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5 Steps Toward Acting More Green - 1
December 19, 2007

We have discussed the issues, now for some "Green" action items. #1-  Reduce spoilage / waste and increase recycling

Arguable the one thing that will have the most profound effect on both the environment and the bottom line is reducing paper spoilage and waste. Most printers estimate that they lose 1 to 20 percent of annual sales on costs associated with paper spoilage and waste. According to Roy Grossman, president and CEO at Sandy Alexander, one of the tangible benefits of their Green focus was the reduction of $2M in waste in 3 years.

The first step is to measure and make ongoing efforts to reduce this. This going to sound like magic but I have done this a dozen times or more. Simply measure waste, track it with charts on walls, talk to staff and ask for ideas and it will start to come down. In two months you can see a difference.

The second step is to conduct a waste audit. Simply put look at what you throw out in your office areas and reduce the creation of waste and increase the recycling efforts (scrap paper, printing plates, corrugated cartons, inks, solvents, bottles, batteries, aluminum cans, glass bottles, paper, plastic, etc.).

For larger companies you might consider ISO 14001 or a quality program such as Lean or Six Sigma. In fact there is a growing interest in common operational strategies of “Clean” and “Lean”. I am looking to create a audit that focuses on “Clean and Lean Manufacturing” a abbreviated audit focusing on the low hanging "green fruit".

Posted by Howie Fenton on December 19, 2007 | Comments (0)