The APS Group has ISO 14001 accreditation and is one of the UK's 'greenest printers'
In recent years, APS Group has continued to grow at a substantial rate, winning significant new business, employing more staff and investing in new plant and technology - inevitably making more demands on energy consumption.
Since gaining ISO 14001 accreditation in 2006, Managing Director, Nick Snelson, has taken personal responsibility for maintaining the Group’s environmental management, to ensure that the growth of the business is not achieved at the expense of the environment.
In 2008 we set ourselves a target of reducing our gas, electricity and water consumption by 5% and committed the same 5% target to reducing waste. We are pleased to report we met the targets and in some cases have exceeded them.
Our biggest win was on electricity efficiency which improved by 21%, the result of investing in power factor corrective units. Our water consumption efficiency improved by 31% and our gas usage was 6% less than in 2007.
Waste generated per unit of output reduced by 1% and the proportion of waste sent to landfill improved by 9%
Priority objectives for 2009
APS will endeavour to exceed the requirements of relevant environmental legislation and has set the following targets for 2009 to help to drive environmental performance improvement across the organisation:
Awareness
- To continue to maintain a cohesive awareness raising strategy to ensure that all employees are aware of the company’s environmental policy and objectives
- To continue to make available to all staff, visitors, suppliers and interested third-parties general guidance on good environmental practice
Waste management
- To reduce the amount of general waste that goes to landfill by 5% on last year
- To reduce solvent usage by at least 5% compared with 2008
- To work with a new supplier to ensure that all press chemistry is taken off site and disposed of appropriately through recycling and reuse
Resource efficiency
- To reduce water consumption by at least 5% on last year
- To reduce gas usage by at least 5% on last year
- To reduce electricity usage by at least 5% on last year
- To undertake a review of all business travel with the objective of establishing a transport policy
Substrate management
- To continue to support a proactive policy of promoting the use of environmentally-friendly papers and boards to all our customers
Environmental legislation
- To work with Groundwork to ensure that APS, in its capacity as print management company, is legally compliant in the following areas:
For our environmental policy - click here
“The environment presents a huge opportunity for smart companies to reduce costs and increase profits.”