Environment

Hemlock has a lengthy record of environmental responsibility and compliance with environmental regulations and best practices. Hemlock continues to take many steps to manage environmental issues, often exceeding regulatory standards. We were the first printer in Vancouver to remove isopropyl alcohol from our press dampening systems in the late 1980’s even though the use of harmful isopropyl alcohol in the printing process is not prohibited in British Columbia to this day. We fostered the creation of CleanPrint BC and its promotion of environmental management among printers of various stripes in the mid 1990s. In 1998 we installed a computer to plate (CTP) workflow, eliminating film developing requirements. Today, environmental responsibility is an important consideration in all of Hemlock’s business decisions.

Initially, the majority of efforts were focused on projects that would make internal process improvements and reduce the company’s environmental footprint. Seeing the opportunity to make changes to the graphic communications industry as a whole, Hemlock has recently taken their role as a resource and educator to front stage. Today, Hemlock focuses on advocating environmental best-practices for its clients and competitors in the industry by sharing the knowledge gained over the past few years, while continuing to evaluate and improve upon internal practices. An example of this was our co-sponsorship and coordination of the Running Green Eco Printing Info Forum in November 2007. This was the first west-coast gathering of North American sustainable print, paper and marketing experts with the print buying community, but it sold out nevertheless. See www.runningreen.ca for presentation downloads and more.

According to President & CEO, Dick Kouwenhoven, “Hemlock’s commitment to sustainability is not an idle statement. Our employees are actively involved in reducing our environmental footprint through meaningful improvements.”

The following pages will give you further insight into the activities and practices that Hemlock has adopted in order to continue to reduce our impact on this precious environment and to encourage the transformation of the graphic communications industry as a whole.