Mystique Printing gains competitive advantage through carbon neutral certification

A strong point of difference in a highly competitive market has been achieved by Mystique Printing since it became Australia's first offset printer¹ to gain carbon neutral certification under the Greenhouse Friendly program.

Neil Maynard, Sales Manager for Mystique Printing, says the company first discussed an environmental strategy about five years ago, knowing it was "the right step for the future" and believing it could create a clear point of difference with existing and potential clients.

Already a certified Forestry Stewardship Council supplier, Mystique joined the Greenhouse Challenge Plus program and initially established a framework for improving the company's environmental position. This then encouraged Mystique to become completely carbon neutral.

The company is now so committed to its environmental policies that it will shortly achieve its target of ISO 14002 environmental management standards.

Mr Maynard says the biggest challenges in achieving carbon neutrality were in changing internal processes, chemicals and general procedures that were long embedded in the plant.

"There was a significant amount of testing done, and we invested a lot of time, money and research to get to a peak position where we could be audited," he says.

Key costs have been the appointment of a full time environmental manager to control policies internally, the installation of water tanks, the chemical recycling plant, the cost of soy-based inks and chemistry and the down-time on printing presses as new processes and chemistry were tested.

Although confident that Mystique is achieving a return on investment in terms of business growth, Mr Maynard says it's hard to put a precise figure on it.

"Enquiries are coming through on a regular basis, and the common point discussed on each occasion is the environmental impact of various projects.

"There is no doubt that the Mystique story is a much more powerful one because of our environmental credentials. It's a subject of interest to all customers who are now concerned about utilising the most environmentally friendly print processes in the industry today."

For more information visit www.mystique.com.au/environment.php

¹ Offset printing is a commonly used technique where the inked image is transferred from metal plates to rubber rollers, then to the printing surface.