Environment

Hemlock has a lengthy record of environmental responsibility and compliance with environmental regulations and best practices. We continue to take many steps to manage environmental issues, often exceeding regulatory standards. We were the first printer in Vancouver to remove isopropyl alcohol from our press dampening systems in the late 1980’s, even though the use of harmful isopropyl alcohol in the printing process is not prohibited in British Columbia. We fostered the creation of CleanPrint BC and its promotion of environmental management among printers of various stripes in the mid 1990s. Today, environmental responsibility is an important consideration in all of Hemlock’s business decisions.

Initially, the majority of efforts focused on projects that would make internal process improvements and reduce the company’s environmental footprint. Today, Hemlock focuses on advocating environmental best practices for its clients and competitors in the industry by sharing the knowledge gained over the past few years, while continuing to evaluate and improve upon internal practices. An example of this was our co-sponsorship and coordination of the Running Green Eco Printing Info Forum in November 2007. This was the first west-coast gathering of North American sustainable print, paper and marketing experts with the print buying community.

Seeing the opportunity to make changes to the graphic communications industry as a whole, Hemlock has recently taken on a role as a resource and educator to front stage.

“Hemlock’s commitment to sustainability is not an idle statement. Our employees are actively involved in reducing our environmental footprint through meaningful improvements.” - President & CEO, Dick Kouwenhoven

The following pages will give you further insights into the activities and practices Hemlock has adopted in order to continue to reduce our impact on this the environment and also to encourage the transformation of the graphic communications industry as a whole.