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ROUND
TABLE
SUSTAINABILITY
DISCUSSION
It was appropriate that a number of leaders in the label
industry came together for a round table discussion on the
congress theme: sustainability. Congress moderator Alan
Stevens – a seasoned, expert interviewer and TV presenter
– sought the views of Paragon’s Tony Lennon; Isidore Leiser
of Stratus Packaging; Thomas Hagmaier, Hagmaier
Etiketten; Art Yerecic, Yerecic Label; Nigel Vinecombe,
Multi-Color Corporation; Kurt Walker, tesa Bandfix; and
Matthias Walter, GEWA Etiketten. Together, this team
represented a broad cross-section of the industry’s profile on
both sides of the Atlantic.
SUCCESS
STORIES
AND
CASE
HISTORIES
The discussion highlighted much forward movement in the
sustainability agenda. Isidore Leiser explained that Stratus
Packaging use no solvents today in either printing or
platemaking, and are certified members of the French print
industry’s Imprim’vert ‘green’ community, and to the Bilan
Carbone carbon footprinting initiative as well as to PEFC and
FSC.
Thomas Hagmaier’s belief that we are only ‘visitors on earth’
is borne out by the controlled waste collection and recycling
programme in his company, as he demonstrated. All ‘value
material’ waste is collected by a recycling company –
including matrix waste, from which two specialist companies
in Poland and Germany are able to make insulation material.
Yerecic Labels is a TLMI LIFE certified company; and Art
Yerecic says that this achievement has brought significant
business benefits: improved customer standing; improved
employee morale; and considerably reduced operating
costs. The opportunities to become more sustainable are
wide-ranging, and may be capital investment projects,
low-cost projects, or no-cost projects. Yerecic Labels have
improved their sustainability by using all these methods, as
Mr Yerecic showed.
Multi-Color Corporation, with a turnover of $650 million,
operates in every sphere of consumer products labels, and
enjoys the custom of many of the world’s leading brands – an
achievement which Nigel Vinecombe attributes to a regimen
of monthly reporting on sustainability in all its operations,
with performance on CO2 emissions (which the company
have reduced by 12% per annum in the last two years),
material waste disposal to landfill, and cost savings from
recycling ($100,000+ for larger sites) all part of the
equation.
47
FINAT YEARBOOK
2013
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