Many businesses today are touting the Green Initiatives they currently have in process. Through the years, Maple-Vail has routinely incorporated eco-friendly procedures in our operations because they simply made sense. We have been Reducing, Reusing, and Recycling as a means to minimize our environmental impact for many years, long before it became a trend. Making quality books in a responsible, safe, and efficient manner has been part of our culture for many years. Our efforts to be Green have been by design.

Today, we’re clearly at the forefront in producing books in a sustainable fashion. Maple-Vail has developed a brand-new printing process that is so green, it’s won the Governor’s Award for Environmental Excellence. One printing expert went as far as to describe our company as the ‘greenest printer’. Read below to learn more about our revolutionary THINKTech® technology which virtually eliminates VOC emissions during the printing process. This system is complemented by our Green by Design package which enables our customers to create books using the vast array of recycled materials available in our stocking programs.
Reducing
Through the years, Maple-Vail has been committed to efforts to reduce both our consumption and waste of materials. We have also been active in choosing those materials which have the least environmental impact. Our reduction efforts include the following:
  • Annual performance goals requiring reductions in material waste began in the early 1990s creating a catalyst for many innovative and practical solutions.
  • Digital technology has led to a dramatic reduction in water use, paper, chemicals, and film. Soft proofing has also become a common part of our workflow eliminating the need to generate hard proofs and saving the packaging and transportation costs associated with mailing.
  • A wide range of real-time data is easily accessible to our customers via the Maple-Vail InfoNet. Increasing numbers of our customers now choose to work with electronic versions of such items as estimates and invoices which had previously been printed and mailed.
  • Within our facilities, the vast majority of communication is electronic and we continue to expand the scope and functionality of our Intranet site.
  • Energy consumption has long been a target for reduction. Energy efficient lighting has been installed throughout our manufacturing and distribution locations, greatly reducing our energy usage. We have also utilized the advice of technical experts as part of an EPA program to reduce energy.
  • Through the years, Maple-Vail has focused on limiting our emissions. We began our efforts to remove alcohol from our fountain solutions over 15 years ago. Our fountain solutions are now alcohol-free and contain no chromium, and the new THINKTech® printing system is now set to dramatically reduce our pressroom emissions.
Reusing
Maple-Vail looks to reuse materials whenever possible. This includes giving new life to cartons and unprinted waste paper by turning them into stuffers, and reusing pallets whenever possible. Corner boards are also reused on a consistent basis. The combination of these items removes a significant amount of material annually from our waste stream.


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Recycling
Recycling is practiced by our employees on a daily basis. Our efforts create opportunities for other businesses to effectively utilize materials we discard.
  • Waste paper is clearly the most significant materials recycled at Maple-Vail. Over 31 million pounds of paper and cardboard was sent out for recycling in the last two years.
  • Used adhesives, inks, and oils are sent out for energy reclamation. Even paper dust has been put to use by a nearby company as an absorbent.
  • Overall, we collect 28 items from our facilities for separate recycling. This includes glass, plastics, and aluminum among other commodities, leaving very little for the final waste stream.

Green By Design
Maple-Vail has been at the forefront of the industry in regards to recycled paper options. We were the first U.S. printer to use chlorine-free, FSC-certified paper in a book way back in 1999. Today we offer a complete selection of recycled paper options containing post-consumer waste content ranging from 10% through 100%. All are either PCF or ECF, and many are FSC-certified. We supplied 4.3 million pounds of paper with recycled content in 2008.

[FSC Logo] [SFI Logo] Maple-Vail has received Chain-of-Custody certification from the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) and Sustainable Forest Initiative (SFI) at our York, PA facility. Certification is currently in process at our Binghamton, NY plant.

The case material suppliers we utilize all have strong environmental platforms. Aqueous coatings, biodegradable content, and sustainable sourcing are among the qualities of their materials. All board that we use in the manufacturing of hardcover books comes from 100% recycled materials.

Our primary partners for papercovers and book jackets are in pursuit of chain-of-custody certification and have a number of recycled offerings available. Cartons for packaging contain significant recycled content as well.

By creating a Green by Design materials package, we have centralized material and component choices for customers seeking eco-conscious manufacturing. These materials are easy to select, use, and promote to help meet the consumer and organizational demand for more environmentally friendly products.


Our Award-Winning THINKTech® Process
[Web Sheet] Maple-Vail is proud to announce the development and use of the THINKTech® printing process in our pressrooms. We are pleased with the benefits this innovative technology brings to the environment, our customers and the Maple-Vail organization.

This revolutionary process is so effective that Maple-Vail has since been dubbed as “the greenest printer” by Graphics Arts Monthly. Read all about out it here.

THINKTech® has also won our company the prestigious Pennsylvania Governor’s Award for Environmental Excellence.

The print system utilizes a special ink and fountain solution which allows us to print with VOC emission levels in the 1-2.5% range for our sheetfed presses, as this combination is almost solvent-free. This is significantly less than the 19-25% levels that we experienced previously with soy or petroleum-based sheetfed inks and fountain solutions. In addition, the ink dries in seconds using the THINKTech® printing process which results in a better print quality and reduced spoilage in our pressrooms.

We’ve just begun using the THINKTech® print system on our web presses as well. Maple-Vail is very proud of the tremendous environmental benefits that have been realized in this area. Not only does it slash our VOC emissions to a mere 3% from the typical web printing range of 34-42%, it also dramatically reduces our consumption of energy since THINKTech® eliminates the need for web chillers and ovens.

Enhancing these VOC reductions is Maple-Vail’s use of a soy blanket wash with only 0.29% VOCs. This is a mere fraction of VOC levels experienced with more common petroleum-based washes. The end result is a revolutionary printing process which is unsurpassed in the industry and available as a no-cost eco-friendly alternative to our customers.


Maple-Vail's Environmental Commitment
In addition to the internal efforts in place at Maple-Vail relating to environmental stewardship, we continue to be at the forefront in our support of environmental initiatives in the book industry.

Maple-Vail is a signatory to the Green Press Initiative’s Book Industry Treatise on Responsible Paper Use which supports the continued increase in recycled paper usage. The Green Press Initiative is a non-profit group which advocates responsible use of sustainable resources on the part of publishers and book manufacturers to minimize their effect on climate change.

[Green Press Initiative Logo] Maple-Vail is a founding member of the Book Industry Environmental Council, a forum of the Green Press Initiative, which has been formed to address environmental issues in the book community.

Our manufacturing and distribution centers are all located in the heavily populated Northeast near main highways and interstates. Many of our customers operate their warehouses in close proximity to our manufacturing facilities, reducing the energy costs associated with shipments. Customers who manufacture and distribute through Maple-Vail are able to generate significant energy savings as our distribution centers are all easily accessible from our manufacturing locations.




Please feel free to contact your Sales Representative if you would like to learn more about Maple-Vail’s environmental efforts. If you are looking to produce eco-friendly books your customer can feel good about buying, Maple-Vail is the book manufacturer who provides Green by Design options for materials with the most environmentally friendly manufacturing process in the industry.

To download a summary statement describing Maple-Vail commitment to the environment, click here.


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