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The Entwistle Group has always felt a tremendous responsibility toward the environmental impact our business has. The consequence of this has seen us awarded with a vitally important Environmental Management System ISO 14001:2015 accreditation. However, that is just part of the story, as you will discover. When you consider the company’s philosophy is to provide our customers with the very best of services and highest quality of printed products, a feat which can only be achieved by going ‘above and beyond’, it should perhaps come as no surprise to discover just how far we are prepared to go in our mission to carbon neutrality, or at least minimise our carbon footprint. 

Not only that, but at every possible opportunity we are looking to minimise any effect our business has on the environment, not just directly, but indirectly. We don’t just aim to use environmentally friendly materials in our printing processes, but our whole operation is geared to far exceed the minimum standards set down by the ISO Environment Management System. Below we have taken four areas of our business to give you a clearer idea of what we are talking about.

Environmentally friendly printing - recycling

While recycling seems an obvious topic where being environmentally responsible is concerned, we don’t just look at what we recycle, but how we recycle. Yes, we certainly recycle all plastics, tins and glass, but we also have single-stream paper waste and single-stream foam board waste.  All pallets that our materials are delivered on are sent for recycling after being chipped, to then create other wooden products.

However, where we really try to make a difference is the reduction of the carbon footprint involved with recycling. This we do by utilising a large bailer to pack a variety of different papers into larger and more-compact bales to reduce transport costs once collected.

Green printing - machinery

Not only do we subscribe to using printing machinery that operates eco-friendly systems and inks wherever possible, but we extend our commitment to having as small an impact on the environment as possible by using printing machines whose production has a carbon-neutral footprint. These are HP Indigo machines which produce A3 Indigo prints. These machines form the back bone of our business and have very strong green credentials. Their manufacturing process is carbon neutral, they have their own built in recycling plants to clean and recondition printing “oil” which saves 30 litres of waste per week whilst avoiding disposal issues and when run off our vast solar panel network their operation is carbon neutral. 

Environmentally friendly paper

This is an area that, as a Group, we have closely examined. We understand that your immediate reaction would be to anticipate we use a great deal of recycled paper. The open and honest answer is that we do not, yet this was still an environmentally oriented decision, and here’s why.

The paper we use is made from the wood from trees harvested from a sustainable forestry environment. These trees are immediately replaced with saplings which, in 20 years’ time, will be harvested once again. To limit transport (and pollution) sawmills and paper processing plants are located as close as possible to the forests. The mills and paper factories operate as efficiently as possible to further reduce any environmental impact. The paper produced by these mills comes with FSC® Certification, and this is the only paper we use. This policy is also part of the reason why we have Environmental Management System ISO 14001:2015 accreditation.

The alternative is recycled paper, yet the process of recycling paper to provide paper that is of a suitable quality for printing is far more complex that that of say, a toilet roll. The volume of electricity required, the amount of bleach and other chemicals, plus the fact the original paper is sourced from numerous locations prior to being processed means that the intention is appreciably greener than the end result.

Eco friendly premises

As you may well know, we have recently moved to new premises in Manchester. We wanted to buy an existing building to avoid the environmental impact that development can cause and managed to hit green – an environmentally friendly modern ex supermarket premises. 

We have dramatically improved the carbon footprint of the property by building on its strengths so that it now contains:

• LED lighting throughout
• Motion sensors for efficient power management
• Highest levels of insulation
• Solar panels 
• Water saving toilets throughout
• Extensive use of glass to generate solar heat

A holistic approach to energy conservation 

As a consequence, in combination with our own adaptations, much of our energy is provided by solar panels, significantly reducing our reliance on ‘grid’ electricity. We have an exceptionally high level of roof insulation to reduce the power needed for heating and our skylights are strategically placed to reduce the need for additional lighting, while the glass front to the premises was designed to capture and retain maximum heat.

Throughout the premises we have used low-energy LED lighting connected to motion sensors, so that lights are never accidentally left on when not needed, and we even go as far as to use water-saving flush systems in all our toilets.

Continuous evolvement of green practices

There is a lot more to being an environmentally friendly print services company, green printer or eco friendly printer than using ‘green’ ink and recycled paper and here at the Entwistle group we are fully committed to exploring new opportunities to further reduce our impact on the environment wherever possible.

To learn more about our ethos and methods put in place to continually maintain and improve on our environmentally friendly operating procedures, simply give us a call or email us. We’re very proud of what we have achieved, and we will be glad to share with you how we have done this.