Canada’s highly-decorated west coast printing company, Hemlock Printers of Burnaby, B.C., has added to its trophy case as the first ever winner of the Heidelberg Eco Printing Award for the Most Sustainable Sheetfed Print Shop. In addition, the outfit has also announced its standing as the first printing company in Canada to gain carbon neutral status.
Heidelberg launched its worldwide Eco Awards program at drupa last year, and in total the contest attracted 52 entries. Hemlock’s top prize was presented to company founder Dick Kouwenhoven at the Print Media Academy in Heidelberg, Germany on Friday, March 20th. The award sculpture was accompanied with a cash prize of 30,000 Euro.
A second award, presented for the most innovative stand-alone Eco solution was awarded to Kazuhisa Yoshida, owner of Yoshida Printing in Japan, along with 20,000 Euro. Yoshida Printing’s “fresh print” concept allowed for smaller runs and faster makereadies, resulting in a positive environmental impact.
Along with the announcement of its first Eco Award recipients, Heidelberg also introduced the launch of a dedicated Eco area on its website serving as a resource for printers.
Hemlock’s carbon neutrality initiative was recenlty accomplished with the assistance of Offsetters, a Canadian-based carbon offset provider. Helmock established a greenhouse gas reduction (GHG) strategy and sourced offsets for emissions that could not be reduced. The printer has set a target of 33 percent reductions in absolute GHG emissions by the year 2020, meeting a target set by the BC Provincial Government.
“This is an accomplishment that everyone at Hemlock can take great pride in. Becoming the first carbon neutral printing company in Canada further solidifies our commitment to progressively promoting sustainable practices within our industry,” said Dick Kouwenhoven, president and CEO of Hemlock in a company release.
Hemlock is also introducing a program in July to assist its customers in reducing the carbon footprint of their print projects.
The photo above is Dick Kouwenhoven, CEO Hemlock Printers, with the HEI Eco Award.
photos courtesy Heidelberger Druckmaschinen AG
