Flint Group has received a silver status from Ecovadis for supplying sustainable products and services to the packaging and printing industries
Flint Group, including all business units within its Packaging and its Commercial Publication & Web divisions, has achieved silver status from EcoVadis, the world’s largest and most trusted provider of business sustainability ratings with a global network of over 85,000 rated companies.
The company was considered to be in the top 21% of companies rated by EcoVadis in the manufacture of paints, varnishes, and similar coatings, including printing inks. It was rated in the top 9% of companies in the sustainable procurement category and the top 7% for Ethics.
Steve Dryden, chief executive officer for Flint Group, said, “This is a tremendous achievement for our business around the world. It reflects the hard work and commitment our teams are making in driving toward our 2030 sustainability vision, recognizing our customers, employees, and shareholders as an ethical company, supplying sustainable products and services to the packaging and printing industries. This vision supports long-term value creation and growth for our customers, employees, and shareholders.”
EcoVadis helped Flint Group in adopting sustainable practices
Flint Group employs a diligent sustainability framework covering ecological, social, and governance aspects of the business’ activities and, in 2020, became a signatory to the United Nations Global Compact. This commitment aligns the company’s operations with the UN’s universal principles on human rights, labor, the environment, and anti-corruption, in addition to the 17 United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.
Doug Aldred, chief commercial officer for Flint Group, said, “EcoVadis provides the leading solution for monitoring sustainability in global supply chains. The business uses its innovative technology and sustainability expertise to support Flint Group in adopting sustainable practices, and we were delighted to secure silver status, a 10-point improvement over our 2020 score.”
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.
