Green Printing Instead of Greenwashing

Climate protection affects us all! The Eversfrank Group is also doing its part. In the following, we clarify what sustainable responsibility really means and that this is more than just polishing up one’s own image with green thoughts.

In this context, you may have heard of the term “greenwashing”, but what is actually hidden behind it? At first you might think that it is perhaps about a method of washing sustainably. But this is exactly where we come up against the real problem that greenwashing stands for. The aim: to mislead the consumer!

Companies that engage in greenwashing try to present themselves as more sustainable and environmentally conscious than they actually are. They try to deceive the consumer in order to make a profit.

Greenwashing can take place in many different ways. An example of this would be a company using a particularly environmentally friendly product as a flagship for the entire company in order to relativize the other 95% of its products that are harmful to the environment. Often, even large marketing campaigns are launched for this purpose in order to deliberately mislead the consumer.

Another very simple and popular example is the adaptation of the company colours or logo. It is not uncommon for companies to use the colour green or symbols of nature to suggest to their customers that their businesses are nature-friendly.

You are probably now asking yourself: “Which statements can I trust at all now and how can I tell what is really sustainable?”

Don’t worry, not all companies use such practices and if they do, they are usually easier to debunk than you think.

We at the Eversfrank Group have always pursued the goal of providing our customers with the highest quality print products in the most resource-efficient and environmentally friendly way possible. That is why, as a standard, we run our production 100% on green electricity from hydropower and 100% climate-neutral natural gas. We also supply our buildings and machines with our own waste heat. The nearby swimming pool, not far from our Meldorf site, is also already supplied with our waste heat. As we continue to look for ways to further expand our environmental thinking, we are already planning a local thermal energy storage in which we can temporarily store excess heat energy, especially in summer, in order to then supply the nearby buildings (schools, swimming pool, etc.) with heat in winter. The amount of CO₂ saved in this way will be 85%.

As early as 1998, we committed ourselves to having our environmental activities audited by EMAS (Eco-Management/Audit Scheme). Since then, our environmental management system has been controlled by an independent auditing institute and all environmentally relevant information is published in our annual environmental statement.

Our customers can also show their sense of responsibility for the environment with us. This begins with the choice of printing material. By choosing FSC or PEFC certified papers, you ensure that the wood required for paper production comes from socially and ecologically sustainable cultivation. As a printing company certified with the “Blue Angel”, we also offer our customers the possibility to label their products with this certificate. In addition, we offer certification of printed products with the EU Ecolabel and, for Scandinavian countries, the Nordic Swan. These certifications ensure that the products bearing them have been manufactured in a particularly resource-friendly manner. The papers used have a particularly high proportion of recovered paper and are largely recyclable. Other materials used in production are also mainly recyclable and are optimally utilised by optimising production processes. As a result, the amount of waste produced can also be significantly reduced.

We also offer you the opportunity to compensate for the CO₂ emissions generated during printing through our partners First Climate, Climate Partner and, above all, our own project Evers ReForest. Through the initial reforestation of regional forests, Evers ReForest enables us to neutralise up to 100% of the CO₂ emissions generated.

Now it’s up to you – are you blinded by greenwashing or do you rather take the path of green printing with the Eversfrank Group?

Our environmental commitment summarised:

• Environmental management – EMAS
• Energy management – 100% green energy, ISO 50001
• Paper certifications – FSC, PEFC
• Product certifications – Blue Angel, EU Ecolabel, Nordic Swan
• Climate neutrality – Evers ReForest, Climate Partner, First Climate
• Memberships and Initiatives – “Klimaschutz-Unternehmen”, Healthy Printing

Thore Hinz