Impress Print Services' Story
Impress Print Solutions are proud to be one of only a few carbon-balanced printers in the UK. Established in 1989, by brother and sister team Mike and Helen we have grown into an award-winning environmental print company and one of the most successful, highly regarded and innovative print and communication providers in the South East.
Printing is our business, but we are aware that as with all businesses this can come at a cost to our planet. We use energy, materials such as paper, packaging and ink, create waste and travel which adds up to a carbon footprint that, if not reduced, will impact negatively upon the planet on which we all live.
So Impress made a commitment to reduce our environmental impact and increase our positive social impact, through being a good employer and driving sustainable, profitable growth. We are committed to reducing our carbon emissions yearly so that together, we can all halt climate change.
Since 2018 Impress Print Services has formerly measured and verified our carbon footprint as a business, as part of our work towards supporting our sustainability goals and strategy. This includes our production, office facilities, fleet vehicles, waste and procurement. We are proud of our Planet Mark Certification and honoured to be finalists in their 2021 Awards. We also work with the World Land Trust, following a three-step process to measure and reduce, before offsetting residual emissions through the protection and restoration of carbon-rich wildlife habitats in the tropics.
It also makes sense to reduce waste and recycle more. We want to play our part in protecting our planet, but we also know it's good business logic. Our environmental policies work because we use fewer resources which equals less waste. As a result, we are able to keep our prices competitive and consistently improve our efficiency.
Our customers are delighted with the service that we provide and are happy to be part of the environmental solution by choosing Impress.
We have installed solar renewable energy to power our office and factory; we recycle the majority of our waste streams; our house paper is a quality sheet which is chlorine and acid-free, recyclable, FSC certified and Carbon Balanced; we use vegetable oil-based inks; we conserve water; we work to continually reduce our landfill waste and achieved zero waste to landfill in August 2021; low levels of industrial alcohol are used in our print process; we constantly monitor our energy consumption; journeys are carefully planned for efficiency - 50% of our fleet will be 100% electric by the end of 2021; we run the 'Cycle to Work' scheme; we help our customers to reduce the carbon impacts of their marketing communications, supporting them to meet their carbon reduction objectives; and we share knowledge and understanding of print-related environmental or 'green' terminology.
Useful Learnings from Impress Print Services
In the beginning, we knew that we wanted to become a more environmentally friendly and sustainable company, but felt overwhelmed and a bit daunted as to where to start.
Our plan, therefore, was to take things one step at a time rather than try to make too many changes at once. So we looked to make improvements in just one area such as the inks we were using. We researched the best options such as vegetable-based inks and then looked at our materials, sourcing paper from sustainable and well-managed forests.
In this way we gradually became more environmentally friendly, refining our processes and materials to reduce our impact.
We then focused on the waste we produce, recycling cleaning solvents and separating waste streams for recycling.
As we made small changes this motivated us to continue our journey and partner with organisations that could support us to measure, record and improve our carbon footprint. Working with the World Land Trust and Planet Mark have taken our actions to the next level. Recording our output has given us the baseline metrics to clearly see where changes need to be made.
So our next step was to consider our energy consumption and for this we needed a long-term plan. Our investment in solar panels has meant an initial cost outlay but longer-term benefits. We will not see a return for 6/7 years but our earlier work and support from partner organisations has given us the confidence to do this. We are replacing our fleet with electric vehicles.
My advice would be to start with small realistic and achievable changes which will prepare the way for larger-scale actions.
We have had to work with what we've got in many ways. Looking back a modern factory would have been an easier solution, but we have made it work and are proud of our achievements.
Once we decided that becoming an environmentally friendly and considerate company was the route we needed and wanted to take, we kept going to achieve that. We overcame small challenges but stuck with our beliefs.
It was important to communicate our values to the staff team to engage them and help us work together to achieve our aims. Of course in the beginning many of the team did not see this as a priority but we are always clear about our goals and aspirations and take the time to provide information about what we are doing and why. Now there is much more awareness and media coverage the team are very much on board and are proud to be a part of a company that is working hard to safeguard the future of the world around them.
Impress Print Services' Metrics
Decrease in carbon emissions.
