Many businesses today are touting the Green Initiatives they currently have in process. At Maple-Vail, we long ago 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.

Making quality books in a responsible, safe, and efficient manner has long been part of the culture at Maple-Vail. Our efforts to be Green have been by design. We have always been driven by what is the right thing to do in regards to the environment, long before it became a trend.

We've complemented these efforts by the development of our Green by Design package that allows our customers to create books using the vast array of recycled materials available in our stocking programs. Maple-Vail is also proud to announce the implementation of THINKTech™ technology in our pressrooms which allows us to virtually eliminate VOC emissions during the printing process.
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 17 million pounds of paper and cardboard was sent out for recycling in each of 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 44 sizes of recycled paper in a variety of grades with post-consumer waste content ranging from 10% through 100%, all of which is either PCF or ECF. We supplied 3.3 million pounds of paper with recycled content in 2007.

Our recycled paper program includes stocks which are certified by the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) and/or the Sustainable Forest Initiative (SFI). We are currently in the process of obtaining chain-of-custody certifications for both of these standards.

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.


THINKTech™
[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 technology brings to the environment, our customers and the Maple-Vail organization.

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 resultant image using the THINKTech™ process dries in seconds, resulting in a better print quality and reduced spoilage.

We’ve just begun using the THINKTech™ print system on our web presses, and are very proud of the tremendous environmental advantage it provides. Not only does it slash our VOC emissions to a mere 3% from the typical web printing range of 34-42%, but 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, a fraction of the 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.


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 Industry Treatise which supports the continued increase in recycled paper usage in future years. 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.


© 2008 by The Maple-Vail Book Manufacturing Group. All rights reserved.