Vancouver - When the biggest ship in the harbour sets sail, it creates a wake that rocks all other boats. RR Donnelley is the ocean liner of North American printers and the recent inclusion of its paper purchasing sustainability practices on their corporate website is likely to spread ripples throughout the entire printing sector and its supply chain. 

Environmental not-for-profit Canopy has been working with the printing sector for ten years.  RR Donnelley’s public unveiling of their sustainable purchasing principles provides further transparency into their historical and ongoing efforts to support customers’ initiatives to eliminate unwanted or contentious fibre from their supply chain.

Nicole Rycroft, Canopy’s Executive Director, noted “This latest development from RR Donnelley signals a course change for the entire North American printing sector and augers well for the future of our threatened forests.”

RR Donnelley is a leader in the print industry with sales revenue of 10.4 billion USD in 2013 and more than 300 printing facilities worldwide.  As an industry leader, the prominent placement of their purchasing principles on their website, which highlights their commitment to sustainable practices, may well herald a sea-change in the printing sector globally. As the print sector advances the implementation of forest conservation initiatives, such programs will significantly reduce pressure on the world’s remaining endangered forests and climate.

“Over the course of the last few years, significant momentum has been building within the print industry with companies such as TC Transcontinental and Standard Register integrating sustainable purchasing practices into their core business operations in collaboration with Canopy,” said Rycroft.

Canopy works to protect the world’s forests, species and climate by supporting publishers, printers, clothing brands and paper producers in adopting green practices. Given a printers' role in the supply chain, forest conservation-oriented purchasing procedures not only support their customers in meeting their own Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) goals, but also send a clear message to the forest industry that responsible practices and sustainable sourcing are increasingly a business imperative.

Canopy’s Green Print Leadership Report has become the ‘go-to’ resource for the organization’s 700+ business partners when seeking to identify a printer that will support their internal CSR objectives. Sprint, Time, Scholastic, Random House, Hearst and Harlequin are among the Canopy partners who receive the report. The 2014 Green Print Leadership Report survey is currently underway.  Industry leaders seeking to be profiled should contact Canopy.  The 2013 survey is available here.

“RR Donnelley’s support for customers who choose papers that are free of unwanted sources and the sharing of their paper purchasing sustainability principles is an exciting step in a constructive and ongoing collaboration,” said Neva Murtha, Canopy’s corporate campaigner who led the organization’s engagement with RR Donnelley. “We look forward to continuing to work with RR Donnelley and the print industry as they develop and implement their forest conservation efforts over the coming years.”