Heidelberg ECO Printing Award - International environmental award for print shops in the categories “Sustainable companies” and “Forward-looking solutions”

• Award for most sustainably managed print shop goes to The John Roberts Company in the United States
• Vega Press from Australia wins sustainable innovative solution category
• Independent international panel of judges identifies clear trend towards sustainability
• Heidelberg confirmed as playing a pioneering role in sustainable printing

The winners of the second Heidelberg ECO Printing Award were honored at a ceremony at the Print Media Academy (PMA) in Heidelberg on July 6, 2011. Heidelberger Druckmaschinen AG (Heidelberg) initiated this international sustainability award for sheetfed offset print shops. Michael Keene, CEO of The John Roberts Company in the United States, accepted the EUR 30,000 prize for the most sustainably managed print shop, while a check for EUR 20,000 for the top sustainable innovative solution was presented to Rob Nugent from Australian print shop Vega Press. The winners also received vouchers for PMA seminars. Some 45 companies from 19 countries on four continents submitted entries this time round. For the first time, they included print shops from Italy, Brazil, Indonesia, and the Philippines. A four-strong independent international panel of judges voted on the most sustainable integrated solution and the most innovative stand-alone solution. Their decision was unanimous. "The proposals submitted for environmental activities in the industry were even better than last time round and were much more wide-ranging than in 2009. There were far more sustainable integrated solutions than innovative stand-alone solutions," observed the judging panel's spokesman Dr. Achim Schorb from the IFEU (Institute for Energy and Environmental Research) in Heidelberg. The other judges were William D'Alessandro, Executive Editor of the Crosslands Bulletin on Business, Law and the Environment in the United States, Anne-Marie De Noose from the European printing confederation Intergraf in Brussels, and Rainer Litty from the World Wide Fund For Nature (WWF). They, too, were very impressed by the print shops' highly innovative environmental and sustainability achievements.

"We work with our customers to systematically pursue our objective of a sustainable printing industry. The entries submitted demonstrate that customers are combining economic success, environmental responsibility, and far greater social commitment in their sustainable management strategies," explained Stephan Plenz, Member of the Management Board responsible for Heidelberg Equipment, at the award ceremony. Dr. Eckart Würzner, Lord Mayor of Heidelberg, gave a speech about the city's environmental credentials. The ceremony's keynote speech on the future of the print media industry was delivered by Beatrice Klose, Secretary General of the European printing confederation Intergraf.

Environmental commitment pays off
Heidelberg announced the Heidelberg ECO Printing Award, the first international environmental award to give sheetfed offset print shops an incentive to focus on sustainability, at drupa 2008. Winners should set a benchmark for the entire industry and encourage others to adopt sustainable business practices and solutions. Heidelberg offers the printing industry a platform for dialog where this know-how can be transferred to the market and interested customers. "We have a responsibility to drive forward sustainability in the industry and we play a pioneering role with all the measures we introduce. Only a holistic approach can improve environmental performance. This starts with the development and production of our presses and also covers the printing process and comprehensive dialog with our customers," underlines Plenz. All the creative solutions and entries for the Heidelberg ECO Printing Award demonstrate that ecology and economy go hand in hand.

The Heidelberg ECO Printing Award is open to any print shop that operates at least one sheetfed offset press. The number of presses is unimportant, as is the volume of production, the vertical range of manufacture, and the size of the business. Print shops from anywhere in the world that use any kind of substrate (paper, card, or foil) can enter. There are categories for the most sustainably managed print shop and for sustainable innovative solutions. Selection criteria include application of environmental and quality management systems, sustainable and economical use of energy, materials, and media, eco-friendly logistics solutions, and social commitment.