RL Design & Print is committed to minimising, wherever possible, the impact we have on the environment. We have invested in products and technologies, which assist us in having a cleaner production process together with environmentally friendly administrative practices.

Carbon Emissions

To minimise the use of paper and at the same time help reduce carbon emissions, we have developed an online artwork delivery and ordering system.

This delivers our clients artwork and job information directly into our production system, which is a better environmental alternative to using couriers to deliver artwork.

In a further effort to reduce carbon emissions, one of the two motor vehicles used by the sales team has been converted to LPG and the other vehicle is a small fuel efficient 4 cylinder.

Energy

We have invested in new office heating and cooling which has a 4 1/2 star energy rating. This has given us around a 60% reduction in energy usage in the office for heating and cooling.

Our factory has an evaporative cooling unit, which uses 20% of the electrical energy that a refrigerated air conditioner uses.

Paper Manufacturing

While there are a number of different environmental accreditations that paper manufacturers can achieve, we are favouring the Forest Stewardship Council accreditation.

They not only ensure that the wood used to make the product comes from a forest that is well managed according to strict environmental, social and economic standards but also look at the entire paper manufacturing process for it's impact on the environment.

If you would like further information on the Forest Stewardship Council please go to http://www.fsc.org/en/

“RL Design & Print is an environmentally friendly company.”

We are also encouraging our clients to consider using silk or matt coated paper instead of gloss as the silk or matt coated paper is easier to recycle

Waste Paper Recycling

All of our print paper waste is recycled and by carefully planning the printing of jobs, we aim to minimise our paper wastage.

Printing Plate Recycling

Our printing presses use aluminium printing plates and these are all recycled for use as other aluminium products.

Vegetable-based Inks

We have been using vegetable-based inks on the printing presses since January 2006. Vegetable-based inks are made from renewable raw materials and have far better biodegradability than conventional petroleum based inks. An added benefit is that vegetable based inks are easier to de-ink in the recycling process.

Volatile Organic Compounds

Alcohol for printing press - We have moved to a low VOC fountain solution that contains no Isopropyl Alcohol (IPA). We made this change because IPA contributes to Volatile Organic Compounds (VOC) emissions. VOC emissions are soil and groundwater contaminants and when released into the air, lead to the formation of photochemical smog - greenhouse gas.