Our corporate environmental responsibilities are covered by our certified chain-of-custody FSC-certification, and the many other initiatives that we currently employ. Imaging Excellence is proud to have been an early adopter of environmentally responsible processes and practices, including our certification from Forest Stewardship Council (FSC), which is an international non-profit organization that supports environmentally appropriate, socially beneficial and economically viable management of the world’s forests.

Chain of custody

When we purchase paper that is FSC-certified, we have a trail of where the tree was grown, the pulp used in the process of making the paper, where the paper from the mill was sold, the paper merchant who sold the paper to us, and finally the sale to the end user. The end user can be confident of the paper used because of the FSC logo with our certification number on the finished piece. To ensure that we remain compliant, Smart Wood (an independent non-profit governing body) randomly audits our procedures related to the chain of custody and how we handle the FSC paper. This is done to consistently ensure that the chain of custody is clear and traceable, with the objective being to ensure that the forests harvested are done ethically and that forest sustainability is assured. The procedures for this at our facility are quite simple: we place the order with a merchant that sells FSC-certified stock; they will have a registration number (as do we) that will identify them as an environmentally ethical paper merchant; after the stock is purchased we isolate it from non-FSC stock and our procedures to identify the paper as FSC swing into place. This is done all the way through the process and records are kept to ensure the chain remains unbroken.

Paper Recycling

Like most printers, we recycle all of our waste and off-cut stock. We employ a paper compactor, thereby decreasing the amount of trucking needed to remove the waste stock, thus reducing our carbon footprint. When the compacted container is full, the paper is trucked away to a recycling facility.

Waste Inks

All inks contain some level of toxins. Our system (unlike other systems such as waterless printing) enable us to use a very thin film of ink thereby cutting down on the amount of ink that goes into the environment. Using an alcohol substitute, we have eliminated the VOC’s that were normally associated with conventional printing. All of our used ink cans are collected and returned to the manufacturer for recycling; the waste ink is collected and sent to a recycling facility.

Solvents

Every printer uses solvents to some degree, but at Imaging Excellence we recycle all of our solvents. We are one of the few printing companies that has purchased a recycling machine to re-use these solvents. This has elimated our need to truck used solvents. Currently the only solvents that leave our building is the solvent residue that is trapped within the rags that are used on the press.

Printer Rags

Like every printer, we use ‘printer rags’ for many uses. These are collected weekly and sent to a cleaning facility and returned to us for further use. The company that cleans the rags is certified by the Ministry of the Environment. Here again, at that facility there are environmentally ethical procedures in place to prevent solvents or toxins leaching into the environment.

Plates

All of the printing plates are collected by a recycler.

Water & Air

Quite simply, no solvents or inks go down our drains. As with all companies manufacturing in Toronto, we are required to comply with the P2 waste water bylaw. What this means is that a list has been generated detailing every chemical used in our plant, whether for printing or not. All of the substance materials are documented so that all known toxins are identified. We have passed all P2 requirements and our discharge sewer has been randomly tested to ensure that no affluent has been discharged. The same information has been submitted to Environment Canada and we are well below all necessary thresholds. Lastly, we are in line to beta-test a fountain solution recycler; this would effectively double the life of the fountain solution that we use, with less waste being trucked off site for recycling or disposal.

HWIN

We are required to report all of our disposed chemicals to the Ministry of the Environment and are audited on a regular basis by an independent consultant to ensure that we not only comply with all current regulations, but exceed them.

Office

Our office uses recycled papers and all our employees are encouraged to re-use and recycle whenever possible. Even the coffee in our office reflects our beliefs…fair trade coffee from Starbucks. If you have questions or comments, please do not hesitate to contact our Plant Manager, Alan Dryburgh, at 416-599-2695 or by e-mail adryburgh@imagingexcellence.com.