Galaxy Press recognized as a leader in the Green Business Program
In a program sponsored by the Contra Costa Green Business Program we, along with 9 other companies , were recognized as being at the forefront of the Greening of the business community at an event held at the Lindsey museum in Walnut Creek.
Being a green printer takes a lot of thought, planning and commitment. Galaxy Press was the first certified green printer in the San Francisco Bay Area and the standards for becoming a green printer are based on the process we went through.
We had over half a dozen engineers from different agencies throughout the East Bay going over every inch of our facility to make sure that our procedures in disposing of used chemicals and printing waste were not polluting the environment. The questionnaire we had to fill out was 75 pages long and encompassed every imaginable scenario that could be foreseen. It was a grueling experience but well worth the effort.
We have had to change the chemicals we use in the plant to lower the caustic effect on what we do to help the environment. Now that doesn't seem like a lot on the surface, but to us it was a major change. We had to abandon the chemicals that made cleaning the presses easy for more environmentally friendly chemicals that added extra time and labor for the same process. We had to change to different solutions that we mix with our inks. We track all of the VOC's ( Volatile Organic Compounds) in our plant and we wrote custom software to do it.
All of our employees are committed to being green and every day we look for new and different ways to accomplish this. We have gone from printed and mailed invoices to emailed invoices, the majority of our proofing is done electronically with pdf files. All of this to reduce the use of paper anywhere we can.
The papers we use to print, unless a certain paper is specified by a customer, is recycled stock and we have a growing relationship with New Leaf paper a manufacturer of recycled papers. http://www.newleafpaper.com/
One area I do want to address is what this has done regarding the cost of running our business. Because we have chosen to be a green company our expenses are higher than they were before we made the change to green printing. We have tried to keep this as an internal expense and not pass it on to our customers, but, even the price of a true recycled paper is higher that most of the non recycled papers. I guess what I want to get across to everyone is that the cheapest price is not always the best price! When deciding on which company would be a better fit for your printing projects, please take into account who they are, what they promote and what is the level of service they provide. Take a close look and be sure to see actual samples of the work they do. It's your image you are are putting into their hands. Remember, the more we try to do our daily business in a green fashion, the more we save the resources of our planet. The cost may be a little higher but the end rewards are significantly better for everyone concerned.
If you have questions about being a green business, contact us and we will more than happy to help in any way we can.
Galaxy Press 925-798-3212
