Green-e

By offering its customers printing and paper that has been sourced from renewable energy, Greenerprinter can use the Green-e logo on printed materials through the Green-e re:print program. This program promotes renewable electricity in the print supply chain by granting use of the Green-e logo to organizations that source both their paper and printing through Green-e Marketplace Certified printers and paper lines.

Green-e Marketplace provides forward-thinking organizations with a simple, nationally recognized logo they can use to communicate their commitment to renewable energy to their customers and shareholders. The Green-e logo is the nation's leading symbol of renewable energy excellence and distinguishes Green-e Marketplace participants as environmental leaders. Green-e is a program of Center for Resource Solutions, a nonprofit that creates policy and market solutions to advance sustainable energy. To learn more, visit Center for Resource Solutions and Green-e Marketplace.

Sustainable Green Printing Partnership

The printing industry is an important part of the world's manufacturing community. Print plays a vital role in communication, education, and daily existence. The printing industry has historically understood its effect on the natural world and accepts responsibility to continue efforts to reduce its overall environmental impact.

The SGP Partnership recognizes the following sustainable business practices as guiding principles to ensure continued viability and growth:

• Employ, wherever and whenever possible, materials derived from renewable resources or with low environmental impact, maximizing recycling and recovery efforts with efficient utilization of renewable energy.
• Encourage the adoption of changes within the supply chain by strongly recommending the use of raw materials that do not threaten or harm future generations.
• Educate the customer and ultimate consumer regarding the benefits of a restorative economy.

Printers can be listed as a certified SGP Printer by meeting a set of criteria to establish performance standards. The list of certified SGP Printers is available to the print buying community so that they can easily identify and contact "green" printers within their area.

Criteria
The SGP Partnership describes sustainability for the printing sector by use of the terms product, process and envelope. Taken together, these terms provide printers with a useful "road map" of sustainability in their activities, products and services. All of these elements are important when defining sustainable printing operations.

• Product includes the design aspects and input material management to create the product.
• Process includes all manufacturing steps (e.g. prepress, press and postpress) involved with converting raw materials into a finished product including process by-products (e.g. solid wastes, air pollution and wastewater) that have an environmental, health and safety impact.
• Envelope includes all the manufacturing support activities and includes the building, grounds, utilities, employees, and other functions at an individual site.

The SGP Certification Criteria embody this principle. Sustainability is not limited to the environmental dimension. The scope of the SGP Partnership goes beyond environmental considerations to include "corporate social responsibility" and "corporate citizenship" elements.

To download and read a full description of the criteria, visit the SGP website.

Visit Greenerprinter's listing on the SGP site

Certified "B Corporation"

About B Corporation Certification

B Corps are a new type of corporation that use the power of business to address social and environmental problems. Certified B Corporations meet transparent and comprehensive standards of social and environmental performance and legally expand their corporate responsibilities to include consideration of stakeholder interests. In addition, by uniting together as B Corporations, they amplify the voice of sustainable business and for-profit social enterprise. There are currently over 200 certified B Corporations from over 30 industries, representing $1 billion in collective revenues and $6.5 billion in capital under management.

Unfortunately, California is one of 19 states that do not yet allow corporations to consider stakeholder interests. As a B Corp in California, we have committed to amending our corporate governing documents to include stakeholder interests once the law permits us to do so. According to Deborah Hirsh from B Labs (the non-profit that coordinates the certification), changes in state legislation in 2010 may facilitate this process, and additional efforts are underway to create a new corporate form for companies in California that have met high and transparent social and environmental standards.

Why did Greenerprinter become a B Corporation?

We went through the certification process to become a B Corp because the B Corp certification represents one of the highest standards for responsible businesses. An important part of the B Corp certification is that the social and environmental performance standards are comprehensive and transparent. Our B Corp report will soon be available on the B Corp website, and we will be subject to random audits. This will be in addition to the other audits that we're subject to as a Certified Green Business in Berkeley (such as water and energy use audits) and our Forest Stewardship Council audit. We believe that it is important that our social and environmental initiatives can be verified by third parties that you can trust.

We are the first commercial printer in the country to receive this certification, and as other printers follow our lead, new standards will be set within the printing industry.

What makes B Corporation different from other green certifications?

B Corporation does evaluate environmental efforts, but it also includes considerations for governance, employees, community, and suppliers. In this regard, it's a much more comprehensive certification that looks at not just environmental impact, but at how the company does business as a whole.

You can learn more about B Corporations on their website. The Katovich Law Group, another B Corp, also provides a good explanation about stakeholder interests and B Corps on their blog.

