Environment

Our promise to you

We will always strive to improve our environmental performance. That includes:

• Ensuring we comply with existing and future environmental legislation.
• Identifying harmful environmental effects that arise from our business and seeking to reduce them.
• Re-using and recycling all materials wherever practical.
• Providing environmental training for our staff and encouraging them to apply good environmental practice.
• Working and liaising with everyone who has an interest in our company and the environment (our customers, suppliers, our own staff and the environmental agencies).
• Discussing environmental issues regularly at the highest management levels.
• Encouraging our suppliers and customers to adopt the best possible environmental practices.

FSC® certified

We only use FSC® certified paper. This means it has been sourced from sustainably managed forests and other controlled sources, and its site of origin is proven and traceable under FSC certification. Bishops Printers is also FSC certified, (license code: FSC-C141094), so you can continue the FSC chain of evidence through your printed products, if you choose to do so.

The FSC have strict rules regarding the relative size, position and treatment of their branding on printed products. For this reason, any artwork bearing the FSC logo must be approved. The FSC themselves do not approve logo use. This is completed by Soil Association Certification Ltd. Bishops Printers is required to seek approval in advance of printing, but this doesn't take long - typically just one working day.

Minimising our environmental impact

• Paper
  Bishops' FSC certified house stock does not use chlorine in the bleaching process. The paper mill itself is one of the most efficient and environmentally sound mills in the world; 60% of its electricity is produced onsite and 80% of its energy is bioenergy. We recycle all wastepaper at Bishops.
• Aluminium plates
  All used plates are collected by our licensed waste carrier and are recycled. No plates are stored and they are all remade, therefore reducing the use of chemicals to clean and reuse them.
• CTP (Computer-to-Plate)
  All plates are produced using our Computer-to-Plate machines, thus reducing the use of film and the chemicals required for them.
• Ink tins
  These are crushed and recycled. The inks used are vegetable-based.
• Plastics
  All plastic ink containers and plastic protective wrap from paper pallets are crushed and collected for recycling.
• Waste
  Waste is segregated, recycled and reused. All chemicals are collected by J&G Environmental, accredited waste disposal experts. They then dispose of them in the most environmentally-friendly way.
• Lighting
• We have replaced our fluorescent and halogen factory lights with LED lighting, reducing our carbon footprint by 462,826 Kg per year.
• Sustainable energy
  More than 1,500 solar panels cover our 85,000 square foot roof, reducing our use of fossil fuels and our carbon footprint by offsetting 2,842 tonnes of CO2 per year. We continue to reduce our energy consumption by upgrading to energy efficient machines as part of our annual capital investment programme, and by installing a voltage optimiser which restricts our energy consumption.
• Other
  Our plate-making machinery uses water technology to reduce the use of chemicals. When purchasing our latest 10-colour presses, we chose to invest in Inpress Control, which cuts our start-up waste by one third. As existing machines are replaced, we will continue to minimise waste by purchasing Inpress Control, which is an optional extra.