Reducing Environmental Impact
Mayfield Press is committed to reducing the environmental impact of its activities wherever possible and practical. Our waste chemicals are collected by specialists, our aluminium plates are recycled and any waste paper is recycled.
We also regularly produce work for companies with stringent environmental print production guidelines that must be adhered to and we are very familiar with the issues that arise when using environmentally friendly and recycled papers and vegetable-based inks. We are selected by these companies as we are known to have a thorough understanding of our product's environmental impact and are fully versed in finding the best ways to print with the minimum environmental impact whilst maintaining the high quality standards expected of us.
Paper
Where a branded paper is not specified by a customer, the material we select has the following environmental qualities;
Our "house" stock is Totally Chlorine Free (TCF) this means that the pulp has been bleached without the use of any chlorine chemicals whatsoever. The investment and development of alternatives to chlorine bleaching methods means that the end user no longer has to compromise the environment when choosing a high white sheet. The bleaching agents now use a mixture of hydrogen peroxide and oxygen, which do not generate harmful toxins and give the same result.
Raw materials purchased from outside are only acquired from suppliers operating sustainable forest reserves. A great proportion of the raw material used is the by-product from other production processes' i.e. sawmill waste and waste which results from forest thinning. Therefore trees which are used are either diseased or damaged or would otherwise be burned.
The energy stations that produce power are powered by natural gas to reduce sulphur emissions. The mill uses a chlorine-free bleaching system throughout. This is in accordance with EMAS and ISO 14001 (the international standard that specifies a process for controlling and improving a company's environmental performance.) It is 100% recyclable with no harmful residue, all its packaging is recyclable, suitable for energy recovery or disposed on a landfill site.
Inks
Our standard inks are all based on vegetable matter. One of our major suppliers states the following:
There are no toxic materials used in any of our formulations in recent times and special attention has been paid to heavy metals such as cadmium, hexavalent chloride, mercury and lead. These materials have been virtually eliminated from all of our printing ink productions. There are very few exceptions where there are elements of this material. The inclusion of these products in some inks as trace elements is technically unavoidable, but these levels are far below the 100ppm level which is well within the current legislation.
Another area of concern is the VOC (Volatile Organic Compound) content of ink. All our sheet fed inks contain the highest possible level of non-volatile vegetable oil based type materials. However some solvents are required to help with certain formulation characteristics. The types used have a very low environmental impact and are carefully selected and monitored throughout our rigorous raw material testing procedures in place at all our production plants.
Waste paper, plates and chemicals
All of our waste paper is caged, collected and recycled. We use aluminium plates which are collected and recycled and we have recently installed a processor-less plate system which eliminates chemical waste during the plate-making process. Any waste chemicals from our printing presses are collected and disposed of by a company which conforms to and exceeds current government guidelines.
Carbon Neutrality
It is also anticipated that by August 2007, Mayfield Press will be carbon neutral. From this date, we will also be able to provide details of the carbon footprint of individual products in order that they can be offset on a job-by job-basis.
