What's green at ICIS Americas: Just how green is your magazine?

05 February 2007 00:00  [Source: ICB Americas]

ICIS Chemical Business Americas makes strenuous efforts to cut its carbon footprint and environmental impact

MATERIALS AND TRANSPORT

WE COULD hardly write a whole issue about the chemical industry and the environment without looking at our own green credentials. The production of an international magazine inevitably leaves its own footprint on the environment, but it is one that ICIS Chemical Business Americas seeks to minimize in a responsible and sustainable way.

A magazine consists of more than just paper and ink. Getting ICIS Chemical Business Americas to your offices requires a printer and a supply chain. To produce the words on the page requires travel by the journalists - both into the ICIS Chemical Business Americas office and to see industry personnel and attend conferences. It also requires a production process, which involves some more paper in the office, although these days it is almost wholly electronic.

For this issue, we took our environmental concerns seriously. As many as possible of the many interviews needed to put the articles together were conducted by telephone. And ICIS Chemical Business Americas' production editor Fred Seelig went green for a week. Find out how he got along in our regular Endpoint section on page 66.

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However, we do have to own up to the fact that Matt Kovac, sister title ICIS Chemical Business's chief Asian correspondent, flew from Singapore to China to meet environmentalists and companies in Beijing and Shanghai.

ICIS Chemical Business Americas is published by Reed Business Information, part of the global Reed Elsevier company, which has its own corporate policy on the environment and sustainability. It has put in place a socially responsible supplier group, through which its holds suppliers, including prepress, printers, paper manufacturers, data ­converters, media providers and freight forwarders, to the same standards of conduct it sets for itself.

This includes adherence to all applicable laws and embodiment and promotion of best practice in business operations, as well as treatment of employees and respect for the environment, as embodied in the 10 principles of the United Nations' Global Compact, to which Reed Elsevier is a signatory.

"A magazine consists of more than just paper andd inks it involves a production process"

 If you have any suggestions as to how we can improve our recycling or sustainability practices, let us know. Equally, if you feel some of your own company initiatives could be applicable to ICIS Chemical Business Americas, let us know by emailing joseph.chang@icis.com

Paper

All the paper used by ICIS Chemical Business Americas, and by Reed Elsevier as a whole, comes from sustainably managed forests, in which the trees used to make pulp and ultimately paper are replenished. All waste paper produced during printing is recycled by the printer after collection and onward delivery to a specialist company.

Distribution

ICIS Chemical Business Americas reaches you either through the US Postal Service if you are based in the US, or via air freight from the US by Spring, a joint venture between TNT, Royal Mail and Singapore Post. In the UK, for instance, the magazine is then delivered by Royal Mail. The US Postal Service understands that ensuring the sustainability of the planet involves using resources wisely and has implemented a number of programs that reduce, reuse, recycle, and rethink the use of resources that impact the environment. Since 1985 it has used alternative-fuel vehicles and solar power, among other programs, to reduce use of the Earth's nonrenewable resources (air and energy) by more than 20%. It also has many programs that reuse materials and equipment to save resources, including reusing tires, motor oil, plastic containers, computer printer cartridges, batteries, and mail sacks. It buys more than $200m worth of recycled products every year and has pioneered the use of "green" buildings, such as the New River Station in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., which features recycled glass, efficient windows, native plantings, and low water usage.

Print

ICIS Chemical Business Americas' printer, Cadmus Specialty Publications in Pennsylvania, is certified each year by Reed Elsevier for compliance with its supplier code of conduct and meeting best practices on VOC emissions and waste recycling, for instance. Inks are delivered in large vats and pumped to the presses. These vats are then returned to the ink company for recycling and proper handling when empty. All the printing presses have appropriate filters and stackers, compliant with both federal and state regulations, and all chemicals used in any process are handled and disposed of or recycled appropriately with regards to regulations. The magazine uses the latest printing technology, sending electronic files of each page from the magazine office to a prepress house (JJays in the UK) and then to Cadmus without using couriers. Page proofs are electronically returned to the magazine offices for checking and the final page image is digitally transferred directly to the printing plate, eliminating the polyester film that is traditionally used as an intermediate step.

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