Beacon Press Extends EMAS Accreditation

The Pureprint Group based in Uckfield, East Sussex has extended the EMAS accreditation previously held by Beacon Press to the entire group operation

The extension makes the organisation the largest UK printing company to hold the accreditation.

EMAS (the Eco-Management and Audit Scheme) widely accepted as the gold standard of environmental accreditation, is a voluntary initiative designed to improve companies' environmental performance initially established by European Regulation 1836/93.

The aim of the scheme is to recognise those organisations that go beyond minimum legal compliance and continuously improve their environmental performance.

Beacon Press is one of the oldest EMAS members in Europe having earned its accreditation back in 1996 before any other UK printer.

By extending accreditation across all operations, Pureprint Group has taken Beacon's environmental offering beyond a niche level.

The group is now able to offer superior and at the same time environmentally friendly printing services to a much wider audience allowing corporate businesses to reap the benefits of best sustainable practices in print and paper supply.

Richard Owers, marketing director of Pureprint Group, says: "Beacon Press chose EMAS after we realised that it is a much better environmental accreditation scheme than ISO 14001".

"It demands complete transparency and proven continual improvement".

"We maintain our ISO 14001 registration as it is currently more widely recognised but the high environmental standards that the UK's largest companies are now interested in are more likely to be achieved when working to the EMAS standard".

"Pureprint Group is now the largest printer in the UK to offer this exceptional environmental accreditation and this together with our 24-hour service and full range of digital, B2 and B1 presses is proving to be of real interest to the larger corporate buyer".

Pureprint Group production has increased by over 240 percent from Beacon's 55 million impressions two years ago, yet the environmental impact of every sheet printed has been lowered and the economic unit cost of production reduced.

IPA use is down over 90 percent, CO2 emissions are down over 50 percent and electricity used down over 30 percent based on the same period.

Steve Howard, publications manager at McCann Erickson Business Communications uses Beacon Press to print work for The Carbon Trust and comments: "Our clients place their trust in McCann to procure a high quality job, produced in the most environmentally responsible way".

"There is a lot of competition out there and we are always trying to look for suppliers that will go the extra mile".

"In my opinion the EMAS accreditation demonstrates that a company has gone beyond the minimum recognised environmental standard and they have taken it upon themselves to set a higher benchmark".

"Pureprint and Beacon have done this in every way whilst maintaining high levels of print quality and customer service".

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