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Canopy Report Ranks Printer Sustainability

During last week’s Sustainable Brands conference in San Diego, Canopy of Vancouver, BC, released its The Blueline Report 2015 with the subhead North American Printers: Sustainability, Transparency, Paper Sourcing & Forest Conservation.

The non-profit organization, which focuses on the paper supply chain, also describes The Blueline Report 2015 as “A Business Consumer Guide & Ranking.” Canopy explains the resource was developed to help guide corporate print customers to the printer that best reflects their brand image and sustainability aspirations.  

In addition to the consumer guide, the Blueline Report also describes how the enviromental progress of the print sector is evolving, in terms of “who leads, who needs to be encouraged and why it matters to brand image and the endangered forests of the world.”

In producing the report, Canopy found the gap is widening between top performing printers and those companies thar are slow to adapt more sustainable printing practices.

Canopy states 25 percent of the top 30 North American printers have now developed endangered forest commitments and are implementing them to stimulate the development of new eco-papers and help drive conservation in forest hotspots such as the Great Bear Rainforest. Leaders amongst the top performing printers identified in the report include TC Transcontinental and EarthColor.

“In six years of working concertedly with the North American print sector we’ve seen a huge change in the environmental practices of these gatekeepers to paper products,” said Nicole Rycroft, founder and Executive Director of Canopy. “However, we’re also noticing the gap is widening between the top performers and those slow to move. Brands need to know where their printers land on the continuum of environmental performance and how to move them up the ladder of responsible practices. This report does that.”

Rankings in the analysis are also available in an online tool that will reflect progress and improvements in printers’ standards and practices. Canopy is inviting printers to update their profiles and rankings until September 30, 2015.

“If the medium is the message, then every business with a corporate sustainability policy needs their printed materials to reflect and uphold the values of their company,” said Rycroft. “By avoiding controversial forest fiber in printed products, businesses reduce reputational risk, advance sustainability objectives and help threatened forest ecosystems.”

Canopy explains, in the absence of detailed, public reporting, an accurate assessment of sustainability is next to impossible. The Blueline Report, however, outlines Canopy’s metrics of reporting in the print sector.

View The Blueline Report 2015