Lexmark breaks Blue Angel eco-label record

Eleven laser multifunction devices in the X65x series given environmental certification, taking total up to 39

Eleven devices in Lexmark’s X65x series have been awarded the Blue Angel eco-label, demonstrating the company’s commitment to producing environmentally friendly products. Lexmark’s Blue Angel total now stands at 39 awards – more than any other company.[1]

The Blue Angel is the world’s first and oldest form of environmental certification for products and services. Since its introduction in 1978, it has provided a voluntary standard to distinguish eco-friendly products.

Printers and MFPs bearing the Blue Angel must fulfill a number of requirements – including limits on chemical and acoustic emissions and power consumption. Moreover, each device needs to be recyclable, and the manufacturer must operate its own recycling and return scheme, which is also applicable to ink and toner.

“At the beginning of the year, we decided to get our products certified by the German Institute for Quality Assurance and Certification (Deutsches Institut für Gütesicherung und Kennzeichnung e.V.) – and the scheme has been a complete success,” said Béatrice Marneffe, Director sustainable and Government affairs EMEA at Lexmark. “With eleven Blue Angels awarded to the X65x series, Lexmark now has more awards than any other company in the printing industry.”

Lexmark offers businesses of all sizes the option of printing with certified eco-friendly products.

“As well as great recognition, the Blue Angel award will have a positive effect on our future product development,” Marneffe added. “Now, we can take the Blue Angel criteria into account while developing new products, to ensure they maintain an eco-friendly standard for the future.”

More information on http://www.lexmark.com

[1] Source: www.blauer-engel.de <http://www.blauer-engel.de> : 4.11.2009

The new Lyreco catalogue format is more exciting and greener than ever!

Following consultation with customers Lyreco have launched an exciting new catalogue format for 2010.  The catalogue which is a break from the traditional A4 format is smaller in size (260 x 184mm) but still packed full of exciting new products.

Launched across the UK and Ireland this week, the catalogue is more environmentally friendly than previous years and fits firmly with the company ethos of a desire for continual improvement whilst constantly striving to reduce environmental impacts.

Carole Keane, Lyreco’s Marketing Communication Manager, said “We have produced our catalogue on 100% recycled paper for 4 years and we were looking for a way to reduce the impact on the environment even further. The simple change in size means the company have used 68.9 tonnes less paper than if an equivalent A4 catalogue was produced”.

The size doesn’t only allow the business to reduce the paper impact, but it also means that less card was used in the production of the catalogue storage boxes, which was reduced by 20% and saw a reduction in the CO2 produced in the transportation of the catalogue throughout the supply chain due to the reduced weight and the amount of catalogues that can be fitted in to vehicles.

This initiative is only one of many being carried out at Lyreco, recent winners of a gold Green Apple award for the launch of a “stamp out waste”, campaign. The company are dedicated and determined to make an environmental difference and to continuously investigate and develop new ways to reduce the environmental impacts of the business.

Office Friendly Wins Environmental Award

Office Friendly has won The Amey Environmental Impact Award at the Sheffield Business Awards which was held on the 3rd December 2009 at Pond Forge International venue. This prestigious award was in recognition to Office Friendly´s low-cost eco friendly accreditation programme So-Go-Eco which provides practical measures to understand and reduce the Carbon footprint for both itself and the shareholder members.

The awards hosted by Paul Ross were attended by over 1000 delegates from Sheffield Businesses. Supporter to Office Friendly included Managing Director Steve Harrop, local members Roger Clarke from Clarkes at Nottingham and Tom Green from Belmont stationers, Stockport. Ben Murray from programmes´ associated company, Carbon Smart was also in attendance with Chris Nichols, Julie Hawley and Sharon Renshaw.

Office Friendly´s Managing Director Steve Harrop commented, ‘We are absolutely delighted to receive this award on behalf of the members of Office Friendly. It reflects the clear defined focus of the So-Go-Eco programme and promotes the success we have delivered in our environmental impact.´

Office Friendly would like to thank Carbon Smart and all Office Friendly members who have supported the So-Go-Eco programme who have set practical action plans to reduce their carbon footprint.

Find out more about the So-Go-Eco programme and the Sheffield Awards by visiting their websites below or contact Office Friendly on 0114 2566300 or ofda@officefriendly.co.uk.

Everything Office Wins Another Award!

