Last month, in one of his weekly videos, Warren Werbitt bemoaned the paper-centric chain of custody certification programs for the printing industry, and suggested that the industry should come up with its own accreditation. (He revisits the topic in today’s video.) As it happens, the industry has had its own sustainability certification program. Launched in 2008, the Sustainable Green Printing Partnership Program (SGP) is a third-party certification program that focuses not on the specific products that a plant produces, but on how sustainable the facility’s processes are across the board. More than just environmental sustainability, the SGP accreditation program focuses on three “pillars” of sustainability: environmental, yes, but also societal and economic. Since the launch of the program, more than 50 printing plants across North America have been SGP-certified.

The organization has been active lately in getting out the word about sustainability in general, and its program in particular, and in 2020 is going to be ramping up its outreach and educational activities—as well as rolling out a new certification.

Complementing the flagship SGP Printer certification, the new SGP Supplier certification is designed for—you guessed it—suppliers. SGP Supplier has its antecedent in a previous certification program developed by TLMI, the association for tag and label manufacturers.