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39 Delevan Street
Rochester, NY 14605
p 585.454.3290 | 888.654.8461
f 585.454.5092
Environmental Leadership
Chris Pape, our CEO, says it best: “We’ve worked incredibly hard over the past several years to redefine the way we run our business. We’ve reworked virtually every area of our operations to ensure that our printing processes are as environmentally friendly as possible.”
From recommending FSC-certified papers to using 100 percent wind power to reducing VOC emissions, Monroe Litho has been at the forefront of the “green” movement among commercial printers—and among businesses in general. This focus on the environment helps our customers, our employees, and ultimately, our planet!
US Environmental Protection
Agency's Green Power Partnership
Purchasing wind power qualified Monroe Litho for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Green Power Partnership. This partnership works with organizations to buy green power as a means to reduce the environmental impacts associated with purchased electricity use. “Green power” is defined as electricity generated from environmentally preferable renewable resources, such as solar, wind, geothermal, biogas, biomass, and low-impact hydro. These resources generate electricity with zero anthropogenic (caused by humans) carbon dioxide emissions and offer a superior environmental profile to conventional power generation. In addition, buying green power helps support the development of new renewable energy capacity nationwide.
We were the seventh commercial printer in the U.S. to commit to the FSC – today, there are more than 1,500 members. The FSC is an international, not-for-profit organization dedicated to finding solutions to the problems created by bad forestry practices—and to rewarding good forest management. Its trademark provides international recognition to organizations that support the growth of responsible forest management. Only operations that have been independently verified for FSC chain-of-custody certification can label their products with the FSC logo. (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.)
The FSC label represents a promise that Monroe Litho is conscientious in the observance of forestry practices, which we prove by using certain specific grades of paper manufactured from timber that has been grown, managed, and harvested under very rigid environmental protocols.
We’re a member and participant with this national book publishing organization, supporting the “Book Industry’s Treatise on Responsible Paper.” This treatise includes addressing global warming through the use of recycled fiber and renewable energy, protecting endangered and highest value forests, and supporting best practices in forest management.
Internal Sustainability
Initiatives
Our company’s Sustainability Committee has helped us to achieve these environmental milestones, and to keep Monroe Litho focused on internal sustainability initiatives. Our list has more than 50 accomplishments and current projects, including:
Converted an old parking lot into 8,400 square feet of green space
2009 Sustainability Initiatives Summary
In keeping with the guidelines of the Sustainable Green Printing Partnership Certification, we thought it appropriate to share some of our good stories from 2009 with our stakeholders.
Monroe Litho continued as
a company offsetting 100% of electricity use with Wind Power, maintained
its Forest Stewardship Council and Sustainable
Forestry Initiative Certifications, as well as its federal OSHA/New York
State “SHARP” [Safety
Health Award Recognition Program] certification, a program that exempts the company from any OSHA inspection for a two year period.
Here are the highlights of twenty measurable sustainability initiatives from 2009:
Electricity consumption was reduced by 15%.
570 tons of FSC paper processed.
VOC emissions were reduced by 11.5% [normalized].
There has been only one accident in 569,000 hours worked over four years.
13,000 pounds of non-conforming wooden skids recycled
4000 pounds of cardboard/corrugation recycled
7700 pounds of plastic strapping/wrapping materials recycled
475 pounds of CD jewel cases recycled
200 pounds of CDs recycled
375 pounds of fluorescent light bulbs recycled
12,000 pounds of aluminum printing plates recycled
2700 pounds of IT related equipment recycled
650 pounds of consumer batteries recycled
21 cell phones recycled
2100 pounds of metal ink cans recycled
17,000 pounds of scrap steel recycled
52 offset blankets recycled for other uses
Water consumption was reduced by 16.9%
Landfill dumpster activity reduced from 5 trips in 2008 to 2 trips in
2009
There has been over 1,250,000 pounds of paper recycled/recovered
Sustainable Forestry Initiative
Monroe Litho is one of only five printers in New York State to hold both FSC and SFI certification. Our SFI certification indicates that we are using the best sustainable forest management practices in our daily operations—and that as a result, we’re protecting air, water, soil, and wildlife as well as ensuring that no wood comes from endangered forests.
The SFI’s premise is that responsible environmental behavior and
sound business decisions can co-exist. It is one of the world’s
leading forest certification programs. SFI-certified companies practice
sustainable forestry on all the lands they manage. They influence millions
of additional acres through the training of loggers, foresters, and family
forest landowners in best management practices and landowner outreach
programs.
List of SFI papers
Sustainable Green Printing (SGP) Partnership
Monroe Litho was the fifth commercial printer in the U.S. (and the first in the northeast) to be verified to the national standard of the SGP Partnership. This group encourages and promotes participation in the worldwide movement to reduce environmental impact and increase social responsibility in the print and graphic communications industry through sustainable green printing practices. The SGP recognizes these 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.
www.sgppartnership.org
Monroe Litho is Supporting
Renewable Energy
We have partnered with Renewable Choice Energy to support the development
of wind power projects and to take responsibility for our environmental
impact. Monroe Litho has offset the conventional electricity use of
our offices and manufacturing facilities by purchasing renewable energy
credits (RECs).
RECs are produced by wind farms, biomass facilities and other renewable
energy projects. They provide companies and consumers a way to invest
in renewable energy development and offset their electricity use with
energy from wind and other renewable energy projects without on-site
installation.
By purchasing RECs, we are guaranteed that the electricity we use is
replaced on the national power grid with electricity generated from renewable
energy sources.
http://www.renewablechoice.com/
Our Commitment to Reduce Our Environmental Impact
By taking steps to conserve the electricity we use and reduce our environmental impact by purchasing RECS, our commitment has an impact similar to:
Planting 7002 mature trees
Not driving 1,701,550 miles in an average car
How RECs Work
More than 70 percent of U.S. electricity comes from burning fossil fuels like coal and natural gas, which emit harmful greenhouse gasses that contribute to air pollution and climate change. Wind -generated electricity is renewable, sustainable, and does not produce air pollution or contribute to climate change.
Renewable energy credits (RECs) are created every time a renewable energy facility adds electricity to the national power grid, and renewable energy developers consider REC sales when deciding whether or not to build new facilities. Purchasing RECs is a way for organizations and individuals to support the growth of renewable energy facilities and make clean energy generation more financially competitive with electricity generated from fossil fuels.
Benefits of Supporting Clean Energy
Saves
our natural resources
Promotes cleaner air
Reduces our dependence
on fossil fuels
Increases the demand for
new renewable energy projects
Our RECs Are Certified
The renewable energy credits we purchase from Renewable Choice are certified by Green-e Energy®, the nation’s leading independent certification and auditing program for renewable energy. The Green-e Energy program was established by the non-profit Center for Resource Solutions to provide an objective standard for qualifying and tracking renewable energy credits.
About Renewable Choice Energy
Renewable Choice has helped hundreds of businesses and thousands of
individuals across the country reduce their environmental impact and
support clean energy development. It offers simple and effective solutions
for purchasing renewable energy credits, carbon offsets and clean technology
products to help solve today's pressing energy and environmental challenges.
Learn more at www.renewablechoice.com.
Monroe Litho, Inc. © 2011. All Rights Reserved.