Australian Paper

Have a look at what you are reading right now. For our wrap issue, we spoke to David Blundell at RA Printing about printing the Sustainability Spotlight, and why managing sustainability isn’t just green business, but good business.

“For us, it’s about listening to the client, understanding their goal, and then using our skills to exceed those expectations,” says Blundell. “Printing on recycled stocks is no different to any other. We get to know the stock, recognise the paper’s characteristics and then decide on an angle of approach. After that it’s a calculated and measured process, minimising waste but ensuring we get the best result.” The philosophy that there is nothing more wasteful than a bad print job explains how Blundell has managed to print this project on so many different papers. “Did we treat them all the same?” he asks. “We treated them accordingly, and never had any problems getting results.”

“There is a lot of greenwashing around, but sustainability in the print industry is well documented,” says Blundell. “In the last 20 years we’ve made immense progress compared with other industries.”

As a business, he suggests “it’s about having benchmarks in place so we can measure sustainability.” Placed in the market as a leader in sustainable practice, RA Printing has gained FSC® Accreditation. “It means we have good clients, which has allowed us to invest in the best technology, and continue getting the best results.”

“Our products are rubbish” is Haul’s self-deprecating tagline for its range of upcycled goods. Made from tyres, vinyl billboard advertising and, most recently, offset printing ‘blankets’, Haul’s iPad pouches, Filofaxes and shoulder bags received GECA  certification in 2004. Despite the company’s credentials, Haul founder Scott Kilmartin says the company remains design-driven. “We wanted people to buy our products even if they weren’t aware of what they were made from, yet its sustainability would be the ‘clincher’.”

Since Kilmartin caught the entrepreneurial bug in 1999, his company has been diversifying. Alongside Haul, it has established Rivetting, which provides corporations and conferences with customised Haul products. “It’s helping companies ‘walk the talk’ of recyclability’,” Kilmartin says. Where the big selling point for the inner-city demographic is that each bag is original (as it’s cut from a different piece of vinyl billboard advertising), for corporations such as Virgin, it’s the reuse of its own billboards that makes the products unique. “Part of the promotional program is documenting the process,” Kilmartin explains. “We show the billboards coming down, the design, cutting and sewing which is done locally in Victoria. Delivering that story is key value-add for the brand.”