Introducing PrintGreen

A new initiative is being launched in the UK that aims to demonstrate the sustainability of print to brands, agencies and media planners, as well as the many other people in advertising, marketing and publishing who have an influence on choice of media channel.

PrintGreen is a collaboration between Two Sides, the BPIF, DMA, IPIA, MarketReach and the Strategic Mailing Partnership. Underpinned by the facts about paper from Two Sides, the initiative will provide a free industry carbon calculator for organisations to assess the headline carbon impacts of a wide range of printed formats.

“The initiative will focus on the carbon impacts of print media,” explains Jonathan Tame, Managing Director of Two Sides. “It’s not a comparison of printers or papers. It will give a headline view of the carbon impact of a printed item, as well as plenty of facts and figures about the sustainability of paper and the advantages of using it as part of a multi-channel campaign.”

Informed Decisions

Many of the facts that underpin the need for PrintGreen come from Two Sides research into misinformation, greenwashing and a lack of understanding about the environmental impact of print. Such misleading information threatens the loss of £22.4m of value to the UK’s print, paper and mailing industry (€337m for Europe).

With a mission to “Leverage the collective power of our sector to change perceptions about sustainability and better inform brands and agencies about the impact of print,” PrintGreen aims to empower those brands and agencies to make informed decisions about the environmental impact of print.

“Defining the sustainability of print will provide brands, agencies, printers and the wider industry with advice and choice on managing and reducing the impact of their physical communications,” said Justin Cairns, Head of Offline Production at Ogilvy UK.