Everything Office, one of the UK’s leading independent office supplies companies, has won another award for its environmentally friendly offices.

Not content with winning the highly prestigious National Energy Efficiency Awards in 2008, beating 170 entrants in the Construction and Renovation category sponsored by EDF Energy, Everything Office has once again stolen the show by winning the Lowestoft & Waveney Chamber of Commerce Environment Award for its new purpose built offices in Lowestoft. The awards were held last week at Potters Bar and Leisure at Hopton-on-Sea in Norfolk.

Everything Office, a leading provider of environmentally friendly office supplies, outgrew its original premises in 2008 and seized upon the opportunity to go green. The company moved into its new environmentally-friendly building The Greenhouse last year. In updating their premises they managed to reduce their CO2 emissions by 15,000 kg per year, reducing their energy bills by 80% and water consumption by 50%.

Climate change was of course an important factor in this decision, but ultimately the goal was for Everything Office to become a more efficient company. Bob Taylor, Managing Director of Everything Office believes in investing in technology so that they can pass on the savings to their customers.

We constantly strive to be as efficient as possible without compromising on our high level of customer care. We are delighted that our efforts have been recognised, and I would like to thank everyone at Everything Office for all their hard work in making The Greenhouse a success.

The award required finalists to provide evidence of their green credentials, which was no problem for Everything Office. Not only are their offices cutting-edge when it comes to being green, as part of being ISO14001 accredited, Everything Office supplies and uses environmentally friendly office products.

The Greenhouse aptly named – incorporates a living, sedum roof which gives better insulation and allows rainwater harvesting for the toilets and gardens. It also has argon-filled double glazing with a solar coating to reduce solar gain and additional recycled insulation significantly increases the buildings thermal properties.

The offices green credentials also include:
Rain Water collection Excess water that is drained off the roof will be collected and used for the flushing of toilets.
Hot Water The heat that is generated from the companys servers and air conditioning is captured and converted into heat for hand washing and the shower unit.
Energy efficient lighting the building has low energy and LED lighting which is controlled by both daylight and motion sensors.

The company sells a green range of products and also operates a recycled service for toner and inkjet cartridges free of charge. As resellers of electrical items, Everything Office also advises customers how to follow the WEEE directive and dispose of their items in an environmentally sustainable way, and encourages customers where possible to recycle their old furniture by sending it free of charge to Eastex – the materials exchange for the east of England.

If you would like to find out how Everything Office can help you become greener and more efficient, please call 0800 980 1080, or e-mail sales@everythingoffice.co.uk

Go Green

Green issues are gaining credibility on an almost daily basis, fuelled by increased awareness in general society as well as the corporate sector. Telecommunication is playing a bigger role in how companies adopt, adapt and utilise green strategies, according to Tom Maxwell, Dealer Sales Director at Nimans and Rocom.

He says the key for resellers is to adopt a consultative approach – spread the word about green issues and identify the future needs of their customers and how technology can make the biggest impact.

“I think in today’s society we all expect immediate answers and instant communication such as e-mail and text messaging. We demand an almost instantaneous service. Years ago it was pretty much impossible to communicate in the ways we do today. You had to travel a lot more to stay in touch.”

Tom pointed out: “Virtually everyone now has a mobile. Fax machines are becoming less common as electronic media and the digital age is upon us. Unified communication with capabilities such as presence is another indication of how everything can be done at the touch of a button. We can all transmit our work over a digital path, as the infrastructure in most typical companies allows you to do it.”

Tom says that whilst the technology is in place, for a reseller there’s the issue of commercial pressures and justifying returns on investment for their customers.

He continued: “In some instances there’s still the perception that if you want to go green you have to pay more – but the balance is shifting. It’s important for resellers to promote the general benefits of going green, such as the recycling of consumables, as well as from a more specific telecoms point of point.”

Tom emphasised: “The green agenda is particularly prevalent in the mid enterprise market where you have lots of employees maybe working across a number of sites and being more mobile. There’s obviously a quicker return on investment here. Resellers need to understand the ways their customers operate both now and in the future. Technology allows workers to be much more flexible in where they are based. Many can just as easily work from home as being in the office. This can significantly reduce running costs for businesses in terms of heating and lighting for example – raising productivity and efficiency. There’s also reduced travel which saves time and money, so a win-win situation exists.”

