Advance Press wins Kodak green award

Western Australian printer Advance Press has won the Kodak Sonora Plate Green Leaf Award for the Australia and New Zealand region.

With Advance Press taking the region’s top score, other winners in ANZ include Australian Community Media, Blue Star Print NSW, and Hague Australia. Sonora is the Kodak procesless plate.

Advance Press general manager Ian Smith told Print21 he was delighted about the win.

“We put a lot of effort into minimising our impact on the environment over the past five years. It’s nice to see those efforts recognise, but it’s an ongoing journey. We’re excited to see what we can do to reduce our impact over the next five years,” Smith said.

“We went to market about four years ago to look at a CTP system and plates to run on that system. One of our main criteria was that we wanted a processless plate. So, we did our due diligence and settled on Sonora, and we’ve been happy ever since.”

Smith said wastewater management was an issue where the facility is.

“Where we are in Perth, we’re not connected to the sewers, so all our waste has to be put into tanks and taken away to be treated. Not having to deal with that is very important to us.’

Smith said the company uses the Sonora plates on an eight-colour A1 Heidelberg, a five-colour A1 Heidelberg, and an A3 Heidelberg.

To win the award, printers must use the Kodak Sonora Process Free Plates in their operations and demonstrate an ongoing commitment to investing in sustainable business practices. Kodak said the winners were judged on a range of criteria by the company’s health, safety and environmental team.

Kodak named a total of 25 winners from around the world, with eight – one for each region – singled out for special recognition.

Since the launch of the Sonora Plate Green Leaf Award program in 2013, the number of award applications has grown, along with the industry’s embrace of sustainable solutions.

This year, the award programme recognises more than one winner per region, “reflecting increased geographic diversity in the applications,” the statement said.

Top-scoring printers from around the world include; Advance Press (Australia); Amar Ujala (India); Cartocor (Argentina); Drukkerij de Bij (Netherlands); Gemini Print (UK); Primex Printers (Philippines); Senshu-Iwai Printing (Japan); Tweddle Group (US); and Zühal Ofset (Turkey).