Walstead is starting to use the ClimateCalc online carbon measurement tool to calculate its carbon emissions and to provide customers with an accurate figure for the emissions that their products generate.
“At Walstead, we want to understand our contribution to the current global environmental problem and what we can do to lessen our impact on the environment,” says Paul Sorosina, group HSEQ manager for Walstead’s UK businesses.
This covers operations in Bicester, Peterborough and Roche. The calculator goes beyond the carbon created during production into the carbon for specific paper grades and created in distribution.
The ClimateCalc tool was selected because as an application created for the industry and promoted under the auspices of the BPIF, the areas to be measured are already in place. Following an initial audit by the BPIF to create a baseline, Sorosina explains: “The audit looks at all our inputted data per site such as electricity and gas consumption, LPG consumption, waste paper figures and paper delivery figures. It then confirms that the data we have put into the calculator is correct and gives us an accurate CO2 figure.
“We broke down the total paper into grades and then applied individual paper profiles that we obtained from the relevant mill. We also input accurate delivery mileages from the paper mill to the Walstead facility. To date, we think are one of only two UK printers to go to this level of detail, which will give us a far more accurate CO2 figure than printers using worst-case scenario data.”
The web offset printer intends to use the data to run scenarios to help customers plan alternatives to existing production methods in order to cut impacts. This will included different paper types, perhaps lower grammages to reduce the carbon impact of distribution, or to opt for a paper with a lower carbon footprint in production.
There is increasing evidence that consumers take into account the sustainability of products when choosing which products to buy and that brands want to align their strategies to those of their clients.
