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Portland Color was the winner of the 2010 WhatTheyThink Environmental Innovation Award for Sustainability and Your Processes, which recognized a company that is implementing environmentally sensitive processes incorporating inks, papers, consumables, waste management, or recycling in new and different ways. Paul Glynn, V.P. of Operations for Portland Color, tells about his company's award-winning innovations:
Our first program has been to increase our recycled materials by expanding from cardboard only (2006) to all plastics and creating a space to separate and hold for pickup all the segregated materials. At the same time we actively searched out partners to find new ways to repurpose the leftover materials from our process. Also, researching more products that contained recycled materials and were also recyclable after use is a top priority. Our goal is to operate the company in the most sustainable manner we can. Initiated by Andrew Graham (Owner/President) in 2007, the goal was developed into a program and a committee was created from the management and employees who oversee the Sustainability Management System. We had moved into the 14 Industrial Way space from a downtown location in September 2005 and had the ability to set up the floor plan from scratch so we had invested in new efficient lighting, T-8 and T-5 fluorescent fixtures, and a humidification system. As we were evolving as a company so too was our approach to the sustainability of the products we produced and their affect on the environment. In 2007, we joined the State initiative set up by the Governor of Maine titled the Governor’s Carbon Challenge, where we submit our carbon outputs each year and seek to reduce or eliminate them. We also enlisted in the Maine Step Up Program and had an EHS audit done. With the results from these audits we hired a consultant and created the EHSMS that is in place today. Andrew Graham, Paul Glynn, Steve Kinney (Sales & Marketing), Matt Cote (Finishing Department) and Brian Cronin (Fabric Department) make up the committee that brings the ideas from both the employees and our clients into a working plan towards running our company in a sustainable manner with respect for the employees, clients and the environment. Using the Design for the Environment approach to all jobs we frequently go beyond compliance standards. In the plant we have added ventilation and HVAC (Energy Star units) in all the warehouse areas as well as over the printers, ventilation is always at a greater rate than the basic requirements. We had the lighting laid out by a lighting engineer to give optimum illumination of the work areas. Energy, Safety and Hazardous waste audits have been by voluntary invitation and results were used to strengthen our program. We invited Safety Works of Maine and the Maine D.E.P to come in and audit the company. A safe comfortable work environment has been a standard here at Portland Color and we have not invested in Solvent Banner equipment due to the VOC’s emitted during production. When the technology has shown the promise of a more sustainable process we have invested in that technology, like Latex Printing from HP, (we were one of the first adapters) and Large Format UV printing that have no VOC’s and we work closely with manufacturers to get the best out of their technology.Benefits to Portland Color Paul continues with a description of the benefits of these programs to Portland Color:
Our Program of reducing waste and increase recycling through our waste management is addressing the need to greatly reduce the volume of solid waste going to the landfills and incinerators. Another part of the Program goal is also to use products with recycled content and that are also recyclable after use. This includes materials that are manufactured using certified sustainable methods. A third part of the program is to create solutions that will use appreciatively less materials and ultimately reduce transportation needs by requiring less weight and volume to ship. This is very well illustrated by our Retail Fixtures that have a magnetic face and the print easily attached on location allowing for a quick graphics change out with no new substrate or base. The shipping costs are dramatically reduced for the graphic change out as the are shipped in tubes. We started this Program by recycling cardboard and then partnering with a local recycling organization to set up sorting all our waste into the various plastic types as well as the cardboard and paper. Simultaneously we had contacted companies in the region that might be able to have a new life for the cut off pieces of substrate and fabric. To this end we partnered with Ruth’s Reusable Resources and the local University Theatre program and they pick up all our scrap board and fabric and re use it in the statewide school system for crafts materials for educators. In 2007 we started documenting all our efforts and in 2008 started work on SGP Certification. By Feb 2009 we became the seventh company to receive Certification. To achieve this we had to create a Normalization spreadsheet where we mapped out the incoming volume of material against the outgoing volume and created a baseline 12 month period to which we could compare following years against. In period from October 2008 - September 2009 our recycling /repurposing efforts expanded and our solid waste picked up was reduced to 23.5%, from 32% the period before, therefore greatly reducing the cost for that service. Since 2007, when we started this program we have recycled 47.54 tonnes of material. The number of trash pick-ups dropped to twice/month from two cans per week. A silver recovery system, in place for many years, reclaims the silver from our Photographic Process and all waste inks are transport legally away using a licensed hauler with the proper paperwork. Not using Solvent Inks in our Banner printing has allowed us to have a very comfortable work environment.About Portland Color Portland Color is a grand format printing company with roots in the photolab industry. The company specializes in graphics for retail environments, and has a strong reputation for print quality. Portland Color is:
- Quality obsessed, detail driven and customer centered
- Staffed by exceptional people
- A pioneer in wide-format fabric printing
- Committed to the principles of sustainability
