Washington –The U.S. Government Publishing Office’s (GPO) Plant Operations has been re-certified for meeting sustainable environmental standards by The Sustainable Green Printing Partnership (SGP), a non-profit organization.  This is the GPO’s third certification since 2012.  SGP- certified printers are held to rigorous standards and go through a months-long process where each aspect of their business is evaluated.  Certification shows the printer is achieving energy savings, waste reduction, emission reduction, and reduced resource consumption.

GPO’s Plant Operations has been carrying out modernization initiatives to make the agency more efficient and environmentally sustainable.  Some of those initiatives include: 

• Installation of new bindery equipment and a zero make-ready (ZMR) press to reduce waste paper and energy consumption 
• A pre-press waste chemical discharge treatment unit
• Improvements to reduce electrical consumption
• Continuing to recycle paper, aluminum, and metals

“I am proud of this achievement by our Plant Operations employees,” said GPO Director Davita Vance-Cooks.  “Along with an expansion of GPO’s digital capabilities, our modernization efforts in our Plant Operations area over the last five years are achieving benefits for the taxpayer and the environment in the work we do for Congress and Federal agencies.”

GPO is the Federal Government's official, digital, secure resource for producing, procuring, cataloging, indexing, authenticating, disseminating, and preserving the official information products of the U.S. Government. The GPO is responsible for the production and distribution of information products and services for all three branches of the Federal Government, including U.S. passports for the Department of State as well as the official publications of Congress, the White House, and other Federal agencies in digital and print formats. GPO provides for permanent public access to Federal Government information at no charge through www.govinfo.gov, partnerships with approximately 1,150 libraries nationwide participating in the Federal Depository Library Program, and our secure online bookstore. For more information, please visit www.gpo.gov.