Loveland, Ohio– The Sustainable Green Printing Partnership announces the opening of a public comment period for the Binding, Finishing and Loose Leaf (BFLL) Certification Criteria document. This document will provide a mechanism to integrate SGP's new BFLL and its existing Printer criteria into a single certification document for operations in the United States and Canada. The comment period opens today and will close on June 19, 2010.

"Certification criteria for BFLL is a clearly expressed need in the graphic communication industry, and it will allow more companies in our industry to become certified," notes Gary Jones, Vice Chair of the Technical Advisory Committee for SGP. "The Technical Advisory Committee included members of the Binding Industries Association and Foil and Specialty Effects Association; their expertise was instrumental in getting the criteria completed."

The Technical Advisory Committee opted to integrate the BFLL and the existing Printer criteria into a single certification-criteria document. This will allow printers with in-house BFLL operations to be certified without the expense of a second audit. Likewise, BFLL businesses that perform printing may receive certification for both operations with a single audit. SGP will provide a logo to all organizations that are certified under the criteria.

Currently, printing facilities located in the United States and Canada are eligible to apply for certification with the SGP Partnership. To become a certified SGP printer, a facility must demonstrate conformance with criteria that require a holistic approach to sustainability and must pass an onsite audit. Certified printers are assigned a certification number and logo for use on their printed products to indicate it was "Printed by a SGP Printer."