The Sustainable Green Printing Partnership (SGP), the authority in sustainable printing certifications, recently announced that Shutterfly has joined the SGP community by certifying its first facility in Fort Mill, South Carolina. Shutterfly, the digital retailer and manufacturing platform for photography and personalized products, plans to continue to certify more of its print locations in the near future.
“As a leading manufacturer, we are deeply committed to responsible production in all of our facilities, focusing on reducing our overall footprint while helping make our customers’ life experiences unforgettable,” said Dwayne Black, Shutterfly senior vice president, and chief operations officer. “I’m extremely proud of our dedicated teams at Fort Mill who are leading the toward progress on our sustainability goals with SGP third-party certification.”
As the largest of Shutterfly’s manufacturing facilities, Fort Mill was the logical starting place for SGP certification. The company has consistent sustainability practices throughout its fleet and plans to secure further third-party certification with SGP in additional sites.
In addition to onsite environmental, safety, and health programs, Shutterfly also donates usable materials to non-profits, specifically focusing on local schools. Through the program, Shutterfly has contributed nearly 200 pallets of paper, envelopes, frames, and more to organizations like Kids in Need Foundation and Treasures for Teachers over the past year, redirecting these resources out of landfills. Additionally, Shutterfly has partnered with suppliers to participate in equipment take-back programs that reuse and recycle unique press waste like oil filters, ink canisters, and press components.
“We’re honored to receive this certification from SGP, which underscores our commitment to caring for and protecting the communities where we work and live,” said Kierstan Thomann, environmental health & safety manager. “Despite all the challenges of 2020, sustainability efforts continue to be integral to our value set as a company, and we look forward to expanding our certifications and visibility as a sustainable green printer.”
2023 promises an interesting ride for print in India
Indian Printer and Publisher founded in 1979 is the oldest B2B trade publication in the multi-platform and
multi-channel IPPGroup. While the print and packaging industries have been resilient in the past 33 months since the pandemic lockdown of 25 March 2020, the commercial printing and newspaper industries have yet to recover their pre-Covid trajectory.
The fragmented commercial printing industry faces substantial challenges as does the newspaper industry.
While digital short-run printing and the signage industry seem to be recovering a bit faster, ultimately
their growth will also be moderated by the progress of the overall economy. On the other hand book
printing exports are doing well but they too face several supply-chain and logistics challenges.
The price of publication papers including newsprint has been high in the past year while availability is diminished by several mills shutting down their publication paper and newsprint machines in the past four years. Indian paper mills are also exporting many types of paper and have raised prices for Indian printers. To some extent, this has helped in the recovery of the digital printing industry with its on-demand short-run and low-wastage paradigm.
Ultimately digital print and other digital channels will help print grow in a country where we are still far behind in our paper and print consumption and where digital is a leapfrog technology that will only increase the demand for print in the foreseeable future. For instance, there is no alternative to a rise in textbook consumption but this segment will only reach normality in the next financial year beginning on 1 April 2023.
Thus while the new normal is a moving target and many commercial printers look to diversification, we believe that our target audiences may shift and change. Like them, we will also have to adapt with agility to keep up with their business and technical information needs.
Our 2023 media kit is ready, and it is the right time to take stock and reconnect with your potential markets and customers. Print is the glue for the growth of liberal education, new industry, and an emerging economy. We seek your participation in what promises to be an interesting ride.
