osborne Park Centre, in the Digital Imaging and Greetings and Postcards categories respectively, and a bronze in the Lithographic category for the East Perth Centre.
The Green Stamp program is a joint venture between the (PIAA) Printing Industries Association of Australia and the Western Australian Department of Environment, and is funded by the Western Australian Waste Management Board. It acknowledges WA companies that go beyond legislative requirements to achieve high environmental practice standards governing waste managements and disposal, pollution prevention and energy conservation. The program is currently only available to companies in Western Australia.
Worldwide delivers $1.3m worth of offset and digital printing each week to the 10,000 active customers of its 80 design and print Centres – a level of activity which produces around 500 tonnes of waste paper alone each year. The group hopes its decision to start its own nationwide roll-out will support PIAA and government plans to extend Green Stamp to other States, as National Production Manager Chris Eales explained.
“Printing has a rich heritage which rightly earns us a lot of respect, but like many manufacturing processes, we work with chemicals and produce waste,” he said. “By stepping up to the plate and implementing a voluntary program like Green Stamp, Worldwide is demonstrating it is putting actions into place that reflect its social conscience. A national roll-out of Green Stamp shouldn’t be so much a goal as a starting point, and so we’ll continue to do whatever we can to support the PIAA.”
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PIAA National Environment Manager Paul Nieuwhof said:
“Worldwide’s Green Stamp success in WA shows what can be achieved when a large organisation throws its weight behind a practical environmental campaign, and makes us even more determined to raise awareness of the need for better waste management.”
The driving force behind certification for Worldwide’s 21 WA Centres was State Master John Stangeland; who said much of the success stemmed from a group-wide cultural commitment to ‘think green’ and continue to look for new and innovative ways to make a positive contribution to the environment.
For the Worldwide production hubs, meeting the stringent requirements of Green Stamp meant addressing the way they handle and recycle solid waste such as paper, chemical and ink drums, pallets and shrinkwrapping. It also covered the storage and management of liquid waste such as cleaning solvents and pre-press chemicals; so easily the cause of river and coastal water pollution if not disposed of diligently. For the Worldwide retail Centres, it was the management of consumables such as toner cartridges which came under the spotlight
“The environment is rightly top-of-mind, and it’s important for businesses to have a greater stake in fulfilling their eco-responsibilities,” said John Stangeland. “As a team we’ve always taken great pride in our commitment to protecting the environment, and achieving formal recognition of our efforts in all areas of operation and production is a huge pat on the back for everyone involved.”
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