Committee on Climate Change

Gareth purchased Seacourt with business partner Jim in 2008 after previously serving as Marketing Director.  He is passionate about creating a business which is sustainable and believes that collectively, we have a great opportunity to drive change. Gareth has worked in all areas of printing and spent 3 years attending college for professional qualifications in all aspects of the industry and a further 2 years at Marketing college.

Seacourt has been rated as one of the top 3 environmental printers in the world, how have you achieved this?
Fourteen years ago we were a standard “dirty” printer. With the realisation of how polluting the print industry was, we decided on a change of strategy. With the purchase of a brand new high-tech waterless offset press, we immediately reduced our Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs) by 98% and saved the need to use ANY water at all in the print process.
We started our formal environmental processes by gaining the ISO14001 and then progressed on to the Eco-management and Audit Scheme (EMAS), working towards our long-term objective to completely minimise our environmental footprint. It was when we entered and started winning awards and accolades that we realised that we were really achieving something important, and that our sustainable business model was highly regarded both nationally and internationally.  Since then, we have achieved Zero Waste to Landfill status, and have just won a second Queen’s Award in 4 years. 

How did you achieve zero waste to landfill status?
We started by identifying ways to re-use and re-cycle the last couple of waste streams from our business.  It took a while as there weren’t the channels that there are available now for recycling so we had to really use our heads.  Our on-site composters have helped us create a closed loop production site.  We have been zero-waste as far back as October 2009, but it took a while to get independent verification for something which is clearly a new concept.  Throughout the journey towards zero waste, we have come up against many challenges, but we happily overcome these obstacles on our quest for environmental best practice.   

How have you motivated your staff to get involved?
Our staff have always been included in the decision-making process from day one, we think this is vital for engagement. We  display our annual environmental objectives on the staff notice board, reward suggestions in our “Employee of the Month” for all kinds of improvements not just environmental but in all fields of work.   


  *Seacourt staff with their Queens Award*

What simple steps could other printers realistically take to improve their environmental credentials?
Whilst simple first steps are good, it has to be part of a bigger overall process with sustainable goals and objectives.  We come across too many printers who tick a few boxes and profess to be “green”, which is nothing more than ‘greenwash’.  The first step for a printer wanting to really improve their environmental credentials is to set up a simple environmental management system, such as ISO14001.  This will provide a starting point to work from and will kick-start their environmental journey.  As sustainability is infused into all business processes, gradually it starts to snowball and develop into a fundamental core of the business, underlying the basis of all decision-making.  Sustainability should be seen as a cornerstone of business, not some sort of bolt-on function, and certainly not simply marketing hype.

What’s next on Seacourt’s green agenda?
We have just won the Queen’s Award for Sustainability for a second time in 4 years and are over the moon about it!  One of the main reasons behind this was undoubtedly our ground breaking Zero Waste achievement.  We have always enjoyed the challenges that sustainability provides and are in the process of thinking up a new challenge as we write this article.  All we can say now is watch this space …..!