Video conferencing is another key area, according to Tom, who emphasised: “Continued advances in technology allow presentations to be conducted easily via video. The quality and reliability produces almost life-like images. Video conferencing is available to businesses big and small anywhere in the country. Return on investment is particularly easy to identify here due to reduced travel which saves on petrol on accommodation costs, as well as business time.”

Tom says another key area for dealers to focus on is the quality of networks. He highlighted how as technology moves forward it’s important that dealers ensure network capabilities keep pace, such as Sip trunking replacing traditional analogue lines.

As well as the cost and environmental benefits, becoming greener and more efficient can also improve customer service levels. Tom added: “Resellers should also be stressing about improved business performance and how it’s much easier to respond to customer needs. For example mobile workers can use headsets to take calls and improve response times and speed-up the whole communication process.

“Here at Nimans and Rocom we are seeing a continued shift in trends. I think over the next few years we will all be migrating more and upgrading technology with hardware and predominantly networks. There’s a great opportunity and scope for resellers to understand the practices of their customers both for today and tomorrow; how they will improve, how technology will support that and quite often generate additional green benefits. Improving the network creates a solid platform, delivering a faster and smoother service. Both Nimans and Rocom are ideally placed as a single source solution provider, from hardware and software communication platforms to the latest network capabilities. Resellers should think ahead to stay ahead.”

What Does It Mean When Procurement Goes Green?

Green purchasing by companies is up in a down economy. Our recent October 2009 survey of more than 450 companies found that over the past 12 months there was a 63 percent increase in green purchasing, from computers to chemicals to cleaning supplies. Perhaps even more encouraging, none of the respondents from large companies (those with revenues over $1 billion) identified any decrease in buying green.

But when it comes to businesses buying green, what do they really mean?

Last year, we formed the GreenBiz Intelligence Panel to take a regular pulse of the green business world. Each month, we ask the 2,550-member panel questions about a wide range of issues and trends. And each month, several panel members point out that while our survey questions are absolute, there is still a lot of gray when it comes to corporate sustainability initiatives. They’re right, of course, and nowhere is this more apparent than for those responsible for purchasing and procurement at companies large and small.

As if to illustrate this challenge, one panel member posed the following question to highlight the lack of tools when making a purchasing decision. “Is it better to buy a ‘compostable’ product shipped all the way from China or a recycled Styrofoam product produced in the USA (that will be recycled after use)? Always buying a ‘green’ product may not necessarily be a ‘green’ practice.” While conducting a survey of businesses who are grappling with these issues can’t solve them, they can tell you what your peers are doing. For the members of the GreenBiz Intelligence Panel, the need for useful information is an ongoing interest.

Leading the Way: Office Supplies, Cleaning Products, and Computers

As Joel Makower noted in the 2009 State of Green Business report, Information technology “is one industry experiencing a ‘race to the top,’ in which companies are both cooperating and competing to create high standards of performance.” During our recent survey, we asked panel members to identify all products that they are purchasing based upon green criteria. Cleaning products and office supplies lead in their respective categories (78 percent and 57 percent respectively). Computers and other IT hardware were called out by 55 percent of the companies responding.

Office supplies led all product categories by a long shot, with 78 percent of survey respondents reporting that they evaluate these as part of their green procurement standards. It turns out that size matters: Only 53 percent of companies with revenues over $1 billion consider office supplies when buying green. We’ve seen similar findings from other surveys, where fewer than 5 percent of companies with revenues under $10 million flatly stated “I will not pay a premium for a green product” compared to 19 percent of companies with revenues over $1 billion. In fact, there’s good news for those companies targeting small business buyers: 70 percent say that for some products they would pay a premium that exceeds six percent of a comparable product’s cost.

Fifty-seven percent of healthcare companies surveyed placed computers at the top of their lists, with office supplies and cleaning products a distant 29 percent. There’s more good news for green computing as half of the 140 professional services companies who participated in this survey evaluate hardware using green criteria.

None of this was particularly surprising as there are a number of popular certifications and ratings for these product categories, such as the Forest Stewardship Council’s certification for paper and wood products, Green Seal for cleaning products, and the EPEAT standard for computers.

