19 January 2018

Opal Print achieves early green certification

The New Year has started well for Opal Print, a BPIF member in Midsomer Norton, who is only the 9th company in the UK to achieve certification by the World Land Trust & CarbonCo for being carbon balanced - which for a team of 8 staff is great news! Carbon Balanced offsetting focuses on taking a balanced approach to your emissions by following a three step process to measure and reduce, before offsetting residual emissions.

Opal will now pay a set yearly amount based on their current £1m turnover and resource usage and the WLT will use Opal's contributions to help sustain and grow forested habitats around the world.

Keith Lunt, the company's MD said, "We've worked with the WLT for a few years now and this was the next step, through the scheme we can now say we are putting back as much as we are taking out, environmentally speaking. Because of new legislation and the responsibility that we all have to the environment, certification is a good look for printers - we can show we are making an effort. It also has a knock-on effect for customers whose jobs are carbon-offset at no extra cost to them. You will be able to see just how many square metres of new rainforest your job has contributed towards. At the end of the day, it is good for everyone."

According to Opal, an external verification process calculated that the firm's "unavoidable business emissions" were equivalent to 66 tonnes of carbon dioxide per year. The firm's contributions to the WLT will now be used to preserve 46,000sqm of "ecologically-important habitat" in order to balance out its impact.

Dawn Reid, the Regional Director for the region added, "I think this kind of initiative shows a great ‘life cycle' for the process unlike other methods of communication which create a carbon footprint every time they're deployed. I know Opal have also employed other initiatives, such as using uncoated paper to assist with their footprint too."

For further information please visit the Opal Print website http://www.opalprint.co.uk/