The committed staff at Ecoprint, an innovator in environmentally preferable printing processes, share the best practices that have made their company a success. By Susan Nickbarg
When an environmental activist encounters a windfall of old printing equipment, what do you get?
Ecoprint, a Silver Spring, Md.-based company that, according to founder and president (and ex-activist) Roger Telschow, is in the business of reducing humankind's environmental footprint through greener, more sustainable printing and supply chain processes. The company defines eco-friendly printing not as a "nice-to-do" but as a "must-do" across the supply chain -- papers, inks, printing processes -- and credits eco-positive management techniques with increasing employee and customer loyalty.
From Activism to Commercialism
Employees like to say that Ecoprint was born on an old reconverted school bus 27 years ago. Bolted to the floor of the bus was a small printing press, which printed flyers for grassroots environmental initiatives of the now-defunct nonprofit Initiative America. When that organization folded, a man named Roger Telschow bought the printing machinery and cranked up the presses as Ecoprint, a commercial enterprise with roots in, well, grassroots environmentalism.
Since then, the former activist has created a corporate culture and mission that focuses on changing paradigms and making inroads in the printing industry. As Telschow puts it, "At the earliest stages of the company's evolution we learned to modify habits to accommodate better environmental practices instead of simply pressing on to get higher productivity to what ever is easiest. That ethic has carried through the present day."
Worth the Paper It's Printing on
Ecoprint claims to be the first U.S. printer to abandon virgin-pulp paper in favor of stock produced largely from post-consumer recycled paper (PCR). When the company started up in 1990 there were no U.S. manufacturers of PCR paper. Rather than settle for the more readily available virgin paper, however, Ecoprint opted to source PCR paper from Steinbeis-Temming, a German manufacturer (whose papermaking technology was later licensed by International Paper). The initial paper order -- 40,000 pounds at a cost of well over $20,000 -- was a true leap of faith for the fledgling company.
The arrival of U.S. papermakers like
New Leaf has eased the sourcing burden on Ecoprint, but the company isn't stopping there. At the request of two nonprofit clients, Greenpeace and the World Wildlife Fund, Ecoprint formed an agreement with Cross Point Paper to produce one of the first chlorine-free papers in the U.S.
Printing Detox: The Making of Metal-Free Inks
With environmentally preferable paper in hand, Ecoprint soon turned its attention to inks. "Our thought was why not clean up more of the whole process -- especially the inks?" Telschow explains. "To our surprise we got a pollution prevention grant of $25,000 from the EPA. Our intention was to produce inks using a vegetable oil base that were also free from toxic metal pigments -- the compounds in the ink that provide the red, blue, or green colors."
This isn't as simple as it sounds: The printing industry has a uniform standard for ink colors called a pantone matching system or "PMS colors" that are formulated for color fastness, compatibility with printing plates, and consistency in hue. Explains Odell Jackson, a printing press operator at Ecoprint: "Printing is a chemical process. Papers have pH that is acid or alkaline. Inks come with petroleum, soy, or vegetable bases. Fountain solutions are also chemicals that have a pH. All of these have to work together."
Creating the new inks presented practical challenges that could only be overcome by a process of trial and error. Ecoprint experimented with real projects, working with several customers who agreed to become partners in the exploration of these new technologies. At first, the company had to rely on customer loyalty to offset the increased costs of research and development. Within eighteen months, however, Ecoprint had created a new line of environmentally preferable, metal-free inks that could be produced at nominal extra cost.
Says Odell Jackson: "We found out it was not as difficult as the mainstream thought. The old way of doing things is not always the best way."
The new cleaner inks offer significant environmental benefits downstream -- literally. When paper is washed and de-inked, the pigments in the inks end up in the de-inking sludge, adding to its toxicity. Sludge cannot be dumped just anywhere; each state has different laws on the de-inking mills' waste-product treatment and testing.
There is a technical downside, however. Telschow explains: "The new eco-inks perform fine on press and have good color and light fastness. For our applications they seem fine. However, they do have different pigments than the base colors in the PMS color-industry matching system and cannot match perfectly. If you want uniformity it will take a larger grant to formulate exact PMS-matching metal-free eco-inks. It could certainly be done, however, and would significantly reduce the load inks put on the environment." Telschow concedes that Ecoprint has hit a ceiling at the next logical step of making a PMS-matching eco-ink. “It's a multimillion dollar investment that calls for larger organizational resources,” he says.
Still, Teloschow believes the Ecoprint's experience developing environmental inks is paying significant -- and immediate -- dividends. For one thing, the new inks have cemented the company's identity as an innovator in the printing industry. In addition, the eco-inks bring benefits for the day-to-day press workers. As Odell Jackson points out, “I can say I’ve probably reduced my exposure to hazardous chemicals. That is a comfortable thing to my long-term health.” The boost to employee loyalty is undeniable; in an industry know for its revolving door, Ecoprint hasn’t seen any turnover in its ten-person staff in more than four years.
Spreading the Word
Ecoprint’s commitment to sustainable business practices proves that a small business can thrive on a triple-bottom-line business plan. The company is profitable; it has a documented record of reducing environmental imprints; and, it can be argued, it has touched off a virtuous circle with its clients, which have included Calvert Group, Whole Foods, Honest Tea, Coop America, as well as Greenpeace and the World Wildlife Fund.
Since 2000 Ecoprint has made a conscientious effort to educate clients about its efforts to reduce environmental impact. At the request of a few of their clients, the company began benchmarking its efforts to minimize environmental impact. The company doesn’t do a lot of chest beating; rather, it produces an “environmental savings statement” that conveys their progress to clients. Here’s an example of Ecoprint’s environmental savings report card from 2004:
"By using
100% wind power for our operations, and our environmentally sound papers, we saved:
Dave Michaels, Ecoprint’s outreach coordinator, sums up the company’s philosophy this way: “Tell the story about environmental degradation. Then become part of the solution, not the problem, by incorporating your values and environmental commitment directly in your mission statement.”
(For tips on evaluating a printing company's environmental responsibility, read
"What to Look for in an Eco-Friendly Printer."
The Bigger Picture
Ultimately, the story of Ecoprint is the story of how small company entrepreneurship can address significant environmental problems while succeeding in a highly competitive industry. According to Telschow, Ecoprint proves that small businesses can offer an innovative value-add based on ethics and environmental commitment instead of focusing only on profit margin and price. “When you create a conservation ethic in a company, it doesn’t end with just turning off the lights during lunch break. Conservation is applied to all facets of production and management,” he says. “At Ecoprint we have determined that in an average year our environmental conservation efforts save us between 1%-2% of [annual] sales. That’s huge in an industry that maintains an average profit of 3% of sales.” It’s apparent that the strategy is paying off.
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Susan Nickbarg is principal of SVN Marketing, LLC, a consultancy in marketing and corporate social responsibility. She has written on corporate social responsibility and corporate citizenship for PRNEWS and The Corporate Citizen, a publication of the U.S. Chamber Center for Corporate Citizenship.
January 2006