An encouraging development is the number of large corporations evaluating material inputs for manufacturing by identifying green criteria. Seventy-three percent of the basic materials firms (this includes chemicals, metals, oil and gas, and specialty chemicals) responded that they screened their inbound material supplies for green attributes. Consumer goods companies identified material inputs (53 percent) second most important just slightly behind office products (58 percent). Approximately half of technology companies (48 percent) and Industrial Goods manufacturers (52 percent) also evaluate green attributes for manufacturing inputs.

Measuring The Green They Manage

Beyond looking at what people were buying, we also wanted to find out how they went about their green purchasing. Nearly three-fourths (73 percent) of companies have informed vendors that green criteria are important in their purchasing decisions. Overall, 59 percent of companies said they have a green procurement policy and approximately the same number of respondents include green criteria in requests for proposals (RFPs) and provide training to staff regarding green procurement practices. In fact, respondents mostly replied to all three of those questions with the same consistent answer.

Beyond internal measures, companies are starting to get more rigorous in communicating their green criteria to their suppliers and evaluating results. Just over a third of all companies surveyed publish a code of conduct for their suppliers. A larger impact in terms of scale can be seen among companies with revenue above $1 billion: 49 percent of these big guys publish a code of conduct for their suppliers where compliance is mandatory while another 16 percent note that compliance is voluntary.

These same large companies are also measuring performance using supplier scorecards, with 44 percent of large companies grading supplier performance and 36 percent auditing their suppliers’ environmental performance. When we asked how companies were evaluating their suppliers, companies with revenues over $1 billion identified ISO 14001 as a leading factor in their evaluations, whereas published CSR or sustainability reports topped the list for smaller companies.

Selling Green in the Future

Overwhelmingly, 84 percent of companies responding believe there is a need for some type of third-party standards or certifications for green products. If your company is planning to compete in a greener business-to-business marketplace, our research provides some interesting data to consider as you design your new products and services.

• Tell your green story to your customers. While 35 percent of those surveyed said that a supplier’s poor environmental performance had caused a contract to be canceled or not renewed, 50 percent identified positive environmental performance as a reason to award or renew a contract. While individual consumers may be slower to buy green, companies of all sizes are making it a part of their buying criteria.

• Get your greenhouse gas emissions data in order. While only 13 percent of companies surveyed currently ask some or all of their suppliers for GHG emissions data, more than 62 percent of large companies plan to ask for this information within the next three years.

• Green provides opportunities to partner. While 61 percent of buyers prefer independent certifications, self-declaration (45 percent) and references (33 percent) are used by companies to evaluate their suppliers. While having the green conversation won’t necessarily lead to higher average sales prices, it does provide a platform to discuss strategy and innovation.

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Konica Minolta wins national environmental award

Konica Minolta Business Solutions (UK) Ltd has won the prestigious Green Apple Award in recognition of its pioneering environmental project.

The project ‘Going Green with the Blues’ has been designed in conjunction with Southend United Community Trust to promote positive social behaviour and environmental awareness amongst the local community. The project provides an innovative environmental training programme for primary school children to enable them to make more confident and informed ‘green’ choices and to positively influence family and friends on green issues.

The trophy was presented by The Green Organisation at the sixteenth annual international awards ceremony at the House of Commons on 17 November. The ceremony was hosted by The Rt Hon Patricia Hewitt MP, and the presentations were made by star of screen and stage, former Bond Girl, Alexandra Bastedo.

Claire Ham, Quality and Environment Manager for Konica Minolta commented, “We are delighted to win such an important national award and this really demonstrates our hard work and commitment in environmental best practice. The Green Apple Awards are presented annually in recognition of organisations carrying out projects that enhance the environment and there were 500 nominations this year, so to have won is a fantastic achievement and a great accolade for the organisation”.

The award-winning project will be featured in the next Green Book, the world’s only work of reference on environmental best practice. The Green Apple Awards campaign is run by The Green Organisation, an independent, non-political, non-profit organisation that recognises, rewards and promotes environmental best practice around the world.

National Organiser for The Green Organisation Roger Wolens commented, “To show continued interest in environmental issues during the current financial climate shows great foresight and they deserve the recognition of being Green Apple Award winners. They invest in a better future for us all and deserve to be recognised for their efforts.”

