KROONPRESS SUSTAINABILITY REPORT 2018
CONTENTS: A Message from the CEO
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Kindergarten Donations
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365 Case Study
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Honeybees as Organic as Paper
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Fire Safety
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Carbon Footprint
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VOC reduction
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Emissions into Air
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Wastewater Emissions
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Environmental Policy
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Our Report on Sustainability in a nutshell 18
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A MESSAGE FROM THE CEO Unlike real fire, climate change is indeed calling and we can prepare or minimise damage before it catches us off guard. Our client 365 shows the way by using responsibly sourced FSC paper, calculating their products’ carbon footprints with our Greenline Print platform and offsetting the remaining emissions with CO2-reducing projects. This is almost as sustainable as it gets!
Dear readers, There’s a saying in Estonia – “Fire doesn’t come calling” – which implies that it always catches you unexpectedly, even when you are prepared for it. We experienced this at Kroonpress last year where a malfunctioning motor ignited dust in a waste compactor room, spreading the fire inside the wall panels. Our fire safety procedures and the fire brigades did their job well and our production resumed just 1.5 hours later, so it did not turn into a big ordeal, but it encouraged us to build some team spirit through additional hands-on training, an approach that is also needed with some other “fires” burdening us.
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Another positive news comes from beekeepers – apparently, integrating two competing bee colonies into one works best with newsprint! With bee populations in a drastic decline all around the world, it’s great that our paper helps them do their priceless job. Indeed, paper is versatile, sustainable and useful, so thank you for printing low-carbon products with us and enjoy this year’s report.
Andres Kull CEO and Member of the Board
KINDERGARTEN DONATIONS Leftover newspaper reels are still in high demand. In December 2017, our paper giveaway attracted 58 kindergartens from across the country and a total of 396 reels were handed out for decorations, artwork and handicraft. Kroonpress is always pleased to help!
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365 CASE STUDY Outdoor lifestyle magazine 365 has embraced an environmentally friendly approach to producing their magazines – all magazines are produced on low-carbon uncoated Arctic Amber Graphic paper and GraphoSilk coated paper, both of which are FSC-certified to guarantee responsibly sourced raw materials, printed with 100% renewably sourced electricity and with greenhouse gas emissions from the whole life cycle of the product offset with MyClimate’s carbon-neutral projects.
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So, how does one go about having a climate neutral print product? First, the cradle-to-gate carbon footprint of the whole order is calculated using Kroonpress’ Greenline Print platform that includes all life cycle steps from the production of a printed product. Secondly, the calculated amount is offset using MyClimate.org’s carbon offsetting projects that take into account reductions that
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KROONPRESS
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MYCLIMATE.ORG
have already been proven – thus, all offsets have verifiably produced a positive impact within at least the last two years. Thirdly, the carbon footprint of the print order has been measured, offset and given the right to declare carbon neutrality! It’s not just nature magazines that care about climate – Greenline Print low-carbon labels have been issued onto over 100 million products!
160g CO2 x 170 000 COPIES = 27 TONNES OF CO2 TO OFFSET
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Have yours been calculated? It’s free of charge!
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CARBON OFFSETTING PROJECT THAT SAVES 27 TONNES OF CO2
=
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HONEYBEES AS ORGANIC AS PAPER It is a little known fact that newspapers have a very practical use when it comes to maintaining bee colonies. “Newspaper method” describes the process of uniting two or more boxes of unrelated bees by placing a few sheets of newspapers in between them as a wall. The bees will slowly start “chewing” through the paper and in this process, the bees will spread their saliva and scent onto the paper, helping both colonies get used to the scent of the other colony. The paper is eventually degraded entirely and the two unrelated colonies smoothly assimilate into one big family. If two colonies of bees were placed into one box without a gradual intermingling, the bees would start attacking and killing bees of the other colony, causing devastation to both colonies (and the beekeeper). The Estonian Beekeepers’ Association inquired us about our paper waste and realised that our unprinted newspaper reel ends are the perfect substrate for tasks such as these. Even though newspaper inks are
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based on vegetable oils, the pigments used are not tehcnically food-safe and should not be consumed in large concentrations. As honey is a highly concentrated product, the desire to keep bees as pure as possible makes sense. So – recycle your paper because it will be reproduced into new paper that will help sustain bee colonies who can hopefully continue to produce their highly nutritious sweet nectar for future generations to come!
FIRE SAFETY A fire in a printing company probably doesn’t sound like it could end up well – with all the hundreds of tons of paper in stock at any given time, it might seem like a match factory at first. However, that can’t be further from the truth! Paper that has been wound into reels is so dense and full of mineral coatings that there isn’t enough air to create a sustainable fire. If anything, the first layers of paper would scorch and prevent the fire from spreading inwards. What did happen at Kroonpress in May 2017 was a malfunction of a waste compactor motor inside its designated room, which is an unattended space. The malfunction caused the motor to overheat and ignite paper dust on the compactor, eventually spreading the
fire to the walls and crawling up inside the wall panel. As smoke started to seep into the interior of the building, alarms went off and all fire safety procedures were put into effect. Fire brigades invaded the scene shortly thereafter and tore down a part of the exterior wall panel to reach the source of fire. Nobody was hurt or suffered smoke damages in this incident and production inside resumed within an hour and a half. Due to this event, we upgraded our fire detection services and held further hands-on training for all employees. Even though a fire at a printing company ignited a big media response, our efficient actions on-site and good fire prevention procedures helped contain the situation quickly and calmly. GREENLINE PRINT.COM
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CARBON FOOTPRINT 900
The scope 1 (direct emissions) and scope 2 (indirect emissions from energy consumption) greenhouse gas emissions, measured in CO2-equivalents, amounted to a total of 2187 tonnes of CO2 per year, a 2.5% increase compared to the year before but still a long way down since where we were just a few years ago!
