Webcom Receives Recycling Award

Webcom was recently awarded the 2002/2003 Silver Ontario Waste Minimization Award by the Recycling Council of Ontario (RCO). This award recognizes businesses that have demonstrated a commitment to environmental protection by reducing resource energy requirements, waste materials and air and water pollution.

From processes on the shop floor and using papers that conserve old-growth forests, to recycling pop cans in the cafeteria, Webcom was recognized for practices throughout the organization. Engineering Manager, Manuel Gutierrez, credits each department with contributing to this achievement stating, "We each have played a role and we all will continue to make environmental awareness a priority."

Over the last ten years, Webcom has paid close attention to waste generation and environmental impact with each investment in new equipment and technologies. Some of our accomplishments include the following:

• Installation of two balers instead of one so paper types can be segregated.
• Installation of new printing presses using automatic cleaners that reduce the amount of cleaning solvent up to 1,000 liters per year and reduce paper waste by up to 60%.
• Addition of our Legacy brand of papers with up to 100% recycled content to our paper inventory. (See chart below for environmental benefits achieved in 2003.)

Following are some of the environmental initiatives we are currently pursuing:

• Installation of a Thermal Oxidizer or waste reduction unit. Since the liquid waste that we generate is mostly water (up to 98%) this device will help us separate the water from the solids and simplify recycling efforts. It will also reduce up to 95% of the water used to process printing plates.
• Evaluation of technologies that reduce electricity usage.
• Installation of ink mixing station at our ink supplier's location. This will reduce the amount of ink remaining after a job runs and decrease our ink recycling requirements.

Webcom is proud of its achievements in building environment-friendly processes into our production workflow. We continue to target other areas for improvement including finding ways to reduce energy usage, working with suppliers to find more environmentally friendly materials, and fine-tuning all our environmental and waste reduction programs. We remain committed to minimizing the impact of our industry on the environment.