At Pacific Bindery, we do our best to economically save materials that can benefit the customer’s job and our building in the long run. Here are several sustainable courses of actions we consistently take with everyday bindery and finishing processes: 

Paper – We employ an elaborate system of vacuums to take away paper trimmings from the perfect binders and stitchers. A sophisticated automated baling system compresses the paper waste into bales which are then loaded into waiting trailers. Trim waste from the cutter and folders are collected in metal containers and picked up by a recycler.

Over the course of a year, more than 1000 tons of paper are recycled; reducing waste sent to landfills. This has a significant positive environmental impact.

Plastic Containers – We use a number of glues: remoistenable glue, traditional hot melt, polyurethane reactive, permanent cold glue, and other types of adhesives that come in containers. We have coordinated recycling of these containers with the glue suppliers. We’re also currently working with an aggregator to remove plastic containers that once contained chemistries, such as solvent.

Solvent and Rag Use – You wouldn’t think a bindery would need to use solvent however it is regularly used to clean rollers on the folders and other machines due to the build up of ink and other chemicals that are offset from the printed sheet. To reduce the amount of solvent and shop towels used, we’ve applied a multi-step approach.

Strap and Wrap – We also recycle a large volume of plastic and metal strapping, shrink-wrap plastic and wooden skids. This amounts to 1000 cubic yards of materials that does not head to the landfills.

Pacific Bindery is the only bindery and finishing organization in British Columbia to be CleanPrint BC-certified.  We were committed to this program some years ago and were pleased to achieve our certification.  Today, the CleanPrint BC program has been halted by lack of funding however the print industry organizations that were certified through the process were pioneers of what is now known as the sustainability movement.

CleanPrint BC is a non-profit partnership comprised of members of the printing industry, including printers and suppliers, as well as representatives from municipal, provincial, and federal governments. The ultimate goal of CleanPrint BC is to support improved environmental management practices in BC’s flexography, screen and offset printing operations. The result is improved protection of the environment and human health while maintaining economic competitiveness. The CleanPrint BC strategy is to develop and provide printers with the tools they need to prepare and support site-specific environmental management plans. Printers, which complete the Environmental Management Plan (EMP), also follow the Best Management Practices (BMP) developed by CleanPrint BC.

Here at Pacific Bindery, we pledge to protect the environment by supporting CleanPrint BC initiatives, following best management practices and promoting an environmental management system as a tool to better control waste and pollution.