The UN’s Corporate Sustainability Report 2013

The weekly Verdigris blog by Laurel Brunner Nearly 8,000 small, medium and large companies, including printers and publishers from 140 countries have signed up to the UN’s Global Compact, ten principles which cover human rights, labour, anticorruption and of course the environment. Principle 7 says that businesses should support a precautionary approach to environmental challenges; … Read more

Slowly Garrotted with Red Tape

The weekly Verdigris blog by Laurel Brunner Industry everywhere suffers from bureaucracy intended to make life safer, less corrupt and more fair and efficient. The graphic arts industry is not alone in having to cope with excessive, unproductive yet necessary administration and regulatory compliance. In several regions around the world the printing industry must comply … Read more

Is Packaging Recycling as Environmentally Friendly as it Looks?

The weekly Verdigris blog by Laurel Brunner In many economies, curbside recycling is becoming the norm. Actually we can recycle virtually anything: in developed economies technology takes care of it, and elsewhere innovative entrepreneurs do the work. The biggest consideration ought to be the environmental and economic impacts of the recycling process itself. In some … Read more

The Future is with the Young

The weekly Verdigris blog by Laurel Brunner Aching limbs and mind, that nagging sense that it might be all over before it’s really begun, and a sense that the future is slipping beyond your control? These might possibly be symptoms of age, but they don’t just plague wrinklies. Young people suffering the stresses of modern … Read more

Tracking Those Carbon Footprints

The weekly Verdigris blog by Laurel Brunner The ISO committee responsible for greenhouse gas management and related activities has put out an update on ISO TS 14067, the technical specification for calculating the carbon footprint of products and services. This document was used as the starting point for ISO 16759, for calculating the carbon footprint … Read more

Fresh Thinking

The weekly Verdigris blog by Laurel Brunner The ISO committee responsible for Greenhouse Gas (GHG) management and related activities is looking for new blood. They have put out a call to encourage young people to get involved with environmental standards. Called ISO NextGen, the initiative is about encouraging people interested in standards relating to climate … Read more

Making a Difference is Harder than it Looks

The weekly Verdigris blog by Laurel Brunner The first ever United Nations Environmental Assembly (UNEA) recently took place in Kenya’s capital, Nairobi. This was a lofty affair, attracting environmental ministers from over 180 countries, plus officials from governments and public bodies, economists and others to talk about saving the planet. Again. Numbering some 1200 people, … Read more

Building Data Trails

The weekly Verdigris blog by Laurel Brunner Environmental impact reporting is not yet regulated nor is it common that companies come clean on their vulnerability to green rules. But that is starting to change as regulation and consumer pressures get more onerous. Recently one of the world’s biggest companies, Exxon Mobile, has come under shareholder … Read more

ClickTime

The weekly Verdigris blog by Laurel Brunner The argument of print versus digital media is an empty one. Since the first characters were carved into clay and stone, we have expanded our range of media channels in order to improve communications efficiency. The marriage of print and broadcast media has been long, happy and fruitful. … Read more

Managing Waste and Recycling

The weekly Verdigris blog by Laurel Brunner You may not be based in the European Union (EU), but you can still benefit from some of its ideas, even the whacky ones. In fact pinching the ideas without being bound by EU implementation and compliance rules is probably a better option for many countries and businesses. … Read more