Small Press Printer Leads by Example in Environmental Responsibility

Peter the Printer has drafted an initiative to show that truly green printing is possible.

Peter the Printer, a division of Plum Grove Printers, Inc, announced today a sweeping environmental initiative designed to transform the Hoffman Estates, Illinois-based firm into an industry leader of green printing. The multi-faceted initiative emphasizes strict recycling, renewable resources, and donations to reforestation programs, to minimize the impact of consumption while cutting waste. Peter the Printer, with over 30 full-time employees, wants to become an example of what an environmentally-friendly small business printer can look like, and inspire other printers to take up its initiative.

"Green printing is a very exciting frontier for us," said CEO Peter Lineal. "Environmentally sound industry is possible. It is marginally more expensive, but well within the means of small press printers to adopt green policies. We want to demonstrate how to do it. We want to prove to the world, and ourselves, just how environmentally-friendly we can be."

The initiative calls for changing consumption and waste patterns, increasing staff environmental-consciousness, and designing the firm's new production building to be eco-friendly. Plum Grove Printers is now powered by 100% non-carbon sources, including 60% wind power. The firm intends to increase its use of recycled paper to 90% of its total tonnage, and aims to have a 99% recycling or reuse rate with inks, rags, and incoming packaging and containers. The initiative also calls for completely offsetting paper usage by donations to the Nature Conservancy and the Printer's National Environmental Assistance Center, which replant trees while protecting high-conservation forests.

The company will be producing a brochure outlining cost-effective ways for other small press printers to go green, and offers general use of its Green Friendly logo (available for free download at PeterThePrinter.net

About Peter the Printer and Plum Grove Printers : Founded in 1980, Plum Grove Printers, green friendly Chicago printer] features an award-winning design studio, full mail/bindery services, digital printing, and traditional offset and web printing. Since August, Plum Grove Printers has launched the first dozen of about 50 self-service printing webstores anchored at PeterThePrinter.net. The firm has repeatedly been named one of the 100 Top North American Printers by Quick Print Magazine in its 25 years in the northwest Chicago suburbs.