Bay Area Certified Green Business

Some of the general requirements include:

• Monitoring and recording rates of water and energy consumption and waste generation
• Providing incentives and opportunities that encourage employee participation
• Informing customers of our efforts
• Assisting other companies and organizations in their efforts to become "green"

1. Water Conservation
   - Assess indoor and outdoor water balance
   - Implement basic conservation measures
   - Implement at least 3 industry-specific conservation measures
2. Solid Waste Reduction and Recycling
   - Assess solid waste streams
   - Adopt measures to reduce, re-use and recycle solid waste
   - Cut down paper waste in 5 different ways
   - Implement recycle or reuse programs for 5 other types of materials
   - Identify and purchase 3 different types of recycled materials
3. Energy Conservation
   - Commercial energy assessment performed by local utility agency
   - Adopt maintenance schedule for all heating, ventilation and air conditioning systems
   - Introduce 2 alternative technologies and 5 process changes that help conserve energy
4. Pollution Prevention
   - Assess operations and identify prevention opportunities
   - Adjust, change or eliminate 6 operations practices to help reduce pollution
   - Adopt 3 changes in materials, products or processes that will help reduce pollution
   - Reuse and/or recycle hazardous wastes in at least 3 ways
   - Eliminate contamination of storm water and runoff in 4 ways
   - Reduce vehicle emissions in at least 3 ways

In addition, there are specific guidelines we follow that are unique to the printing industry. These requirements include:

• Completely computerizing prepress operations to remove photochemicals, thus saving water and energy
• Establishing a recycling program for solvents
• Using alcohol-free printing to reduce chemical usage and improve air quality, health and safety
• Printing on treeless and recycled content papers (saves trees, energy, water; promotes new agriculture and reduces landfill waste)
• Promoting green practices to customers
• Using low VOC (Volatile Organic Compound) inks (helps reduce air pollution, increases safety)
• Implementing paperless internal communications
• Using energy efficient equipment

FSC (Forest Stewardship Council) "Chain of Custody" (COC) Certification

The mark of responsible forestry.
FSC-C103525
© 1996 Forest Stewardship Council A.C.

GreenerPrinter has obtained certification in accordance with the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) Chain of Custody Standards. The FSC is an international not-for-profit membership-based organization that brings people together to find solutions to the problems created by bad forestry practices and to reward good forest management. By adhering to practices listed in our FSC certification, we are a vital link in a "chain of custody" which ensures that forest products (in our case, paper) can be traced from their final manufactured product all the way back to the well-managed forests from which the raw materials were harvested.

About the Chain of Custody (COC) Certificate
Chain of custody certification provides a guarantee about the production of FSC-certified products. Chain-of-custody is the path taken by raw materials from the forest to the consumer, including all successive stages of processing, transformation, manufacturing and distribution.

From a customer perspective, the FSC label represents a promise that is being made to them. Chain of custody standards are the mechanism FSC has to ensure that 'promise' is delivered.

Operations that have been independently verified for FSC chain of custody certification are eligible to label their products with the FSC logo.

About the Forest Stewardship Council
The Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) is an international organization that brings people together to find solutions which promote responsible stewardship of the world's forests.

• FSC is a stakeholder owned system for promoting responsible management of the world's forests.
• Through consultative processes, it sets international standards for responsible forest management.
• It accredits independent third party organizations who can certify forest managers and forest product producers to FSC standards.
• Its trademark provides international recognition to organizations who support the growth of responsible forest management.
• Its product label allows consumers worldwide to recognize products that support the growth of responsible forest management worldwide.
• FSC undertakes marketing programs and information services that contribute to the mission of promoting responsible forestry worldwide.
• Over the past 13 years, over 90 million hectares in more than 70 countries have been certified according to FSC standards while several thousand products are produced using FSC-certified wood and carrying the FSC trademark. FSC operates through its network of National Initiatives in 45 countries.

Carbon Emissions of Operations are offset via Sterling Planet

The carbon emissions from Greenerprinter's operations are 100% offset by investments in Renewable Energy Credits (RECs).

These RECs offset our energy usage through investments in renewable energy sources such as wind and solar.

Greenerprinter has entered an agreement with Sterling Planet to purchase wind energy and "green up" 100% of its conventional electricity consumption with this clean, renewable energy.

Purchased as Renewable Energy Certificates (RECs), the wind energy is certified by the Center for Resource Solutions' Green-e renewable energy certification program. These RECs indirectly offset 355,000 pounds of carbon dioxide emissions from conventional electricity production processes that use nonrenewable fuel sources. The environmental benefit compares to not driving 387,511 miles in an automobile (139 drives between Los Angeles and New York), or planting 48 acres of trees.

Beyond these environmental benefits, RECs help build a market for renewable electricity ("green power" or commodity electricity bundled with RECs), increase energy diversity and security, reduce dependence on foreign energy sources, support domestic economies and create U.S. jobs.

Carbon Emissions of Shipping are offset via Carbonfund

Greenerprinter offsets all of its shipping through investments in Carbonfund.org. This commitment establishes Greenerprinter as an environmental leader in the print industry and demonstrates the proactive steps it is taking in the fight against global climate change.

This partnership with Carbonfund.org allows Greenerprinter to reduce its carbon footprint by offsetting the emissions generated as a result of the shipment and delivery of printed materials. While Greenerprinter has done everything possible to reduce the environmental impact of its internal operations, Carbonfund.org helps it to minimize the additional impact of what happens after a project leaves its facility.