LEICESTER – (September 02, 2008) GI Direct, a leading integrated direct marketing and multi-channel customer communications provider, have refreshed their annual survey to reveal that environmental accreditations within the print industry had, on the whole, significantly increased in the last twelve months. 41% of the top 200 UK printers now have ISO14001 accreditation, compared to 24% last year.

The report also found that subscription to the Forest Stewardship Council standard is also on the up from 14% last year to 26%.

However, little progress has been made with regard to firms becoming independently accredited as Carbon Neutral. Still fewer than 5% of companies claim carbon neutral status – no change since the first time the research was carried out.

Patrick Headley, Sales Director, GI Direct, comments: "The results contrast favourably to last year when it was found that too little effort was being made by the British print industry on environmental accreditations. There has evidently been a much greater effort by the print industry in the last twelve months to obtain a level of accreditation that clearly demonstrates, through credible and independent audit, the true environmental compliance of the sector. However, this does not mean the industry can relax. Many firms remain with little or no accreditations and the constant criticisms thrown against the industry's environmental impact mean that this must change.

"If the print industry in the UK were to become a majority accredited industry, then it would avoid being an easy target for lobbyists and would stand a far greater chance of being accurately represented in the environmental debate. Despite the significant progress made over the last year, the industry needs to initiate even more effective encouragement and education of printing firms in the advantages of accreditation, both for companies individually and for the industry as a whole.

"Once further progress has been achieved on accreditation levels, there would then be a strong case for lobbying government to introduce tax incentives for low carbon asset investment, or alternatively "low carbon print", just as there is in the automotive sector."