How ENVI Can Help

Organisations are facing increasing pressure to be responsible, transparent and accountable for how they perform in regard to sustainable development. The Government and Stakeholders are starting to demand to know what organisations have done and what they plan to do.

Government sustainability demands come in the form of new statutory requirements like the National Greenhouse Energy Reporting (NGER) Act and emerging requirements like the Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme (CPRS). This means that companies are slowly needing to comply with more strict regulations with regards to the environmental impact of their operations.

As you would expect, a company’s print output plays a massive role in determining the amount of impact that they have on the environment.  Naturally, our clients are choosing to print on recycled stock when they can, but this isn’t always practical.

In our day to day trading, we have begun to notice some hesitance when it comes to choosing a recycled stock for use in an organisation’s marketing collateral.  Reasons we are being given are that the recycled stock is typically much more expensive than non-recycled, and the appearance or quality is generally lower. It is possible get the same finish as a non-recycled stock, but you really do pay a premium for this.  In recent years, a recycled appearance has been “trendy” and used quite effectively as a means to convey a “green” or humanitarian aspect to an organisation – but this is becoming less and less so, as the recycled look is becoming overused and is not always practical.

Introducing ENVI, the 100% carbon neutral stock. Wholly Australian made, the ENVI range is accredited “whole-of-life” carbon neutral by the Australian Government’s Department of Climate Change.  With such accreditation you would think that this stock would carry a price premium, but I am happy to inform you that it doesn’t. In fact, it is priced quite similarly to non-carbon-neutral commodity stock.

The stock also carries the following benefits:

Genuine Scope 3 reductions

Under ISO standards, paper is a Scope 3 (indirect) emission. Using ENVI carbon neutral paper allows your organisation to demonstrate what it’s doing to tackle climate change by including it in Scope 3 NGERS and CSR reporting.

Economic benefits

Reputation benefits

Many organisations now recognise the links between sustainability, reputation, and financial performance.

Your organisation can use the Greenhouse Friendly™ logo on any item printed on ENVI carbon neutral paper. This allows you to display your commitment to tackling climate change on items like annual reports, marketing collateral, business cards, company stationery and more. Imagine how this could influence the way stakeholders perceive your organisation.

What the experts have to say

“Concerns about social and environmental issues provide opportunities for brands to connect with their consumers at a deeper level and, in doing so, gain competitive advantage and sales advantage” (Patrick Cescau, CEO of Unilever).

“Companies whose brands rightly become synonymous with sustainability will be the ultimate winners. By committing to the sustainability agenda, customers will soon learn to trust your brand and realise that you’ll do the right thing by society and the environment on their behalf. That’s when you can offer customers something truly valuable and you’ll be rewarded through their loyalty” (Adrian Hosford, Director of Corporate Responsibility, BT).

Independent research

Ninety one percent of respondents believe action by organisations to minimise their environmental impact improves their reputation (Quantum Market Research, October 2008).

Social benefits

Stakeholders expect organisations to contribute to local economies.

Using ENVI carbon neutral paper supports Australian industry. Locally produced ENVI is made by Australian Paper which employs over 1,400 people nationwide.

Environmental benefits

By using ENVI carbon neutral paper, your organisation is making a genuine commitment to tackling climate change.

All direct and indirect carbon emissions associated with manufacturing ENVI are offset in accordance with the Australian Government’s Greenhouse Friendly™ program. So, by using ENVI carbon neutral paper, your organisation is contributing to a reduction in global warming.

On application, AstroPrint can provide you with a calculation of the CO2e tonnes neutralised by using ENVI carbon neutral paper. This will help your organisation quantify it’s committment to the environment.

So if you’re interested in an affordable alternative to recycled paper when you next print with AstroPrint, make sure you ask us to prepare a quote for you on the new ENVI stock. You can view the full range of grades on the ENVI website http://www.envi.com.au/ENVI-Grades.aspx

Have you tried the new Adobe CS4 suite of programs? I have, and I think they are fantastic.  Much of the workflow has been improved, there is greater cross-compatibility between the various programs, and there are plenty of nifty little tricks and built-in “wow” features that really simplify many of the complex functions from previous editions of the software: your clients will be truly amazed and will think you spent hours achieving various effects, when in reality you only needed to make a few mouse clicks. Shh! I won’t tell if you don’t!

As a long-time user of Adobe design software, it has always amazed me that while with each successive release of design software from Adobe there are so many improvements, there is the ever-present lack of backwards compatibility. In saying that, I mean that if you purchase and install CS4, you are able to open files from previous releases such as CS3, CS2 etc. But, users of these earlier versions of the software cannot open CS4 files.

But what about the ‘Indesign Interchange .INX’ file, you say?

Yes. There is some backwards compatibility provided through this. But, it is only useful to CS3 users and not any release prior to that. Not to mention the hassle of having to specifically export your files as .INX if you would like to allow a user of CS3 to open the file. In a small business with only some computers on CS4 and others on CS3 this can become a frustrating ordeal. Not to mention the difficulty it presents when you plan on collaborating with other agencies and/or freelancers who have not yet made the upgrade.

They (Adobe) say that it is because of extra features and file structure changes that this is the way things work. Earlier releases of the software just wouldn’t be able to handle it. I beg to differ.

Software programming can accomplish so many things, virtually anything that you can come up with. As they say, where there is a will, there is a way. So for there to be such limited backwards compatibility, and upward compatibility that is so readily available, one would be led to believe that there may be other reasons for this lack of support for earlier releases of the Adobe software. It seems as though Adobe is attempting to make life for users of CS3, Cs2, CS etc. as difficult as possible, to the point of them purchasing CS4 out of sheer frustration. Not good enough I say.

Most of you will know that Adobe software is not cheap. But the beauty about software is that it is a digital product. It will last virtually forever. Users should be able to comfortably and easily use their software for as long as they like, and not expect that they will be “phased out” within one or two years. This is expensive stuff and the last time I checked, Adobe is not running a subscription service to its software. It is an outright purchase and as a purchaser you should be able to continue using the software as long as you like.

But if new features are created, how can old software “read” these new features?

Software updates or patches would be the perfect solution. Something that allows the program to read or interpret the new features in the file, but perhaps without the editing ability that the new software has.  Think of Adobe Reader and how it can open files saved in Acrobat, but it does not allow editing of these files. Something similar to this might be plausible, where non-CS4 users can open CS4 files, but cannot edit any parameters of elements that are derived from a new feature in the new software.

I know it sounds like I am asking for a lot here, but really it is just the responsible thing to do. Other companies seem to be able to allow users from all versions of the software to collaborate freely, and for such an expensive product that is delivering to an industry that depends on collaboration, it is something that would only be fair.

Have your say. Tell me what you think about this story. Do you agree or disagree? Why?

Business Printing Services Online Printing

Written by Dario Paolini
Director – AstroPrint.com.au