Renewable resources
The use of renewable resources is becoming increasingly important to reduce society’s dependence on fossil fuels and to ensure the careful management of the earth's natural resources. In light of these facts, Worldcolor is dedicated to promoting the use of renewable resources, with an emphasis on paper and ink, the two most important consumables of any printing project. Worldcolor is pleased to offer its customers paper sourced from certified forests and inks containing a minimum of 20 percent renewable resources. Upon request, Worldcolor will also employ post-consumer recycled paper, chlorine-free paper and vegetable-oil inks to manufacture printed materials.
Chain of Custody Paper Certification
In January 2008 Worldcolor achieved Chain-of-Custody certification for the world’s three leading forest management programs; Forest Stewardship Council (FSC), Sustainable Forestry Initiative (SFI) and the Program for the Endorsement of Forest Certification (PEFC) . This milestone set Worldcolor first, among the top North American printers, to offer these three progressive Chain-of-Custody certification programs at all of its North American print facilities. The triple certification was achieved following a stringent systematic audit of Worldcolor's facilities procurement practices and control systems by both the Rainforest Alliance’s SmartWood Program and the Price Waterhouse Coopers Chain-of-Custody Certification program. All of Worldcolor's Canadian and US printing facilities were audited.
Forest certification is a way to promote responsible and verifiable forestry practices and provide independent third-party assurance that a forestry operation meets standards set by a certification program. Chain-of-Custody certification is the process of tracking the movement of certified wood fiber from forest to mill and from mill or merchant to printer. This certification guarantees the integrity of the supply chain and assures customers that the certified goods they buy are genuinely the products of a well-managed forest. A secure Chain-of-Custody requires that certified products are identified through the use of labels, segregated, and accompanied by appropriate documentation at all stages.
By offering its clients the choice of using Chain-of-Custody certified paper at all of its North American print facilities Worldcolor is promoting responsible forest management.
For more information regarding the different forest certifications programs please refer to the following document
Recycled Paper
The use of recycled fiber is generally perceived as being more environmentally beneficial than its traditional counterparts; however this is not always the case. Overall environmental impacts can be lower for a wood-based paper grade than a recycled grade, depending on the performance of the pulp and paper mills. Ultimately, recycled fiber is best suited for certain grades, such as cardboard, paperboard and newsprint. For example, de-inking and bleaching of pulp is not usually required to make cardboard and boxboard, so the costs and associated environmental impacts of these processes are avoided. Overall, only 7% of recycled printing and writing paper grades are converted back into printing and writing papers, whereas 14% is used for paperboard packaging grades and nearly 19% is utilized in tissue. Furthermore, wood fiber can only be recycled about 4 to 7 times, after which it loses its properties, breaks down and becomes waste. Therefore, it is impossible to use only recycled fiber to make all paper products because the global fiber cycle requires at least 40% virgin wood fiber to sustain itself.
Recycled fiber has its advantages, but its use must be assessed on a case by case basis. Regardless of whether recycled fiber is used or not, paper products are a valuable raw material and should be recycled to prevent their accumulation in landfills and the associated environmental impacts, most notably methane emissions. The recycle paper symbol can be used to promote the recycled content and/or the recyclability of a printed product. For information regarding the proper use of this symbol, please refer to the following document: Recycled Paper Symbol Usage Guidelines
Paper Classification
Worldcolor sales representatives are available to help choose a paper type that meets the specific requirements of their clients; this includes “green” grades for coated, uncoated groundwood, and uncoated free sheet paper that are Chain-of-Custody certified and/or have recycled content. Paper grades are available from a variety of suppliers and with a variety of specifications.
For more information on environmental paper classification, visit Metafore’s Environmental Paper Assessment Tool (EPAT), an on-line report card system that assesses the environmental aspects of paper products.
Ink from Renewable Resources
The majority of the heatset inks used to produce the body of publications by Worldcolor contain a minimum of 20 percent, by weight, renewable resources, primarily derivatives of pine trees and byproducts of the treatment of pine pulp for the manufacture of Kraft paper. These inks also contain some vegetable oils, such as soybean oil and other vegetable oils (e.g. linseed oil, canola oil). The relative concentration of these ingredients do not pose drying problems as is the case with inks relying on higher concentrations of soybean oil and other vegetable oil.
At the request of a customer, Worldcolor will imprint the following logo and qualifying statement on the cover of a publication when qualified heatset inks are used.
Worldcolor is staffed with professionals available to assist customers in all aspects of printing, from the design of a publication to delivery of the final product. Our North American Paper Operations group together with the Corporate Environmental Affairs team and other technical, manufacturing and service departments are pleased to partner with our customers in the goal of making ''ink on paper'' an environmentally responsible decision.
For more information, please consult the following EnviroInk and Chain-of-Custody Paper Certifications brochure or contact one of our sales representatives.