By Ed Avis
Becoming environmentally savvy was an important move for many reprographics shops six or seven years ago. IRgA sent copies of The Green Reprographics Handbook, sponsored by Océ, to all members in 2008, and for several years Repro Report ran a regular column on how a shop could be “green.” This coincided with the explosion in green interest in the AEC community, so it all made sense.
Then the recession hit. For many people, saving green suddenly seemed more interesting than being green. A survey by Green Building Insider in 2010 – during the heart of the recession – found that the percentage of architects who agreed that green construction was “worth the time and effort” dropped three percentage points from 2007 to 2008 and another one and a half points the following year.
But what did the recession do to the green reprographics movement? Despite the discouraging signs, interviews with three firms who kept a green focus throughout reveal that being green is still a smart business move.
“When you offer recycled papers and substrates to customers for printing, you can solidify those customers who are of a like mind,” says Chris Cramer, president of Buster’s Reprographics in Atlanta. “We have gotten some big jobs because we offer green alternatives for our products and services.”
The Cost of Being Green
Buster’s Reprographics turned “green” about seven years ago. The company began recycling its waste paper and cardboard, and even switched to fuel efficient vehicles to make deliveries. Today the company’s website prominently features information about “Our Green Initiative,” which includes a commitment to using recycled media, helping clients recycle their waste paper, encouraging online document viewing and distribution, and using Energy Star compliant equipment.
“We generally became more aware of waste,” Cramer says. “Repro shops can produce enormous amounts of waste!”
The cost of “being green” varies with the initiative. Recycling the waste in your own shop probably doesn’t cost anything, unless you need to pay extra to have it picked up. Switching to fuel efficient delivery vehicles, on the other hand, unquestionably has an upfront cost, though long-term fuel savings may make up for that (click here for an excerpt from The Green Reprographics Handbook about making your shop green).
The biggest question for most repro shops interested in green was whether they could afford to switch to recycled-content paper for their plotters. When the green reprographics movement began, many believed recycled bond would eventually cost the same as virgin bond, because so many people would demand it. However, that does not appear to be the case. An informal review of online prices of wide-format inkjet paper reveals that retail prices are still 16 to 19 percent higher for recycled.
So the question at the time was, and still is, will customers pay more to have prints made on recycled paper? And the answer appears to be the same as it was then: Those who care are willing to pay the premium.
“I find here that a majority don’t care what they pay,” reports Don Baird, owner of Go Green Reprographics in Phoenix. “Most people use regular paper, but we have a couple of clients who only want recycled.”
Impact of the Recession
But did the recession, which pinched business in so many ways, affect sales of prints made on recycled paper or otherwise affect the value of a repro shop’s green efforts?
Cramer found customers who wanted to be green didn’t let the recession change their minds. “Customers sensitive to green practices have stayed pretty steadfast,” he says.
Resolution Reprographics, a Canadian firm with locations in Vancouver and Burnaby, British Columbia, dove into green repro about the same time as Buster’s did. “We simply felt compelled,” says Douglas Suddaby, the company’s president. “In Vancouver Green is Green and everything else simply isn’t.”
And like at Buster’s, customers of Resolution Reprographics who cared about green when they started their green efforts still care about it. “No slowdown in this part of the Canada,” Suddaby says. “In fact, we used [the recession] to bolster our efforts.”
Go Green Reprographics, as the name implies, focuses on green in many ways, including operating a fleet of Priuses for delivery. Baird launched the company during the recession, four years ago, so he can’t compare attitudes before and since the recession. But he has found his green emphasis to be somewhat worthwhile.
“It’s a good selling feature for us, and there are some customers that means a lot to,” he says. “But I’d say most people come to us because we offer better service and quicker turnaround.”
So Green Lives On
As climate change and other environmental issues continue to worry people, it seems likely that emphasizing the benefits of recycled paper, reducing waste, operating electricity-efficient equipment, and other green initiatives will continue being a solid business decision.
“It’s no longer optics, this is a real thing that must be taken seriously,” Suddaby says. “We include our green polices as part of our sales strategy and we are just getting started.”