CarbonCo is aiming to double the number of Carbon Balanced printers in the UK during 2022. This would follow a record breaking year in 2021 when the business planned to add 30 printers to reach its half century. In the event delays meant that by 31 December there were 49 Carbon Balanced printers. “We estimate we will sign up a further 50 this year,” says sales director Greg Selfe. “That means we will have 100 Carbon Balanced printers. And with the companies going through at the moment, we are on course.”
The recruits in 2021 included larger companies for the first time. Selfe points to Go Inspire, Linney, McGowans, Potts and BCQ among the companies achieving carbon balanced status. “We are now attracting more larger printers than we have done before. Recruiting names like Go Inspire and Linney’s has a multiplier effect,” he says.
“They are outsourcing some of their jobs to smaller printers which then has a knock on effect, while other larger printers are taking this more seriously. We’re also seeing a lot of brands setting out procurement policies that involve asking suppliers for their carbon report and carbon reduction policy.”
As companies expand their Scope 3 commitments in terms of reducing the carbon emissions in their supply chain, printers will receive increasing requests for this information and it will become a differentiating factor in winning work.
Selfe says: “The pressure for change is coming from the industry’s customers. At the same time there are a lot of printers being proactive and who are doing the work before this becomes an issue. When you are a company where one or two customers make up the bulk of your turnover, it only takes a conversation with another supplier that has done this work. It becomes a huge risk.”
And once carbon balanced status is achieved, the next steps are action to reduce the carbon impact of production, distribution and procurement. This involves paper with an increasing range of papers that have been carbon balanced at source. CarbonCo last year received registrations for 60,000 tonnes of paper and board, twice the volume in 2020. This is helped by an increasing range of papers with certification: Revive and Ultra Fine Offset from Denmaur and the Creative range from Antalis.
The offsetting element is achieved through support of World Land Trust projects. The growing popularity of carbon balancing print and papers is being met by an increase in the number of projects supported, expanding from forest in Vietnam to include restoration projects in Mexico, Guatemala and Ecuador.