Our research is now targeted at decreasing natural gas consumption without decreasing production output. 511 tCO2
1627 tCO2
25 tCO2 0 tCO2
600
Kroonpress’ electricity consumption does not cause extra greenhouse gas emissions due to 100% of it being certified and sourced from renewable energy sources (wind and solar) only, via the Green Energy THE ENERGY CARBON FOOTPRINT 2017 certification scheme by Eesti Energia.
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ELECTRICITY
NATURAL GAS
(CO2)
DISTRICT HEATING
COMPANY CARS 2012
2013
2014
2015
2016
2017
THE ENERGY CARBON FOOTPRINT (INCLUDING DIRECT + INDIRECT EMISSIONS)
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COMPANY TRUCKS
VOC REDUCTION For decades, volatile organic compounds (VOCs) have been the bane of the printing industry. Extensively used in cleaning agents, solvents and fountain solutions, these compounds evaporate at room temperature, causing headaches and irritation of the eyes and throat under long-term exposure. Getting rid of these harmful effects can happen through either emissions containment and burning, as is done with most heatset presses inside their dryer units, or by eliminating the need for such chemicals in the first place.
PRODUCTION VOLUME (MILLION COPIES)
Kroonpress uses three afterburners on its three presses, which capture and burn VOCs
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300
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0
0
2015
2016
VOLATILE ORGANIC COMPOUNDS (EMISSIONS TONNES)
into simpler and healthier gases (such as water vapour and CO2), but on coldset presses this capturing method is not applicable. That is why print chemistry manufacturers have been working hard to substitute such chemicals with friendlier ones. Kroonpress started testing and using a dampening solution that does not contain any VOCs and the result can be seen on the chart – during three years of relatively stable production output, total VOC emissions started decreasing and are now 35% lower than before the introduction of non-VOC chemicals! This makes Kroonpress and its surroundings a healthier place for both employees and the local community.
2017
PRODUCTION VOLUME COMPARED TO VOC EMISSIONS
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EMISSIONS INTO AIR Of a total of 1626 tonnes of directly emitted gaseous emissions from the production of print products in 2017, 98.5% were carbon dioxide emissions from the consumption of natural gas and incineration of harmful volatile organic compounds. This is the equivalent of the emissions of around 800 cars during a year. In comparison, however, the amount of paper used in a year exceeds 25 000 tonnes. Considering that the average paper sequesters around 1 tonne of CO2 per tonne of paper and paper manufacturing creates an additional 0.7 CO2/t, we are still left with a net result of several thousand tonnes of CO2
that has been locked into the paper fibre as carbon sinks. As long as the paper is recycled after use, this carbon is prevented from being released into the atmosphere. Other gaseous emissions are present in smaller quantities. Ligroine, an easily evaporating solvent used in cleaning agents, is the next top emission and its negative health effects manifest when exposed to levels higher than allowed by health regulations. Greener chemistry is slowly being developed, which means that cleaning agents of the future will be less volatile and contain more natural ingredients.
1599.76 t CO2 10.185 t CO 0.058 t VOC (fuel) 3.214 t NOx 12.437 t LIGROINE 0.06 t IPA 0.289 t ETHYL CELLOSOLVES
TOTAL DIRECT EMISSIONS INTO AIR
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WASTEWATER EMISSIONS Our last year’s wastewater analysis demonstrated a fluke breach of Nitrogen emissions which we explained as an unfortunate timing of the analysis which does not reflect the average status of wastewater quality. This year, the results are back to normal and remain well below the maximum allowed limits. This makes sense because none of our chemical waste is dumped into the sewage, instead it is collected as hazardous waste and treated appropriately. Kroonpress’ contribution to the district sewage system consists of water waste from the kitchen, bathrooms and basic cleaning. PERMIT ACTUAL
PHOSPHORUS
NITROGEN
WASTEWATER ANALYSIS PERMIT AND ACTUAL RESULTS
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TOTAL DISSOLVED SOLIDS
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ENVIRONMENTAL POLICY Kroonpress strives to increase stakeholder value by being more resource-efficient, generating as little harmful waste as possible and endorsing a life cycle perspective in printing to increase transparency of the print industry, while providing our clients with sustainable solutions to their printing needs.
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Our primary environmental responsibility is to monitor and minimize the impact of our own operations. We do this by following strict EU and national regulations on waste generation. Our secondary responsibility is voluntary obligation to various stricter limitations and norms. We currently hold the ISO 14001 environmental management certificate, ISO 9001 quality management certificate, Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) and Programme for the Endorsement of Forest Certification (PEFC) chain of custody certificates, the Nordic Ecolabel and the EU Ecolabel.
5041 0787 Kroonpress
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OUR REPORT ON SUSTAINABILITY IN A NUTSHELL:
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Beekeepers find new opportunities by recycling newsprint and helping bee colonies integrate.
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Magazine 365 sets the standard for sustainable printing by calculating its impact and offsetting emissions.
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Volatile organic compound emissions have dropped 35% in 3 years despite a constant production rate.
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Wastewater emissions are back to normal after a fluke the year before.
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Fire strikes Kroonpress, but updated warning systems and retaken training sessions make sure it won’t catch us off guard again.
PAPER
Amber Graphic 150
PRESS
Canon imagePRESS C800
PHOTOS DESIGN INFO
Annabel Saksing, Helle-Mari Märtson Pauline Rummel info@kroonpress.eu +372 730 5100
