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paper and printing
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- Paper and printing (Raw Materials)
- Maintain the downward trend on centrally produced paper volumes and deliver a further reduction of 5%. TARGET ACHIEVED
- Continue to tackle the number of printed copies of electronic messages. TARGET NOT ACHIEVED
- Increase the proportion of totally chlorine-free and recycled paper purchased by 5%. ACCEPTABLE PROGRESS
- Working with The Natural Step, convene an expert round table on printing and ecology, with the aim of achieving
consensus on indicators for best practice. If successful, initiate audit of bank's printing commissions and report
progress in next Partnership Report. ACCEPTABLE PROGRESS
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performance
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commentary
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Background Global paper demand - the single largest use of
wood fibre - has increased five-fold since the 1950s, and is
expected to double again over the next 50 years i. In order to
relieve pressure on the environment (and reduce the amount of
paper waste going to landfill), the bank aims to use increasing
amounts of recycled and totally chlorine-free paper. Printing is
the UK's sixth largest manufacturing industry, but has the
lowest take up of environmental policies of any major business
sector.ii
Paper volume Paper purchased per customer account has
increased by 3.6% compared with 2000. However, compared
with 1997, paper purchased per customer account has fallen
by 52%. The majority of the increase in 2001 was due to
marketing literature, which increased by 97.7 tonnes (15.2%)
compared with 2000. The bank also saw increases in the
volume of bank statements, letterheads and copier paper,
which increased by 5.2%, 10.6% and 37.6% respectively,
compared with 2000. During 2001, the volume of cheque
paper purchased fell by 9% and external mail fell by 4,431,121
items (9.2%). For the ninth year running, print volumes
generated centrally by the bank have fallen. The target to
reduce the number of printed copies of electronic messages
was not achieved.
Paper type The proportion of totally chlorine-free paper
increased by 1.7%. The proportion of recycled paper
increased by 1.4%. However, the proportion of 100% postconsumer
waste recycled paper fell by 4.6%. Of the total
paper purchased by the bank in 2001, 14% was elemental
chlorine-free and virgin fibres. Approximately half of this relates
to cheque and credit books that are governed by industry
standards. Working with the bank's main cheque paper
supplier and their paper merchant, the bank is seeking to
introduce a proportion of recycled paper; trials are currently
underway.
In December 2001, the bank's standard cheque book and
credit book covers began to change to Cyclus board, which is
100% post consumer waste and totally chlorine-free. The
bank's website explains the rationale for the bank's definition of
ecologically-sound paper iii. Ecologically-sound papers
identified by the bank include, Cyclus print, Steinbeis Silk,
Sylvan Matt, Revive Matt/Gloss and Greencoat plus
Gloss/Velvet (coated papers) and Cyclus Offset, Evolve
Office/Business, Corona Offset, Repeat Offset, Metaphor and
Context FSC (uncoated papers).
Printing Just over 92% (1,563 tonnes) of all printed material
was commissioned from outside organisations (2000: 1,468
tonnes), the vast majority of which is lithographic printing.
In July 2001, the bank hosted a Bulk Printing Seminar in
conjunction with The Natural Step and the Environment
Agency to determine ecological best practice for printing. The
event was attended by a number of the bank's suppliers.
Following the seminar, a number of indicators for bulk printing
were drawn up by The Natural Step. The bank considers that
the proposed indicators need further refinement, being both
large in number and, arguably, not constituting indicators in the
truest sense of the word. The bank has, therefore, devised its
own list of practical yet challenging indicators, which it
considers to be both SMART (see page 18) and consistent
with The Natural Step. These are: OSPAR-free inks, vegetablebased
inks, and inks applied with waterless print. The bank
will, together with one of its suppliers, Horner Brothers, test
these indicators on a range of customer stationery and literature.
 By comparison, according to their 1999/00 Environmental
Report, at Credit Suisse Group paper consumption per
employee is 321 kg (cf. 426 kg at The Co-operative Bank). No
mention is made by Credit Suisse Group of chlorine bleaching
or printing.
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- Forests For Life, 2001. WWF
- Green Futures. January/February 2002.
- www.co-operativebank.co.uk/1997/97_suppliers_ecological.html
To follow any of the links mentioned within the Partnership Report 2001, please visit the links page.
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ethical and ecological value analysis
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- Since 1997, paper usage has reduced by 903 tonnes, leading to an annual saving of – £3,447,000
- Additional annual cost associated with utilisation of preferred ecologically-sound paper – £70,000
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new target
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- Switch paying-in book covers to totally chlorine-free and 100% post consumer waste.
Adrian Smithies, Manager, Business Operations
- Test the proposed printing indicators on a range of customer stationery and literature.
Chris Mottershaw, Purchasing Manager/Becky Toal, Ecological Analyst
- Begin to address the number of printed copies of electronic messages.
Liz Thompson, Ecological Analyst
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