Group - Accreditation in the balance in print.

Alison Branch, managing director at Park Communications, one of the companies shortlisted for PrintWeek’s Environmental Company of the Year 2011 award, agrees that the most easily communicable environmental practices will often win buyers over. She says the reasons for this are based not necessarily on ignorance, but more on time pressures. "In this market, customers, particularly the smaller ones, don’t have a lot of time to build up a detailed knowledge of the environment, so they are reliant on certain certificates," explains Branch. "For the customer, it needs to be simple."It is not surprising, then, that those credentials that can be expressed in the form of an official stamp of independent approval, rather than uncorroborated claims, are frequently cited as most desirable by print buyers. Not that the official stamps narrow the eco field of appraisal too far – there is still a wide comparison of accreditations, certificates and stamps to be made. At least unofficially, among the well known-names of FSC, PEFC, EMAS and countless others, print buyers do tend to place a higher regard on ISO 14001, an internationally recognised system monitoring the environmental targets companies set themselves and how they achieve and improve upon them. This certification is seen as a must-have for many print buyers, Parker says, and it is certainly no secret that the UK’s biggest print buyers need this in place before the sales process even begins. The number of printers pursuing and gaining the accreditation suggests that they have recognised the power the ISO holds in print buyers’ eyes. But Chris Head, health, safety and environmental manager at Howitt, says the badge is more than attractive clothing to entice a buyer. Rather it has tangible benefits to the company as well, being a valuable tool to ensure that businesses achieve a high environmental performance. "We look at it more from a point of view of what ISO 14001 can do for us," he says. "If you have good benchmarking and good objectives and targets it can actually deliver quite a good saving for the company. For instance, waste on this particular site in 2005 was more than 500 tonnes to landfill; last year it was less than 25 tonnes. So the management of those parts of the business is extremely important and can produce a saving."Head does concede, however, that, for smaller businesses, the costs of achieving ISO 14001 recognition could be prohibitive. Expenditures to be taken into account are the twice-yearly audits, costing around a £1,000 each, and of course the salaries of workers like Head who ensure the systems are implemented. For print buyers to give precedence to an ISO seems an unfair bias, then, against smaller operations. That said, there are cheaper ways of implementing the ISO 14001 than the most widely respected UKAS accredited scheme. These include self-accreditation, and certification from a range of different bodies including Lloyds, BSI and AJA, all of whom might appeal to a company’s individual needs. Printers can also enter into a BSA 555 or Acorn Project scheme, designed to help them on their way to an ISO 14001. But this might not get them very far with buyers who see a UKAS verified ISO 14001 as a must.http://www.tagged.com/ || Banner picks up Carphone Warehouse contract off HH Global