Hillside Group: Environmental Responsibility

It is easy for any print and design company in the vastly competitive market to lose sight of the potential for excessive waste and environmental damage. Here at the Hillside Group we feel a sense of duty to the environment and ensure that all projects and jobs required by clients are produced by environmentally aware printers.

Our aim is to be regarded as a company that cares for the environment, and is willing to make amendments to the day-to-day running. We will continue to invest in new methods and have adopted a ‘green’ attitude throughout.

ENVIRONMENTAL POLICY
The Hillside Group provides high quality, environmentally friendly design and print services to customers, which have been acquired by exploiting the most prominent environmental techniques and processes available. Consistency and continuity, merged with an innovative association throughout to the procedures put in place, has been identified as a priority here at Hillside.

This envisages that any relative developments regarding responses to environmental sustainability will be adhered to where possible. The following measures have been adopted in order to correspond to the previous statement:

We are working towards accreditation to ISO 14001 in order to attain an efficient and coherent environmental management system.
We are now PEFC and FSC Certified which shows our commitment to the use of sustainable resources.
Full compliance with relevant environmental legislation and industry codes of practice.
Vegetable oil based inks are used.
Paper is resourced from sustainable sources (all suppliers are certified to FSC).
Ensure that all employees are aware of the importance of the company’s responsibility to the environment (internal training structures/procedures are going to be put in place, working towards internal audits).
Availability and promotion of this policy to all employees and clients of the Hillside Group.
Ensuring we have ceaseless recycling procedures with all our waste products.
Regularly reviewing our environmental performance, displaying our commitment to continual improvement.
We are continually recycling all of our waste products.
Reducing our energy and water resources.

‘MINIMISING WASTE AT HILLSIDE’
Here at Hillside we try to minimise the amount of waste produced that enters the environment. We take this responsibility seriously, which is evident by the key emphasis placed upon recycling where possible. All waste paper is recycled either by us in the case of general waste paper, or via our waste contractor; Veolia Environmental Services UK. Our chemical waste is managed by the Stephen Betts Group, and the aluminium plates used on the printing press are recycled by 2 Recycling Limited.

We recycle our old rags used for printing by sending them to Print Cloths Limited. The process involves the rags being cleaned to specific standards and are then returned. Additionally, Hillside is keen to become increasingly more energy efficient. We are implementing water saving devices which are to be fitted in all sinks and toilets. The aim to keep the temperature for the working environment at 19° C emerged from the recommendations by the Groundwork Environmental Centre in Oldham and Rochdale as an energy saving amendment. In addition to this, T5 (16mm) energy efficient tubes will be used to replace the standard T12 (36mm) fluorescent tubes.

‘RENEWABLE PAPER?’
As stated within the environmental policy, certification to FSC (forestry steward council) has been achieved alongside PEFC (programme of the endorsement of forest certification schemes) accreditation.

WHAT DOES THIS MEAN?
The FSC’s quotation, “Putting rainforests first to make them last”, speaks for itself. The Forest Stewardship council (FSC) is an international organisation that brings people together to find solutions which promote responsible management of the world’s forests. Every year an area half the size of the UK is cleared of natural forests. The forests are irreplaceable, and their loss induces overwhelming economic, social and environmental impacts. The Hillside Group wants to ensure that any contribution to these negative influences is prevented. The FSC system will enable Hillside to identify, purchase and use forest products that are produced from well-managed forests which will not impact upon the environment to a detrimental extent. This will entail the promotion of sustainable resources within the business accordingly.

‘PRINTING’
“INNOVATIVE EXPERTISE”
By combining new methods and ideas with a dominating level of knowledge and experience, Hillside is able to print with a high level of efficiency. Efficiency is imperative for environmental welfare. It reduces the time taken to complete jobs, therefore enhancing the ability to print more work in the same time. This reinforces that printing in bulk can be administered to a greater extent, reducing the amount of energy and waste produced per unit.

With a press that produces 13,000 full-colour high quality sheets per hour, and short run digital printing with no plates and minimal make ready time, a 24-hour turn around becomes a standard procedure. Additionally, large format printing using our Roland Sol Jet colour printer ensures that stunning colour graphics are produced onto a varied range of materials suitable for indoor and outdoor use, in an appropriately short period of time.

Furthermore, all of the print and finishing, including mounting, laminating and brass eyeleting, is carried out in-house so you receive consistent, high quality and fast turnaround times at the keenest prices.

It is important to note that we use vegetable oil-based ink throughout the printing process which can be recycled.