UPM & Lyreco to supply UN

UPM will supply roughly nine million sheets of copy paper in co-operation with office supplies company Lyreco to the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen, 7-18 December 2009.
UPM Future from UPM’s Docelles mill in France was selected due to its superior environmental features, including sustainable sourcing of wood raw material and the EU Eco-label, the official EU mark awarded to greener products.
“Contributing to the sustainable information flow at the COP15 summit is a perfect fit for UPM. We are well-positioned with regards to EU’s ambitious target of having 20 percent of all energy derived from renewable sources by 2020. Today, 60 percent of UPM’s energy consumption is produced using renewable fuels, and about 70 percent of the Group’s own electricity production is CO2 emission free,” says Philippe Riebel, Vice President, Environmental Affairs.

Office Depot win an Edie

Office Depot has won a ‘EDIE’ award for Environmental Excellence 2009.

Office Depot faced competition from Cadbury, Enact Energy Management and Vital Earth, to triumph in this category and was presented with the award for the ‘best green retail initiative’, for its new ‘Greener Office Guide’ which educates clients and staff about ways to cut the environmental impact of activities up and down the office supply chain.

EDIE (Environmental Data Interactive Exchange) is an online resource for environmental professionals, researchers and all those with an interest in green issues, bringing together practical information and in-depth news. The EDIE awards laud environmental excellence and celebrate the year’s most successful green innovators and environmental breakthroughs, recognising top consultants in their field and highlighting environmental projects that are setting the standard for sustainability.

Ricoh develop the worlds first Biomass Toner

Sustainability is crucial to society’s survival. Ricoh believes that a company must take responsibility for all the materials used in its products. Ricoh does this while focusing on two points: minimizing the amount of resources extracted from the natural world, and finding alternatives to resources at risk of depletion. Toward this end, Ricoh is actively converting the materials it uses from non-renewable petroleum resources to reproducible biomass as well as recycling its products. Biomass plastic has already being used in some Ricoh products.

In a recent highlight, Ricoh developed the world’s first^(*) biomass toner as a genuine manufacturer’s supply item, and released machines that utilize this toner in the Japanese market. About 80% of conventional toner is petroleum-based resin. Our new “for E toner” however, has a biomass content of 25% of the entire mass including the resin.

The “for E toner” will help reduce environmental impact in the following two ways:

1)	Suppressing CO2 emissions from burning the toner printed on used paper. (Including toner elements separated from the paper in the paper recycling process.)
2)	Reducing the use of depletable petroleum resources

Ricoh got an early start in using biomass toner in actual products. We will continue accumulating technologies and know-how on the biomass toner, with the goal of preserving the environment.

Kyocera Radio Campaign wins Green Award

Kyocera won a prestigious Green Award for ‘Best Radio Campaign’ last night this week.

The Green Awards were set up to recognise and reward creative work that communicates the importance of Corporate Social Responsibility, sustainable development and ethical best practice in any sector and across any marketing discipline.

The awards have become an established event on the global eco-calendar highlighting the best examples of green marketing and sustainability communications that have made a real difference in the fight against global warming.

Kyocera won the award for their ‘Every Page Counts’ campaign that has been running on Reading 107FM.

The judges commented that “Kyocera’s radio campaign had a good use of humour to engage listeners to change their habits.”

They also said “It is a brave move for a commercial company to market on a green message.”

For more information on the Green Awards, please visit www.greenawards.co.uk

10:10 Have you signed up?

Office Supplies News is pleased to have signed up for 10:10.

10:10 is an ambitious project to unite every sector of British society behind one simple idea: that by working together we can achieve a 10% cut in the UK’s carbon emissions in 2010.

Cutting 10% in one year is a bold target, but for most of us it’s an achievable one, and is in line with what scientists say we need over the next 18 months. We now know for certain that unless we act quickly to reduce our use of dirty fossil fuels, humanity will face terrible problems in the years to come. Politicians have so far failed to do what needs to be done, so it’s time for ordinary people to step in and show that we’re ready to defend our children’s futures. It’s now or never for the climate.

By signing up to a 10% target we’re not just supporting 10:10 – we’re making it happen. In our homes, in our workplaces, our schools and our hospitals, our galleries and football clubs and universities, we’ll be backing each other up as we take the first steps on the road to becoming a zero-carbon society. It’s easy to feel powerless in the face of a huge problem like climate change, but by uniting everyone behind immediate, effective and achievable action, 10:10 enables all of us to make a meaningful difference.

10:10 is the perfect opportunity to discover what’s possible when we work together. Let’s get started.