CIPR Climate Comms - Opening a conversation about brand sustainability

Starting a conversation with clients and other businesses around green washing and sustainability can be difficult. Listen how the panel approaches these conversations to educate clients how they can avoid greenwashing and the actions that they can take to improve their sustainability.

 

Host: Trudy Lewis
Panel: Sian Conway-Wood, Founder and Director of Ethical Hour.
Andras Sztainiszlav, Strategic communication advisor, President of the Hungarian PR association
Asif Choudry, Sales and Marketing Director, We Are Resource


CIPR Climate Comms

“Print is not sustainable.”
We’ve had to encounter and overcome these conversations.

There’s a misconception that print can not be sustainable. At the CIPR conference back in May 2021, Asif Choudry, Director of Sales and Marketing at We Are Resource, spoke about how we need to educate customers on the sustainability of print communications as a supplier striving to be greener ourselves. The Greener Room is the beginning of that journey.


We are Resource, We are Greener

As a marketing and printing business, we are aware that if we do not act and take on sustainable practices, we would be adding to the decline of the environment. We are always searching for ways in which we can be more environmentally friendly in every aspect of the business, from our suppliers to our factory floor and within our offices.

We reduce our carbon footprint.

By having energy efficient ventilation systems, we control the office temperatures by harnessing cold outside air instead of traditional cooling methods, not only are we keeping our staff cool, but it also improves the air quality and reduces unnecessary power consumption. Our carbon footprint is measured as part of our certification as a “carbon offset publication printer” in association with the World Land Trust. Our carbon footprint has been falling since 2016.

We have planet-friendly partners.

In line with our ethical procurement policy and ISO 14001, we ensure our suppliers share our goal to be sustainable. By working with like-minded suppliers, we contribute to the wider effort to limit the negative impact business and individuals have on the world around them.

We reduce our power usage.

It might be frustrating when we must perform the ‘lights have gone off’ arm dance in the office because you’ve been sat still for too long but by using PIR sensors we ensure that areas are not being lit when there are not being used.

Our building is also designed to optimise the use of natural daylight to reduce our energy consumption. Even our lithograph printer utilises UV lamps to ensure that the ink dries as it prints, this eliminates the need to use inks that are solvent based which release harmful compounds to the air and reduces our energy consumption.

We recycle everything we can.

Every recycled paper cup, shredded piece of paper and ink cartridge helps contribute to our overall commitment to reduce waste throughout the business. We even add our imaging oil from our HP Indigo to a recycling agent to allow it to be repurposed whether that is in the printing process or in maintenance. We follow all WEEE recycling regulations to ensure all our used and redundant electrical equipment is recycled and that hazardous materials are properly and safely disposed of.

We use 100% sustainable inks.

Instead of using ink from crude oil, a harmful, finite, and non-renewable resource, we utilise vegetable-based inks that are by-products of crop cultivation and can provide high quality, vibrant colour, it is also easier to ‘de-ink’ paper that has vegetable- based inks printed onto.

We use plastic-free packaging.

By using PolyAir packaging, which is made from a sustainable by-product of sugar cane pressing-process that provides us with sugar and ethanol, we avoid using the usual harmful fossil fuel-based plastics for packaging without a drop in quality or strength.


Welcome to The Greener Room...

You may have seen a few teasers popping up on your social feeds recently and have thought ‘What on Earth is this?!’ Well, we’re happy to announce that the wait is over.

 

The Greener Room is the place to discover how you can become more environmentally friendly. We’re exploring the world of Marketing and Communications far and wide, including within our own organisation, to share ideas on how you can join The Greener Room and become greener yourself (this doesn’t mean turning into the Hulk, it means taking the environment seriously). We’re using this platform to share the most effective and sustainable campaigns and processes that organisations within Marketing, Communications and Print industry can adopt, whilst also suggesting ways YOU can contribute to the Greener movement too.

The brains behind The Greener Room project belongs to the award-winning Marketing Services Provider, We Are Resource, a carbon balanced Marketing Provider. All organisations should take their environmental policies seriously…We could just list all our policies on a webpage buried on weareresource.co.uk but we want it to be at the forefront. We want to shout about how we, and other organisations within the Print and Marketing industry, can be sustainable. So, we said goodbye to the boring policies, and hello to The Greener Room.