“Greenwashing” within the business community is rife and muddies the water with claims of environmental responsibility. These claims, when examined properly, are mostly exposed as mere rhetoric, a ploy to cash in on the environmental bandwagon. So what can the purchaser do to ensure that their decision to buy green is a good one.

Spectrum printing opened its doors for business in August 1996 as the first printer in Australia to be waterless and “computer to plate”; the environmental savings made combining these technologies are enormous. The owners decided that just making claims about the environmental advantages of waterless printing, it was time to back it up with proper 3rd party accreditation. Researching the standards available, the most environmentally stringent standard was found. Good Environmental choice Australia markets a standard that is based on international standard ISO14024. In a nutshell it states that at every stage of the manufacturing process world’s best practice has to be adopted. Spectrum’s facility and process passed with ease, the first printer in Australia to achieve this standard.

The serious environmentally aware purchaser can simply go to the website of Good Environmental Choice Australia and research the standard.

Spectrum is trying to encourage businesses that purchase print to choose a business that has been certified to the highest possible environmental accreditation. The suppliers will then be made aware that if they do not have accreditation from a reputable source they will not be considered as a supplier. Change will be forced by those that purchase the product.

This does require a policy shift from business and has to be made from the top down. Westpac realises that shareholders demand responsibility from their directors; this is then reflected in the banks share price. People will support those businesses that do show corporate responsibility.

Small companies such as Spectrum will keep knocking on the doors of those that make claims of environmental awareness. The door however, has been shut back in our face on a number of occasions. The usual excuse, even from potential ministers in the Federal Government, has been “we already have a printer that we have been using for years’. Our response is, ‘Do they have environmental accreditation?’ The reply, “I don’t know but we are happy with them anyway”!

Forcing change can be difficult and very, very frustrating. The owners and staff at Spectrum can at least reassure themselves with the knowledge that over the last 11 years they have been “doing the right thing”